Birds always find ways to surprise us. No matter how much you know, no matter how well you prepare, no matter how long you’ve been tuned in to the wild world of birding, there will be times when you get caught completely off guard. I think that’s wonderful. This Tuesday morning, I was standing in the Tucson airport after a … Read More
Recap of the Long Island Corn Crake
First off, there were far too many “punny” titles for this post (almost none of which I thought up on my own/didn’t steal from an internet meme) – “Children of the Corncrake” – “Jimmy Crake Corn and I don’t care” – “Crexit through the gift shop”…you get the idea. By now, it’s a well known saga involving the Long Island … Read More
New York Townsend’s Solitaire Plus More
This past Wednesday, Garrett MacDonald, Andrew Dreelin, and I birded in Madison County, New York. Specifically, we decided to chase some Evening Grosbeaks tending to a feeder near the town of Sheds, as well as a continuing Townsend’s Solitaire in Erieville. My classes didn’t start until 12:20 PM on Wednesday, so we were able to have enough time to try and get … Read More
One day wonder: Fork-tailed Flycatcher in Illinois!
On Monday, May 12, an email went out to the Illinois birding community that the Bowman brothers (Chris and Mark) had found a Fork-tailed Flycatcher at Gunnar Anderson Forest Preserve in Geneva, Illinois (Kane County). The last Fork-tailed Flycatcher seen in Illinois that many people saw was a one day wonder found by Josh Engel at Paul Douglas Forest Preserve (Cook County) … Read More
Western Spindalis – Key West Botanical Gardens, FL
On December 28th, 2012 Carl Goodrich and Jacob Cooper discovered a female Western Spindalis at the Key West Botanical Gardens, on the Florida Keys. The bird was seen at the gardens almost daily until the first week of January, when reports of the spindalis were only appearing on eBird every 10 days or so. My friends and I were trying … Read More
Thick-billed Vireo – Bill Baggs Cape Florida SP
Yesterday afternoon, local Miami birder, Angel Abreu discovered a Thick-billed Vireo at the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park! There have been less than 10 sightings of this West Indian vagrant in Florida. Lucky for me, I am down in southern Florida right now and was able to shoot over to the state park earlier today and found the bird … Read More
Frustrating Goose Chase
On January 18th Justin Bosler, Chuck Berthoud, Josh Lefever, and I literally went on a wild goose chase. There were reliable reports of a Pink-footed Goose and at least 2 Barnacle Geese just over the border in New Jersey, and that’s not to mention the incredible mini-flock of 3 Northern Lapwings nearby! There were a few other notable birds in … Read More
Northern Lapwing – Bridgewater, Massachucetts
November 18th saw my friends and I frantically birding in Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  It was our 2nd day of a 5 day birding trip through New England, chasing all the rarities we could. We started off the 18th at Fort Getty Park in Rhode Island, where we saw the beautiful Mountain Bluebird. We expected it to take a few hours to find … Read More