Last Saturday (the 15th), Michael Retter and Matt Hale drove up from West Lafayette to stay at my house for the weekend (specifically for the Gull Frolic, more on that coming soon). They had to head out on Sunday, but before they left, we birded a bit looking for Scoters on the lakefront. This winter has been quite unlike others … Read More
Long-eared Owls and White-winged Scoters
Yesterday, I had a half day of school, and couldn’t find a better use of my time than to go birding! I called up my friend Andy Sigler to see if he had any interest in heading out to Kane County for some birding, and he agreed to pick me up at about 12:45ish. We met at my school and … Read More
Will, Grundy, and Cook County Illinois Birding
Yesterday, I was able to get out for a day of birding with my friend and one of my mentors, Geoff Williamson. In 2013, the ABA bestowed Geoff with the ABA Ludlow Griscom Award, which is for those, “who have dramatically advanced the state of ornithological knowledge for a particular region” (http://www.aba.org/about/awards.html). Geoff helped me when I first found birding, … Read More
Common Goldeneye x Hooded Merganser Hybrid – Presque Isle SP, PA
One aspect that birding has to offer is that every once in a while you might get lucky to see an individual bird of a species you are familiar with, but due to a wide range of issues (leucism, albinism, melanism, etc) the bird is absolutely unique. One of my favorite things to see are hybrid birds. I’m sure lots … Read More