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
Listing Priorities
The week began with a Barred Owl. Just minutes after midnight, my tired brain registered a series of emphatic hoots somewhere in the woods beyond the campground loop. I smiled as I continued preparing for bed. It had been 14 months since I last encountered the species, which is essentially unheard of on Long Island. These birds are quite common … Read More
A May in the Life of a Birder
Week 1: So it begins Even though the first waves of Neotropical migrants typically arrive before the calendar changes to the fifth month, most East Coast birders would agree that May is the peak of the excitement. This year, some of my migration highlights came a little early. A few advance bouts of favorable conditions brought Prairie Warblers, Northern Parulas, … Read More
eBird: Agreeing to agree
eBird has done countless things to revolutionize birding, not the least of which includes elevating birding to a scientific pursuit, where a once recreational activity now has meaningful implications. What was once relegated to a single day of birding for most regions over the course of the year – the Christmas Bird Count – now occurs on a near daily … Read More
Birding Aruba – Part 1
See also: Part 2 | Part 3 On Monday, June 23rd, my wife and I flew from Pittsburgh to Aruba for our honeymoon. Everyone who knows my wife is aware that she is not a birder and will only tolerate a certain amount of birding – a fine line I’ve been walking since I started birding five years ago! The trip … Read More
Parking Lot Birding – Common Raven in Cecil County, MD
Yesterday morning, Matt Boone picked me up around 8:00 to bird the Susquehanna River at Port Deposit for a couple of hours before spending the rest of the day mindlessly flipping through pages of a stat book. A mile down the road, Matt decided he wanted to get gas before we got too far, so we pulled into the first … Read More
One-a-Day eBird Challenge
Robert Mortensen introduced the One-a-Day eBird Challenge several years ago and now eBird is taking it to the next level. The goal of the One-a-Day eBird Challenge is to submit at least one eBird Checklist per day. Starting in January 2014, eBird will be giving prizes away from Carl Zeiss Sport Optics and Princeton University Press for a new challenge each … Read More
Snowy Owl Irruption Watch 2013-14
The winter of 2013-2014 is proving to be one of the biggest Snowy Owl irruptions in years, even though owls just started arriving in the Mid-Atlantic region during the last two weeks. Here we will be trying to keep an updated account of all the Snowy Owl activity in the Mid-Atlantic states during this irruption season and score each bird … Read More
Snowy Owls make it to Delaware!
For the past couple of weeks, Snowy Owls have been making a significant push into the northeast. They appear to be concentrating in coastal areas, but are making their presence known in the Great Lakes region as well. There are only a few inland records thus far, but folks should definitely be on the lookout! Anyway, I’ve been enviously watching … Read More
MEGA: Gray Kingbird in Delaware
The madness, if you will, started late Wednesday morning as I was sifting through insects for my grad research. I got an eBird Rare Bird Alert for Delaware that listed a Clay-colored Sparrow about ten minutes from my house. I sent the guy an email to see if I could come look for the bird. He replied a half our … Read More
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