When I first moved into my Astoria apartment in early December, I immediately began keeping a “yard list” of birds seen around my new home. My expectations for the potential of this urbanized neighborhood weren’t particularly high, but I reasoned that watching for birds of note outside my window would be a fun way to pass the time between proper … Read More
Life in Queens: A New Patch
My recent move from Nassau to Queens was one of the final big events in a very eventful 2019. A few months out, I’d consider myself comfortably settled in, and the pros certainly outnumber the cons so far. Somewhere in between “notably shorter, easier commute” and “return to reliance on laundromats” on the Cool-to-Lame Scale lie the changes to my … Read More
What’s left of the Prairie State…
After a very busy May, which included (winning!) the Birding Cup in central PA and then guiding at the Biggest Week in American Birding, I ventured out to central Illinois to help with some bird surveys on two proposed wind facilities. Other than spending a few half-days birding Illinois during cross-country trips, I have never really spent much time in … Read More
Hawks harassing starlings
Everyone has seen massive flocks of starlings moving across the sky like a haunted black cloud at some point in their lives. They move in unison so perfectly that it can be hard to comprehend. Here in central Pennsylvania we don’t get flocks of millions of starling that other parts of the world see, but we can still see small versions of … Read More
Sharp-shinned Hawk eating a starling!
This morning while scouting out a region of the State College CBC, Anna and I stopped to watch as two Sharp-shinned Hawks (an adult and a juvenile) and one Cooper’s Hawk (an adult) chased around a huge flock of European Starlings. A little while later, as we were passing back by the same area, we spotted the adult Sharp-shinned Hawk … Read More
Starlings of South Africa
Probably the most common bird in the United States is the European Starling, there are billions of them. Unfortunately, it is the only species of starling we have (with the exception of mynas that have been introduced in some areas). But here in South Africa, there are an astonishing 15 species! Most of them are beautifully iridescent and glossy in … Read More