Every year offers a different set of experiences. In 2019, I saw so many lifers that I couldn’t imagine narrowing them down to a Top 10. 2020 stands in stark contrast to last year’s international adventures, and though I managed to make the most of this challenging reality I did not crack into the double digits for new birds observed. … Read More
Adirondack Adventures
New York is home to an impressively diverse array of natural habitats. The Empire State’s various ecoregions run the gamut from the beaches and marshes of Long Island to the grasslands and high peaks near the Canadian border. The Adirondack Mountains are perhaps the wildest, most distinct region of the state, representing the southern edge of the boreal forest biome … Read More
South Padre Warblers on Parade
Sandwiched between the rush of spring-breakers in March and the arrival of beach-goers in June, there is another invasion of visitors to South Padre Island during the end of April and beginning of May. They may be much more discrete than rowdy, drunken college kids but dress just as gaudy and they don’t crowd the beaches with 4X4’s and umbrellas like … Read More
Winter Rarities at Cape May Point SP
It isn’t much of a secret that Cape May Point State Park, at the southern tip of New Jersey, is one of the country’s top birding locations and rarity traps. Every winter something interesting turns up at the park and stays for a few days, weeks, or maybe even over-winters there. This winter, however, is totally off the charts! Besides … Read More
A phenomenal day of banding
This morning was the last scheduled morning of banding for the Avian Outreach class. Despite some low expectations with the weather and lack of recent migration, the variety and numbers were quite incredible. We ended the day with 77 birds of 18 species. The first really exciting bird for most of us was a first fall female Mourning Warbler. The … Read More
Western warblers finally arriving!
I have been spending the past couple weeks recieving text alerts from back home in PA and reading posts on the PABIRDS listserve that have been filled with reports of all the warblers swarming through eastern forests right now and I have been feeling a little left out, since migration is a little behind here in Idaho and up until … Read More