I’ve always appreciated the seasonality of birding. When you’re paying close attention to the goings-on in the world outside your windows, the annual cycle of nature is conspicuous and easy to track. This visible, reliable schedule has been a major boon throughout the pandemic, which has caused weeks and months to blur together and warp all perception of time. The … Read More
The Season So Far: Fall 2020 Highlights
Each of the four seasons has something special to offer the birding world. I will always cherish the lively color and music of spring when birds return after months of absence. Winter brings the festive joy of Christmas Bird Counts and new year lists, while summer offers breeding bird surveys and plenty of free time for adventures. Even so, I … Read More
Apartment Birding and Fire Escapism
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
October Big Day 2019
Who doesn’t love a Big Day? Any excuse to get out and count birds in the name of science is a worthwhile cause in my book. eBird has been orchestrating Global Big Day events each May since 2015, an international effort to record as many of the world’s species as possible within a 24 hour period. Last fall, the Cornell-based … Read More
Cape Henlopen Hawkwatch – September Highlights!
Ah…fall migration, my favorite time of the year! Warblers streaming through the trees, thrushes calling from the understory, and raptors filling the skies – all while the leaves slowly change color, and with each cold front we move closer and closer to winter. I am living and working down in Delaware for the season, and have been trying to make … Read More
Monday Morning Blues
My friend Mark Mizak found a kayak that he wanted to buy online, but it was in New Jersey. Mark is heading south to Florida for the rest of the winter before heading back to Montana to work as a wildlands fire-fighter. He offered to take Josh Lefever and I along to get his new boat on a day-trip to … 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
October 12 Hawk Watching at Jo Hays Vista
On Friday, I joined Chuck Widman, Josh Lefever, and Alex Lamoreaux for a day of hawk watching at Jo Hays Vista. Winds were gusty out of the northwest, which brought in a high number of migrant Red-tailed hawks (96 for the day!). At one point we had five in the sky at the same time! Â Sharp-shinned hawks were also … Read More
More Montezuma shorebirds
On Wednesday I met Steve Brenner for a couple hours of scanning the shorebird flocks at Knox-Marcellus Marsh in the Montezuma NWR. We met pretty early in the morning and passerines were moving around as we drove out Towpath Rd. The Bobolinks constantly flying overhead provided a nice audio background with their ever-present bink calls. We found a couple of warblers including … Read More
Some Migrating Raptors
Living on top of a ridge in the Appalachians definitely has its advantages and disadvantages. While I do not have a stream running through the property or a nice lowland forest, the view provides an excellent opportunity for hawk watching. With good winds and decent weather today, I decided to watch for raptors over the yard. Within a few minutes, … Read More
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