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
A Tale of Two Cuckoos
The cosmopolitan family Cuculidae contains some of the world’s weirdest and most wonderful species of birds. I am not shy about my fondness for cuckoos, and over the years I have enjoyed a number of incredible encounters with this tribe during my travels around the globe. Fantastic creatures like Greater Roadrunner, Squirrel Cuckoo, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Pheasant Cuckoo, Little Bronze-Cuckoo, … 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
A Quick Summer Trip to the Sky Islands of Southeast Arizona
2020 truly has been a year for the books, it’s hard to believe it’s actually almost over. Back in January, I was happily exploring Florida, running around for rarities and soaking up the sun. But soon the Coronavirus reared its ugly head and we headed for a global shut-down to try and curb the pandemic. We’ve been living socially-distanced from one … Read More
Mangrove Cuckoo Madness
The Cattle Landing count site run by Belize Raptor Research, where I am currently volunteering, is just north of Punta Gorda in the Toledo District of southern Belize. It is located just a few meters away from the coastline, which makes it an ideal spot for migrants of all kinds, not just raptors. Migrants can funnel in from the Mississippi … Read More
Cape May Trip – Part 4
This is the fourth part of a series of posts about my recent birding trip to Cape May, which began with Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. On October 22nd, the three of us got up extra early to make it over to the Higbee Beach SWA Morning Flight station. While we waited for the sun to rise, we could … Read More
A New Blogger!
Hey, birders! I’m the newest member of The Nemesis Bird blog. I’m a young birder and naturalist from eastern Pennsylvania, where I live on an old farm with a wonderful view of the Kittatinny Ridge, a well-known hawk migration corridor. I have been interested in birds for as long as I can remember, and have since become fascinated with everything … Read More
More Desert Shorebirding!
This morning, Anna and I went to one of our cuckoo sites near Blythe that hadn’t been visited in a few weeks to see if there was any cuckoo activity there. We arrived at 5:00am and stayed for an hour and forty-five minutes, without hearing anything, so we left to go to Cibola NWR. Here Anna and I were planning … Read More
First Few Days of Cuckoo Field Work
Anna and I arrived in Blythe, California on the 14th and hit the ground running; the morning of the 15th we went to one of our most popular sites for cuckoos, the sites we call CVCA1 and CVCA 2 (CVCA = Cibola Valley Conservation Area). These sites border each other and create a rather large area of mass-planted willows and … Read More