Dense temperate rainforest covers the Olympic Peninsula of Washington right up until the coastline, then rocky cliffs and towering islands create a stunning landscape where at least 12 species of alcids can be seen from shore or by taking a boat just a few miles out onto the ocean. Most people, even non-birders, are familiar with puffins – the iconic alcid. … Read More
Birds, Bears, Lions – Idaho for the Summer
This summer I am back in Idaho, working for the Intermountain Bird Observatory! I can’t wait to explore a new region of the state, mainly north of McCall to the Canada border while doing daily point count transects for breeding birds. My friend Ian Gardner and I drove over from Pennsylvania, winding around to a few of our friend’s houses and … Read More
Laguna Atascosa NWR — South TX Spring Break
March 8th kicked off a week-long tour of southern Texas with my friends Ian Gardner, Chris Markiewicz, and Mark Markiewicz. We landed in Corpus Christi in the early afternoon, and made a quick trip north to the Rockport area across from Aransas NWR in search of Whooping Cranes before dropping back south to Rio Hondo. On the drive up, we … Read More
Raptors in Northern Nicaragua
For two glorious weeks between February and March, Drew Weber and I were in northern Nicaragua completing bird surveys on shade grown coffee farms for the lovely folks over at Birds and Beans. Much of our time was spent in the department of Madriz, an area that previously was severely under-birded. Relishing in the challenge of birding unknown territory and … 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
Friendly Peregrine
It’s not every day that you hear the words ‘friendly’ and ‘Peregrine’ in the same sentence, but if you haven’t heard already there is a ridiculously tame and cooperative immature Peregrine Falcon hanging out towards the back end of the Edwin B. Forsythe NWR’s Wildlife Auto Loop. Refuge staff have said that it isn’t one of the locally-hatched birds as … Read More
Snowy Owls from NY to NJ
It’s no secret that Snowy Owls are almost everywhere this winter. My friends and I went on a 5 day trip for New Years and were able to see 8 different owls without going out of our way! In fact the first bird of the trip was a Snowy I spotted along the Jones Beach Ocean Parkway perched at the … Read More
Snowstorm in Cape May
When we went to bed on the evening of January 2nd in Cape May, the temperature was dropping quick and it was beginning to snow. When we woke up to the next morning, there was a half-foot of snow on the ground and the wind was howling. We had camped in my truck overnight, and it managed to stay pretty … Read More
Cape May Pt SP Snowbirds
After wandering around the streets of Cape May Point for awhile but not being able to turn up the White-winged Dove, we decided to head over to the state park to see what was around. It was incredible to see the park covered in snow. Equally amazing was how active the birds were in the snow-covered, freezing landscape. Along the … Read More
Rain with a chance of shearwaters – Lewes Paulagic
This past Saturday, fellow NemesisBird contributor Tim Shreckengost and I joined Paul Guris‘ seabirding crew and about 30 other birders from mostly Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania on a 12 hour pelagic trip out of Lewes aboard the trusty Thelma Dale IV. The morning started off with heavy rain. I was too excited to be cooped up inside though, so Tim and … Read More