As birders we often talk about the problem of common birds being misidentified as rare ones. The counterpoint, but probably more frequent, is that rare birds are simply overlooked. Here’s a link to a fantastic “Awareness Test” on YouTube. Give it a try, it only takes a minute. The relevance of this test to bird identification should […]
How many rare birds do we miss? Read More »
Upcoming events: I’ll be out on a fossil-fuel-free big day this coming weekend, bicycling around Concord, Massachusetts (hoping for 100 species) and I’ll try to post a report about that next week. You can sponsor me through Bird Studies Canada, or through Malkolm Boothroyd’s Bird Day Challenge. —————–========—————– The Blog: When I started this blog
Big Day, and Blogging hiatus Read More »
Prompted by some good discussion I’ve read on TexBirds and elsewhere: I want to stress the point that the danger to birds is not so much the height of the wall, but more the wide swath of habitat that would be cleared for the wall and service roads. Chachalacas, Pygmy Owls, Green Jays, etc will
More on Texas Border Wall Read More »
Revised 8 Apr 2008 – Do something: Write or call Congress. See the No Texas Border Wall campaign and their suggestions for action with several petitions to sign and instructions for contacting government officials. Defenders of Wildlife has a handy form here for writing to your representative. ————————— The proposed border wall (1) from Texas
Border Fence puts Texas birds and birding at risk Read More »
Here’s an example of one of the countless thousands of questions that are still out there waiting to be answered about North American birds. I went to Texas in February (for the opening of the fantastic new Clif Moss Nature Education Center of the Corpus Christi Public Library) and I had a chance to see
Variation in Wild Turkey Read More »
One of the enduring mysteries of North American ornithology involves several species which were painted by Audubon in the early 1800s but never seen again. The most striking and appealing of these birds is the Carbonated Swamp-Warbler, and since the painting was published ornithologists have debated whether this could be a rare and now-extinct species,
Audubon’s mysteries: Carbonated Swamp-Warbler Read More »
Great news: New Jersey’s governor Corzine yesterday signed into law a moratorium on the harvest of Horseshoe Crabs in that state (press release here). This is great news for Red Knots – politicians have finally recognized the dire situation and put the needs of a species ahead of the seasonal income of a few fishermen.
A reprieve for Red Knots Read More »
Maybe I should change the name of this blog to “All about Redpolls”, but I’ve received a few photos that I wanted to pass along, making the point that “Greater” Common Redpoll is not just an eastern specialty. The AOU checklist and the BNA account report that this subspecies winters regularly from Labrador west to
Greater Redpoll photos Read More »
A new photo by Dan Berard shows what looks like an intermediate large redpoll, and should be added to the discussion in my previous post. photo copyright Dan Berard, used by permission – 7 Mar 2008, Millbury, MA Dan says both of these birds were about the same size and both were larger than the
Another large pale redpoll Read More »
Maybe we are just more aware and looking harder for “Greater” Common Redpolls (Carduelis flammea rostrata) this winter in Massachusetts, or maybe it’s really an exceptional winter, but there is no doubt that they have come south in significant numbers. I have seen them on a couple of visits to Dan Berard’s feeders in Millbury,
Redpoll investigation widens to include “Greater” Read More »