Putting nature on TV is a tricky business. First there is the inherent irony of getting people to sit on their butts in front of a screen in order to show them the vast and beautiful world outside said screen. On top of that, every editorial choice not only says something, but says a million [...]

One of the sweetest subsections of the duck family has to be the sawbills, formally known as mergansers. Mergansers are a family of diving waterfowl in Merginae, the seaduck subfamily of Anatidae. Ironically, only one of these seaducks is truly a seafarer, the others favoring rivers and lakes. The name ‘merganser’ is said to have [...]

This may read like something of a non sequitur, but have you ever seen a Rainbow Eucalyptus? Eucalyptus deglupta is a psychedelic beauty, with stunning, striated bark that spans nearly every color of the rainbow. Take a moment to check out how trippy this tree is. When you’re done, come back and we’ll talk birds. [...]

I am always intrigued by the multitude of opinions out there on various birding subjects, but lately none more than digiscoping. With all of the birding shows involved in my schedule I have the opportunity to hear many of these opinions. Often enough, I hear birders discussing digiscoping as if it were an after thought, [...]

Maybe Kentucky shouldn’t have allowed the Sandhill Crane hunt?  An avian visitor to the state senate let its displeasure be known. Via Lowering the Bar.

If I have learned anything from living in the northern half of the United States is that in order to survive winter with my sanity in tact is that I need to eat a lot of kale, take a daily 20 minute walk (no matter how cold) and plan a trip some place warm even [...]

Read the heart-warming tale of a young Pied Shag, a caring family, a helicopter ride, and a bird rescue facility.

Like some of the other beat writers around here I’ve been roped into keeping a year list this year, and inspired by the other lists I looked at I thought about what I wanted to achieve this year in birding. As opposed to my usual position of seeing whatever I see. It is a scary [...]

It has been over two months since the Greater White-fronted Goose was found at Van Cortlandt Park in New York City’s northernmost borough, the Bronx. Andrew Baksh, Birding Dude, has been keeping close tabs on it during his weekly Van Cortlandt Park bird walks since, and I figured it was time that I made a [...]

On and off for the last several months I’ve been working on a personal project to enter a massive amount of old bird records from the state of North Carolina into eBird. We’re fortunate in this state to have the last 30 years of Carolina Bird Club journals, including the invaluable quarterly sightings reports, in [...]

Today I shall weave a tale of dispair. A tale of jealousy. Of hopelessness. Of anger, fear, aggressioon….the dark side are they. Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your…..ahem. Let me start from the beginning. It was the year 2010. One Seagull Steve was living in San Francisco, on a [...]

You may already know about this, but I was not aware that a pure white Blackbird (the thrush, not the icterid) can be found at Rufford Abbey Country Park in Nottinghamshire, UK. In fact, this leucistic lovely (check out the pic) has resided at the park for the last four years. Thanks to reader Sher Buckner [...]