You are browsing the archives of 2006 May.

Being born and raised in the Bronx inures one to noises that might disturb or awaken those from more peaceful areas. Our apartment faces a very noisy street so I’ve learned to sleep through car alarms, sirens, and screaming punk kids (can’t stand those little punks!) Imagine my surprise, then, when my blissful slumber was [...]

European Storm Petrels Hydrobates pelagicus
Portland Bill, Dorset, UK. 24 May 2006
 
Conditions in the English Channel have been remarkably ‘un-May-like’ this week, and Martin Cade (warden at the wonderful Portland Bird Observatory (PBO) and keeper of the PBO website) has been posting some dramatic photos of European Storm Petrels Hydrobates pelagicus (or Stormies as they’re [...]

These are good times to be a birder in temperate climes. The mass migration of spectacular songbirds, shorebirds, and raptors, many of whom those of us who dwell north of the equator haven’t seen in months, is quite simply the premiere birding event of the year. May is like a Christmas morning or Mardi Gras [...]

The first thing one notices about Pete Dunne’s Essential Field Guide Companion is its intimidating bulk. This massive tome, larger even than The Sibley Guide to Birds, is not likely to accompany any but the strongest-backed birders into the field. Next is the astonishing realization that, apart from the dust jacket, this book is [...]

High Park, Toronto, Canada
20 May 2006
 

 
Having birded in a wet and cold Newark on the 16th, I found myself in a very wet and cold Toronto on the 18th trying to find migrants in the city’s beautiful 399 acre High Park. I remarked on my Newark post how I seemed to be obsessed with the [...]

Amy of WildBird on the Fly was not the only blogger to figure prominently in this big birding weekend of mine. Charlie also came to town, and he was on a mission. We had a list of three target birds to locate and a prime location for all three. Too bad the capricious, fitful weather [...]

The World Series of Birding was held in Cape May, NJ this weekend just a few hours from NYC while, at the same time, Empire State avian enthusiasts conducted their own fund-raising Birdathons. Though I was unable to participate in any formal birding activities (and way too bush-league to compete in the WSB) I enjoyed [...]

An article printed yesterday in the New York Times (hardly a ‘pro-environment lefty rag’ in case anyone wants to throw that particular argument around) seems to be the nail in the coffin for all the hysterical doom-sayers around the globe who managed to get an uninformed public looking over their shoulder in case a [...]

Golden-crowned Sparrows Zonotrichia atricapilla
British Columbia and California
 
The Golden-crowned Sparrow is a western species that largely replaces the White-crowned Sparrow along the Pacific Coast and adjacent mountain areas. Golden-crowned Sparrows breed in alpine and tundra areas from Alaska to extreme northwest Washington. They frequent alder and willow thickets, or dwarf conifers, often above or beyond the [...]

The Core Team stayed close to home base these past few days, but there’s no way I could let the weekend wave of migrants wash over without dipping my toe in a little. Central Park has been flooded by both songbirds and bird watchers, with new species of the former being tallied by the latter [...]