You are browsing the archives of 2006 November.

that the domain name “birdblogs.com” is on sale for only $100. Domain name speculation has clearly hit a new low. Here’s a word to the wise for any avian-minded entrepreneur angling for a quick buck - there’s just not that much money in this niche.

I’ve noticed an interesting trend in inscrutable comments lately. These messages tend to be complimentary in a diffuse way, never addressing my site’s specific topicality but instead offering an overall positive assesment like, “I enjoy your articles. The good content is the key. I hope you have countless visitors.” Yes, I hope so too, but [...]

Long-tailed Shrike Lanius scach scach
Hong Kong, 10 November 2006

The Long-tailed Shrike Lanius scach has a huge breeding area, from central Asia to the Chinese Pacific coast, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea. It is normally a scrub species associated with lightly wooded country, cultivated areas, and gardens. Generally a bird of lowland areas the nominate form [...]

Nanning People’s Park, GuangXi, China
November 12th and 16th 2006
 

 
November 12 2006: Nanning People’s Park, Guangxi, China

In mid-November Jo (my girlfriend) and I went on a rather special trip to China to adopt a baby girl. Much of our time was spent in the relatively undeveloped city of Nanning in the Province of GuangXi in the [...]

Found myself at Tibbetts Brook Park in Yonkers this weekend. Actually, I was there twice, as Mason loved the park, especially the small waterfall, so much the first time that he dragged me back the next day. The birding was painfully slow there. I’ve had decent success from spring to fall at Tibbetts Brook, but [...]

November visits upon New York dank, leaden chill and multitudes of ducks. I vastly prefer the latter, particularly those species that don’t frequent this area during the warmer months. One beloved bird to keep an eye out for is the Bufflehead, a beauty in black and white. Bufflehead are fascinating little creatures. They are exceptional [...]

White-browed Sparrow-weaver Plocepasser mahali
Uhuru Park, Nairobi, Kenya, November 2006

A large, chunky and aptly-named sparrow-like weaver, the White-browed Sparrow-weaver is an African endemic found in dry, acacia habitat from Somalia to South Africa. The birds usually occur in noisy groups, building very ragged, untidy roosting and breeding nests that typically look like they’ve been half-destroyed [...]

Do you blog on or read about varied topics in science? Do you plan on being on or near North Carolina in mid-January? Maybe you should. That way you can be a part of the 2007 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference. This exciting event is presented as a free, open and public event for scientists, [...]

In the long, slow, painful process of transferring content from the old version of this blog to the shiny, new one, I realize I’ve been remiss in promoting the first book on bird watching I ever read, one that happens to still stand as one of the funniest. The Verb ‘To Bird’ by Peter Cashwell [...]

Grey Thrush Turdus cardis
Nanning, China. November 2006
 

 
On a recent short trip to China I found the Grey Thrushes in the photos below tucked away in a sheltered herb-garden within the Nanning People’s Park (photo above). Like most Asian thrushes (and unlike many European species) they were extremely wary, and difficult to see well: there were [...]