You are browsing the archives of 2006 December.

The part of the NYC Metro area that I feel most at home in, basically western portions of the Bronx and most of Westchester County, has been awash with exciting rarities in the last month. Around Thanksgiving, a Hammond’s Flycatcher got really, really lost and wound up in the Marshlands Conservancy in Rye. At the [...]

I knew that would happen eventually. Actually, if you create content for the web, you’re the Person of the Year too. Interesting…

President Bush awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest U.S. civilian honor recognizing achievement in public service, science, the arts, education, athletics and other fields, to noted blues man B.B. King. Living with the blues for as long as B.B. King has truly is a heroic act!

The newest edition of I and the Bird has me feeling fairly sentimental. Blame it on Duncan, the estimable host of this superb installment. I’ve been after the proprietor of Ben Cruachan Blog to host IATB for some time now, since the very beginning, in fact. Duncan was a part of the very first I [...]

Let us draw inspiration this month from American author, Oliver Herford (1863-1935). Herford is also known for such wry epigrams as “Many are called but few get up,” and “Only the young die good,” but his most sincere and touching contribution was surely this poem, I Heard a Bird Sing: I heard a bird sing [...]

In my last post, I waxed sentimental about my 300th, not to mention 301st, addition to my 2006 year list. And yet, I failed to regale you with the gripping tale of year bird #299… To avoid keeping you in cruel suspense any longer, I’ll reveal that the species in question was Snow Bunting, new [...]

The esteemed host of the 38th edition of I and the Bird is too busy fighting wildfires to hunt down your best post on birding or wild birds, so make his life a bit easier, won’t you? Send your link and summary to me or Duncan (djfraser AT bencruachan-dot-org) of Ben Cruachan Blog by December [...]

Patrick of The Hawk Owl’s Nest and I met up this weekend for a spot of winter birding at the incomparable Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Sticklers among you might point out that winter hasn’t officially arrived yet, but that frigid wind blowing off the bay says otherwise. Patrick, a denizen of New Jersey, had never [...]

The 3 Bs of birding, those items without which this activity just cannot be enjoyed fully, are Bins, Books, and Birds. That last B probably goes without saying, while the first one can be considered the least essential of the three, though still mighty important. Books, on the other hand, are almost as essential to [...]

or something like that at the splendid 15th edition of the Circus of the Spineless presented at Words & Pictures. Bug out!