You are browsing the archives of 2007 January.

Along with the expected assortment of bird books for Christmas, I received a butterfly guide, specifically the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies. Readers of this blog know that I, like so many birders before me, am developing a growing interest in the invertebrate life I encounter in my travels. Dragonflies and [...]

the sight of four mature Bald Eagles tracing wide circles in the sky outside your place of employment is magnificent.

Loggerhead Shrike Lanius ludovicianus
Panoche Valley, California. 10 January 2007

The only member of the shrike family endemic to North America, the Loggerhead Shrike breeds from southern Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, south to Mexico. It is declining in the north-east of its range, possibly (like many northern hemisphere shrikes) due to loss of suitable habitat and [...]

I love sharing the details of my birding excursions, but don’t mind saying that writing the same species over and over has grown tedious. It’s time to streamline my bird blogging workflow by establishing some expedient shorthand for trip reports.
Although winter presents the best opportunities for spotting a diversity of waterfowl, the same handful of [...]

I and the Bird is going Down Under. Don’t you want to go too? Send a link and summary to your best birding-related post to me or our wonderful host, Snail (snailseyeview AT optusnet DOT com DOT au) of Snail’s Eye View by Tuesday, January 23 for the Thursday edition.

the site has been down for a while.  We’re back in business now, so resume reading!

Some fortunate folks have been endowed throughout history with the awesome responsibility of ascribing common names to newly discovered avian species. Often, perhaps too often, these eloquent souls went above and beyond the call of duty in describing the palette of colors confronting them. That’s why we nature lovers have to go above and beyond [...]

is a new blog carnival about anthropology and archaeology.  You can enjoy the current edition at Aardvarchaeology. I also recommend checking out the very well-designed carnival home page.

Did you know there was an oil spill in Norway last week? I had no idea. Julian Bell is on the scene at Øygarden.

BirdLife International reported last week that the EU Commission has announced that the ban on imports of birds caught in the wild is to be made permanent throughout the European Union later this year. A temporary ban was enacted in October 2005 in reponse to the discovery of H5N1 avian influenza in a UK quarantine [...]