You are browsing the archives of 2007 February.

The first two months of 2007 have showered one spectacular bird species after another upon a deserving New York Metro region. While this time of year can often seem slow from a birding perspective, twitchers have been racing across the Empire State trying to keep up with each new sighting.  I’ve intimated recently that I’m […]

Sunday afternoon was great. Doing my favorite activity (birding) at my favorite location (Five Rivers Environmental Education Center) with my favorite person (my other half, Daisy, up from law school for the weekend) is my idea of a good time. Five Rivers is a large preserve run by the state of New York’s […]

Mallards, though common, are often overlooked. Many birders consider them a “trash” bird, that is, one that is so common that they are hardly worth taking the time to study or appreciate. This is unfortunate, as the gaudy green of the male Mallard is certainly worth looking at and is matched in its […]

Birdwatchers have long headed into the woods with little more equipment than binoculars and a notebook. But when Laura Erickson sets out on a birding trip, she now brings along two digital cameras, a Palm device with a bird-species database and an iPod loaded with bird songs.
“I used to be a very low-tech person,” says […]

So I woke up this morning and checked my email. An Ivory Gull in Piermont! What a wonderful opportunity to see this gorgeous species for the first time. Too bad I had to work, and, worse yet, my work would take me to Poughkeepsie, NY, more than halfway to Piermont…so close and […]

Somehow, I found myself on Long Island again, for the second time in less than a week. I have a love-hate relationship with the island, based on four years of undergraduate study and frequent subsequent visits. Essentially, I don’t find its attractions worth the preposterous traffic that afflicts every major roadway in Nassau and most […]

The Core Team dropped in at a local Pottery Barn only to be faced with a stack of bird books, namely The Sibley Guide to Birds, The Bedside Book of Birds, and some bird-themed poetry book. Sounds like they’ve got a birder at the corporate office!

Welcome to the first feeder watch! Where birds get free food and you get pictures of them getting it.

The first featured feeder is one of the small, clear, plastic, suction-cupped-to-the-window types. It is located on my parents’ dining room picture window. My parents have long fed their feathered friends and lately my father […]

My contribution to this year’s Great Backyard Bird Count could hardly be considered such. Great, that is. My “backyard” for the first three days of the four-day count period was the view outside my Bronx apartment window. This vantage is hardly as desolate as you might think.  My Bronx backyard bird list currently boasts 36 […]

Apparently there was, but now it’s been solved.