You are browsing the archives of 2007 June.

The Killdeer eggs at my coworker Andrea’s sister’s house have hatched!

three hours out of the egg
Well, three of the four have so far, and a couple of days early too. The heat that reached the nineties today in Saratoga County left the mother panting (birds don’t sweat), but she hung in there, shading the young [...]

Some days, all seems right with the world. We’ve all had that experience, a sharpening of the senses and shift of perception where we recognize how rich, sweet, and fraught with dynamic potential everything in our life really is. Those are the days you ask yourself: “Can my pillow be any softer?” “Can this coffee [...]

The 52nd edition of I and the Bird is fast approaching. Send a link to your best blog post about wild birds or birding to me or our next excellent host, Paul (pjollig AT gmail DOT com) of The Wandering Tattler by 6/26.  While you’re at it , how about coming up with an outstanding [...]

Sara’s mother, Ann spent a splendid few days with us last week. I like to call Ann the queen of backyard birding, but she’s had to relinquish her title, at least for the interim. It seems that a bellicose black bear has been demolishing her feeders. Usually, when one hears about bears invading backyards, the [...]

In the same walk that netted me these deer photos I also apparently wandered into the breeding territory of a male Red-winged Blackbird. Unfortunately for the bird and its offspring it had chosen rather marginal turf to try to breed in, in little tiny patches of cattails along a path. Needless to say, [...]

Vern put together a great little quiz over at Big Spring Birds.

A short stroll this evening at Five Rivers was rewarded with some nice encounters with White-tailed Deer. The shots below were with a particularly cooperative doe that allowed me to close within fifteen feet of her.

This one was not cooperative at all, but I still like the result:

Have a great weekend…I’ll be back next [...]

Ah, emerald! That brilliant beryl, birthstone of May and the most valuable gemstone, by weight, in the world, shines with a green so pure and bright that only the most verdant lands dare claim its name. The color emerald looks as fine in a feather as it does in a jewel. In Central and [...]

Phil Brown, editor of Adirondack Explorer (a newsmagazine), visited Bigelow Road in the Adirondacks to try to find boreal birds a couple of weeks ago…and failed miserably.  He should have accompanied Will and I back in February.
Once I looked beyond the annoying use of “bird brain” in the title of his piece that appeared in the Albany [...]

The following is taken from the excellent Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BCT) website:

"In the UK there are 6 species of cuckoo bumblebees. These were once like other bumblebees, but they have switched to a parasitic existence. The females kill or evict the queen and take over her workers as their own, using them to rear their [...]