You are browsing the archives of 2008 December.

The first day of winter, I’ve learned, carries a lot more significance when one lives in a place that experiences a real winter. By real, of course, I mean a frigid, intemperate, icy season accompanied by snowfalls measured not in inches but in feet. Welcome to my winter in western New York! Since I was [...]

It was cold and dark when I awakened on Saturday at 5:45 in the morning.  My gear was all packed and ready so I just had to slip into my several layers of clothing, drink some coffee, shrug on my backpack, and get out the door.  As I walked through the flurries over the ice [...]

Hunters in Lebanon regularly kill protected migratory birds, and, according to one of the hunters, it’s ok “because there are thousands of them”.  Is Lebanon the next Malta?

On the next to last weekend in January, when the cold wind is blowing snow and ice and there is nothing I’d rather be doing than reading a book while curled up on my couch under a blanket and a cat or two , I’ll be birding.  Not only will I be birding, but I’ll [...]

…to see the Northern Hawk Owl in Peru, NY.  Amazing pictures by Jeff Nadler, Adirondack photographer extraordinaire.

Winter gets a bad rap, not just for inclement, often intolerable weather but also for an apparent lack of biodiversity. True, most vegetation in temperate zones shuts down but as far as bird species go, the shorter months tend to be long on birds we just don’t see during the rest of the year. Here [...]

As the holiday season hurtles towards us, it’s fair to say that if you haven’t finished your holiday shopping yet, you’d best get to it! The rest of us can begin celebrating early, although those of us laid low by the current global economic instability may not be in much of a mood to be [...]

Some months ago we here at 10,000 Birds learnt about Charleen Turner, and her amazingly patient (and loving) documentation of a pair of Mute Swans and their cygnets that she’d been watching through the summer. Charleen had a gift for telling a story and had taken hundreds of photos too – a combination that seemed [...]

With the holidays coming, discerning shoppers have been stocking up on our classic I BRAKE FOR BIRDS bumper stickers. And why wouldn’t they? These beauties make truly thoughtful stocking stuffers for  birders, bird watchers, or even ironic nature haters… There are only 14 left in this classic design, the one carried over from the original [...]

The winners of the 2008 Great Backyard Bird Count photo contest have been announced.  Go check them out!