You are browsing the archives of 2009 April.

The Atlanta Hawk’s mascot, a hawk named “Spirit,” managed to delay the Hawks’ playoff game against the Miami Heat last night, perching on the basket and refusing to leave. The basketball players, to their credit, refused to play on until the Harris’s Hawk was removed by his handler.  Video of the delay here, and, no, [...]

It has been awhile since I reviewed Esther Woolfson’s Corvus: A Life with Birds (I liked it), but the American edition has just been published by Counterpoint Press and, fortunately for you, they have agreed to work with 10,000 Birds to give away a copy of Corvus: A Life with Birds to one of you!  [...]

Happy Earth Day! Celebrate by enjoying the blogosphere’s best writing on science, nature and medicine in Scientia Pro Publica 2 by GrrlScientist.

This guest post is written by Hope Batcheller, a young dynamo in the New York State birding scene.  In it, she asks for support for The Razorbills, a team of five keen teenage birders (who probably don’t want to be referred to as “keen”).  Please support them, because, well, teenagers who are not mugging little [...]

My birding buddy Laura Kammermeier writes about Seven Owls, One New York Winter on her sweet new blog. I’m proud to say I was part of at least a couple of them.

The family is spending a few days down on the farm, specifically the retired dairy farm my mother-in-law calls home. Ann and her husband Bill have a gorgeous spread in Potter County, Pennsylvania which I’ve been writing about since I started blogging. Yet, I can attest with pleasure that this slice of pastoral heaven still [...]

When I was growing up, before I consciously chose to become an atheist, I attended, with my family, a stone church built in 1732 in my hometown of Saugerties in the Hudson Valley of New York State.  I was always impressed by the fact that people over two hundred years earlier had managed to build [...]

“Ramblings” is a loaded term, one capable of conveying a continuum of meaning. Some ramblings are aimless digressions, either physical or philosophical, while others are intentional excursions. I’ve always considered myself what the immortal Dicky Betts labeled a ramblin’ man — tryin to make a livin and doin’ the best I can — but I [...]

April is on the wane and it seems like everyone is rushing to somewhere better, or at least warmer. Human beings are far from the only beings on the move. Every day, more birds and butterflies turn up in my neckof the woods. What’s happening in yours? More important, where are you headed this weekend [...]

Seeing ancient Mayan ruins is a mind-bending experience, especially for someone, like me, who has not seen the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, or other similarly old and impressive architectural marvels.  I was fascinated by the combination of lush, organic elements like trees and vines with the solid and inorganic stone.  Standing [...]