You are browsing the archives of 2009 May.

After a filling breakfast our motley crew was issued the Swarovski scopes and tripods that would be ours to use for the next several days in Kazakhstan.  The new magnesium telescopes were lightweight and sturdy, the new 25-50X wide angle eyepiece allowed for a larger field of view without diminishing the quality of said view, [...]

Don’t you love this time of year? If you live in the United States, you’re either looking at a long weekend or wishing you had one. All around the world, temperatures are becoming more clement as birds and humans alike begin to settle in for the next season. What will you be doing this glorious [...]

This report on The Razorbills’ day at the World Series of Birding was submitted by Hope Batcheller, the impetus behind the New York State Young Birders Club.  In it she details the day’s efforts, efforts that were hopefully supported by at least some 10,000 Birds readers (you can still support the team for more info [...]

Our flight from Frankfurt to Astana landed at about 11 PM local time on Monday, May 11.  Having spent a mere twenty-four hours in Frankfurt after the flight from New York I had never really adjusted to the six-hour time difference and now I was a full twelve hours behind and not at all sleepy.  [...]

Thanks to Eric of The Primate Diaries for putting together a powerful presentation of Scientia Pro Publica #4, this edition of the science blogging carnival dedicated to the memory of Stephen Jay Gould.

Our window for birdwatching in Puerto Rico was heartbreakingly brief, but the true reason for our trip was the wedding of our dear friends, Tarra and Evan. Their ceremony was beautiful and the celebration lasted long into the night. The next day, we had time but for a brief visit to Old San Juan and [...]

On our last day in Kazakhstan we birders traveled hundreds of kilometers to the east of Almaty in order to explore the desert environment there.  And while many birds were viewed, none were quite as fascinating to me as the two pink-winged finches we spotted, the Desert Finch and the Mongolian Finch.  This post, of [...]

When my plane touched down in Frankfurt late in the morning on Saturday the 9th of May I was focused on finding my way to the shuttle that would take me to the Frankfurt Intercity Hotel where I would be staying for about twenty-four hours before getting back on a plane and flying to Kazakhstan.  [...]

Isla Verde is OK for casinos and clubs but hardly offers a sufficient survey of Puerto Rico’s amazing avifauna. The birding centerpiece of our brief Puerto Rican trip was a morning excursion to El Yunque Caribbean National Forest. For a country so blessed with avian diversity, Puerto Rico seemed woefully light in the birding tour [...]

Current U.S. Territory and potential 51st state, Puerto Rico boasts 349 bird species, including 17 or so endemics, as well as the second highest alcohol consumption per capita in the world, behind only Russia. Sara and I traveled there in November 2004 for a weekend wedding, but also attempted a whirlwind tour of the northeastern [...]