Many of us are in the midst of a winter that never was heading towards a Valentine’s Day that may never be. If you have romantic plans this weekend, make reservations in advance. If love isn’t in the air in your immediate vicinity, why not birding? I’ll be headed up to the lakefront this weekend; [...]

One of the nicest things about staying with my grandparents in Sydney is the proximity of their house to part of the Sydney Harbour National Park. This park, which protects scattered headlands, bays and islands of natural bush, is located around the entrance to Sydney Harbour. Dobroyd Head, the section in Balgowlah near where my [...]

Snowy Owls are iconic birds. You rarely find a person – birder or non – who doesn’t want to take a good long look at a bright white owl. And, of course, you rarely meet a photographer who doesn’t want to take a good close picture of a bright white owl. On Saturday, as has [...]

Torrent Ducks are the thrill-seekers of the avian world. Very few birds – or animals for that matter – would plunge head-first into the churning cauldrons of some of South America’s most treacherous rivers. But Torrent Ducks are fearless and to witness some of their daredevil feats ranks pretty high in the book “1000 Avian Spectacles to See [...]

Yee-haw! The New York Football Giants have won the Super Bowl for the second time in 4 years. Not too shabby! Not only does my football team end up on top, but now I get my Sundays back! This weekend, however, I didn’t see any special birds, unless you count the bird M.I.A. flipped during [...]

Richard Fried spent 2011 doing a New York State Big Year and managed to top the record of 350 species which was only set in 2008 by Scott Whittle. Richard totaled 352 species, an impressive number, by seeing almost all of the regularly occurring New York birds and the vast majority of the rarities that [...]

The first weekend of February holds a special place in the hearts of sports fans and advertising aficionados across North America and beyond.  Super Bowl Sunday is among my favorite holidays, and this one means more than most as my favorite team is gunning for the NFL Championship. Let’s hear your predictions, people: Who will win [...]

Do you get out birding much? If you’re checking in here on a Monday morning, chances are you have a bird tale to tell. Then again, maybe like me you simply enjoy hearing about the avian observations of others even when you can’t make time for your own bird chases. Speaking of Birdchasers, Rob Fergus [...]

We have had a wet week in Broome with a tropical low to our north and further down the coast there is a cyclone. This cyclone has been named Cyclone Iggy and is a dominant circle on our satellite image of Western Australia. It has been amusing to listen to the “younger” weather people on [...]

This may read like something of a non sequitur, but have you ever seen a Rainbow Eucalyptus? Eucalyptus deglupta is a psychedelic beauty, with stunning, striated bark that spans nearly every color of the rainbow. Take a moment to check out how trippy this tree is. When you’re done, come back and we’ll talk birds. [...]

I am always intrigued by the multitude of opinions out there on various birding subjects, but lately none more than digiscoping. With all of the birding shows involved in my schedule I have the opportunity to hear many of these opinions. Often enough, I hear birders discussing digiscoping as if it were an after thought, [...]

Like some of the other beat writers around here I’ve been roped into keeping a year list this year, and inspired by the other lists I looked at I thought about what I wanted to achieve this year in birding. As opposed to my usual position of seeing whatever I see. It is a scary [...]

On and off for the last several months I’ve been working on a personal project to enter a massive amount of old bird records from the state of North Carolina into eBird. We’re fortunate in this state to have the last 30 years of Carolina Bird Club journals, including the invaluable quarterly sightings reports, in [...]

Are we going to talk birds here or discuss how awesome it is that the NY Giants are going to the Super Bowl? Oh, birds? I should have guessed that. Big Blue fans can leave proud comments and hyperbolic predictions in the comments! My Best Bird of the Weekend™  was a Blue Jay celebrating a rare Rochester [...]

As you all know, “brown” can be quite good on a bird and it comes in all colours and sizes! For those of you familiar with shorebirds there is a lot of “grey” out there, so I thought I should share some “brown” with you. One of the best places to find “brown” around Broome [...]

Behind the Outback Steakhouse at Edgewater Commons, a shopping center across the Hudson River from New York City, is a rusted pile of wreckage that is gradually falling apart and into the river. I am not really sure what it is or why it has been left to blight a small portion of the view [...]

So here we are in the latter half of the first month of the year, and I’ve run out of things to talk about. Not really, but I’m trying to avoid talking about the weather. Are you really into small talk anyway? What’s your sign? Enough chit chat! Regarding the critical topic of birding and [...]

Ok, so I’m unashamedly promoting my new show on National Geographic WILD in this post. It offers a fantastic insight into the lives of Harris’s Hawks, the Sonoran Desert and its creatures. Please see below for more details. The National Geographic WILD TV network is debuting Aerial Assassins, hosted by James Currie on Friday, January 20, [...]

What a splendid weekend! With superb American playoff football all weekend long, I hardly noticed the bitter arrival of authentic winter weather or the apparent absence of non-corvid avifauna in my immediate vicinity. But who cares, right? As a Giant fan, I enjoyed my fill of meaningless entertainment this weekend. Oh, you’d rather talk about [...]

I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for owls. Wander through my front door and glance upwards and you’ll find at least two watching you, a Tawny Owl and a Barn Owl, both sadly gathered as roadkills. Above our fireplace is a large painting of a Barn Owl. The current header image of [...]