Spring migration is just heating up around here so I’ve been stealing odd hours in the nearest stretch of decent habitat. Riverdale Park is a thin ribbon of greenspace along the steep northwestern border of New York City. I’ve never found this park to host a truly impressive array of birds; the sightlines are poor [...]

There is more than one way to look at a bird. So many people see birds as part of the scenery, if they look at them at all. Others might perceive a meal, a mystery, a passing fancy, or perhaps even a talisman of truth. While one would think that bird watchers all look at [...]

Corey and I visited Central Park this morning for some early spring birding. At this point in the season, a good day might be 8 species of warbler, rather than 20. We topped 8 just barely, but made up in quality what we lacked in quantity. The undisputed star of the show was a bird [...]

Lo, another fortnight has passed and we have before us a magical new edition of I and the Bird, the blog carnival for the avian inspired. But before I introduce the next truly tremendous presentation, I’d like to offer amends to our gentle host, the pseudonymous Snail of Snail’s Eye View. You see, when Snail [...]

Birding, on its face, seems to be a rather ecologically sensitive activity. What could be more environmentally sound than getting out into nature and scoping out birds, right? While it is true that one of the foundational drivers of conservation is the concept of protecting what one loves, sometimes one’s desire can exert [...]

I’ve been going on (and on and on) about my recent adventures in Guatemala while Charlie regularly visits tropical hotspots. This isn’t to say that all the best birding takes place proximate to the equator. Arctic Bay in Canada’s Nunavut Territory, for example, supports a surprising range of birds. You can find waterfowl (Snow Geese), [...]

I’ve been on the road quite a bit lately, enjoying outstanding avifauna in the process. This gets one to thinking about how inextricably travel is tied up with birding. Not being an amateur racer or NASCAR devotee, I can’t think of another activity that puts as many miles on one’s car, and that’s just to [...]

As we’ve discussed before (during these cozy, biweekly chats of ours) birding is not just an art. It’s also a science, one rooted in that branch of zoology concerned with the scientific study of birds. Not all birdwatchers are professional scientists. Far from it. Instead, there exists a continuum from those who are vaguely aware [...]

This may seem a funny question, but have you ever described yourself as an neophyte field biologist? Field biology, as described by some authorities, “operates at the level of the organism, community, ecosystem or landscape. Field biologists use nature as a laboratory and combine the principles of biology, the physical sciences and mathematics to study [...]

January has the potential to be a particularly special month for birders. Not only do the holidays often bring new books and toys to play with, but those of us who keep year lists acquire a gift more precious even than Swarovski optics (well, maybe not THAT precious!) Once the previous year’s tally is archived [...]

Passion is fleeting. The ardor that compels the neophyte to dive headlong into an activity will most certainly abate before mastery is achieved. Birding is no exception to the universal rule. The daunting breadth of ornithological knowledge and fieldcraft savvy required to break into the ranks of merely “intermediate” will deter many a [...]

Every ardent adherent of the avian observation lifestyle learns at one point or another that you just can’t go birding every day. Sometimes weather is an issue; extremes of heat or cold, wind or rain, fog or sun can put a damper on outdoor activity. Sometimes life gets in the way and demands of family, [...]

Once every four years, this nation and quite possibly a nervous world turns its eyes to Iowa. That politically fraught period is now upon us as both Democratic and Republican candidates vie for attention in the Iowa Caucus, traditionally the first major electoral event of the nominating process for President of the United States. Lest [...]

A green belt as a fashion accessory tends to clash with most outfits. As a product of land use policy, however, a greenbelt is pretty awesome. Greenbelts are undeveloped swathes of land, usually within urban areas, designated to stay wild, partially wild, or agricultural. Zones like these add a great deal to the cities enlightened [...]

Birders, as I’ve written before, are consumers of the fruits of evolution, celebrants of the processes of natural selection and genetic drift. It may be fair to say that birding has deeper ties to evolutionary theory than any other recreational endeavor in the world. Whether we realize it or not, those of us who track [...]

Although the twain rarely meet in the field, birding and drinking seem similar in many ways. That’s right, I said drinking… a topic to ponder in honor of the Drinking Birder, our current host of I and the Bird. Both observing avians and imbibing alcoholic beverages are fun if conducted properly, but can lead, through [...]

Pablo Picasso famously boasted, “I do not seek. I find.” Arrogant gasbag though he was, Picasso certainly described the dream of birders everywhere. Delving into a thick rainforest or bog and finding every single species on your checklist is somewhat unrealistic. Nailing every twitch and longshot is outright fantasy. And yet every week, veritable armadas [...]

Conjure an image of a 21st century naturalist and you’ll probably envision an intrepid adventurer swaddled in wicking fabrics, shod in state-of-the-art hiking boots, and fully strapped with cutting-edge binoculars, scopes, digital camera with interchangeable lenses (long and macro, naturally), mobile communications device, and a suite of gadgets able to play back bird calls, [...]

Old goatherds swear how all night long they hear
The warning whirr and burring of the bird
Who wakes with darkness and till dawn works hard
Vampiring dry of milk each great goat udder…
Shudder… excuse me while I interrupt this daring verse, entitled Goatsucker by Sylvia Plath, to explain why it is apropos of the newest I and [...]

It took me long enough. This weekend in New York Daisy and I spent two hours at the southern end of Staten Island in Conference House Park and Mount Loretto trying and failing to find a reported Western Kingbird. And Sunday morning I met Mike at Manhattan’s Central Park and searched for and failed to [...]