Last weekend, as I have mentioned already, was loaded with birds and birding.  Saturday morning at Jamaica Bay was absolutely wonderful, with winter residents starting to arrive, some lingering breeders still sticking around, and plenty of migrants moving through.  I could tell it was going to be a good morning’s birding when, at the bus [...]

Sara, Mason, Ivy, and I took a quick jaunt to Mendon Ponds this weekend. Has fall migration passed me by up here on the icy shores of Lake Ontario? If the kind of common species I’m spotting - Red-tailed Hawk, Turkey Vulture, Black-capped Chickadee, etc. - are any indication, warblers and their ilk are long [...]

This past weekend was so full of birding excursions and great birds that I am having a very difficult time deciding what post to write first.  I know, I know, it’s a horribly difficult life to live, but somehow I manage to muddle through.  Anyway, after birding Alley Pond Park on Sunday morning and seeing [...]

Anyone attempting some sort of Big Year Bird List who works for an airline and wants to see as many birds as possible (eg me, myself, I) needs to make at least one trip out to the Middle East, and preferably either in April or September/October, and even more preferably be able to hook up [...]

It rained on Thursday and Friday and again on Saturday.  By Saturday afternoon, not having birded since Charlie’s visit, I didn’t care if I was going to get soaked: I wanted to get out and see some birds no matter how wet I ended up getting.  So, at two in the afternoon I grabbed my [...]

Even after nearly twenty years of flying international routes, travelling between the northern and southern hemispheres like a (slightly moody it has it be admitted) jet-propelled swallow, I still forget that ’summer’ is something that happens north of the equator in June, July, and August and then happens again to the south in November, December, [...]

I thought waking up in the dark on a Sunday morning and getting on the subway at 6 AM to join Charlie for some birding was a heck of a task, that is, until I found out that Charlie had just flown in from London yesterday, which he had arrived at from Chicago the day [...]

Back in Chicago a little over five months since I was last here - and back at Montrose Point, home of the ‘Magic Hedge’ and a magnet for both birds and birders. When I was here in May of course I was looking for migrant warblers and sparrows: this time I was on a search [...]

Okay, so you’ve got two days in Johannesburg, the weather is gorgeous, the birding excellent - what (if you were me) would you do: stay nearby and have a relaxed time visiting reliably excellent sites like Suikerbosrand or Marievale, or rent a car and drive to Memel, a place you know very little about on [...]

This weekend two-thirds of the 10,000 Birds triumvirate participated in the 12th Annual Montezuma Muckrace. I’m pleased to report that we lived to tell the tale. Corey and I, accompanied by ace birders Jory Langner and Will Raup, ushered in a shining new era of competitive Big Day birding, the debut of the 10,000 Birds [...]

When one thinks of Western New York, seabirds don’t immediately spring to mind. However, terns, sandpipers, plovers, and the like don’t mind drifting hundreds of miles from the seashore, particularly to lands rich with lakes. The corridor between Rochester and Syracuse apparently suits shorebirds just fine since Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge is renowned for its [...]

My second day-trip to Nigeria this year (the first gave me a very good morning’s birding in Abuja in July) took me to the huge coastal city of Lagos. One of Africa’s most densely-populated cities with about 8 million inhabitants Lagos is built on several islands in the Lagos Lagoon - which basically means to [...]

After my visit to Jones Beach this past Saturday I decided to work my way away back to Queens by hopping from park to park.  Cow Meadow Park, a Nassau County park, is just north and west of Jones Beach, and is well-known as a good spot to see some shorebirds.  This time of year, [...]

The birding at Virginia Beach, as I’ve mentioned, was fair, but held the promise of far better biodiversity if only one could get away from the endless miles of beach houses. Fortunately, Back Bay National Wildlife Refuge offers the ideal ecosystem in which to become acquainted with mid-Atlantic avifauna. Located at the southeasternmost strip of [...]

Sunday was a day with Daisy’s family, and what better way to spend it than with bawdy lasses, courageous jousters, hilarious jesters, and strong mead?  No better way, of course, which is why we headed to Sterling Forest in Tuxedo, New York, to the New York State Renaissance Fair.  For those who don’t know, Renaissance [...]

When I found out Daisy’s younger sister Steph was staying overnight at our house on Saturday after taking their father to the airport I was happy.  Not just to see Steph, though she is fun to hang out with, but because I figured that she tends to sleep late, which meant that I might have [...]

While I never expected to become a connoisseur of fine Atlantic Ocean beaches, I’ve visited enough of them in my day, this year even, to freely pass judgment on the quality of an expanse of east coast American sand. That’s why I can report with confidence that Virgina Beach is superb when it comes to [...]

After having a blast touring the Swarovski headquarters and trying my hand at digiscoping last Thursday, we bird bloggers visiting New England for the Swarovski bird blogging summit headed to the beach on Friday.  No, we weren’t going to improve our suntans and our swimming strokes: we were going for the birds!  And we had high [...]

It was while watching flocks of shorebirds on Friday on Cape Cod (an adventure I will soon describe) that I first heard of a Red-necked Stint being found at Jamaica Bay.  I got back-to-back calls that I let go to voicemail from Jory and Will, my upstate birding buddies, and when I checked my voicemail [...]

Last year I hardly went to New York at all (surprising, really, given that the airline I work for has seven daily flights), but this year I’ve been enough to apply for residency. No complaints from me, of course: I really like birding the State (and up until a few weeks ago when Mike moved [...]