On Tuesday, my last day of my leave of absence before my return to work (sigh) Daisy was kind enough to to let me out of the house and Danny, one of my Queens birding pals, was kind enough to agree on an expedition to two of the best birding spots on the south shore [...]

May 2009 was ’Puerto Rico Month‘ here at 10,000 Birds, the celebration of which culminated in a giveaway of a free ‘Endemic Dash’ tour courtesy of Kevin Loughlin and Wildside Nature Tours. The fortunate recipient of that holiday was longtime friend Patrick Belardo of The Hawk Owl’s Nest. Now that he’s unpacked his adventure, we’re the fortunate ones. Here, Patrick [...]

For some reason, maybe because of the heroic effort I have made of late to get our new apartment completely unpacked and set up, Daisy agreed to let me out of the house for a few hours Monday morning to take what is perhaps my favorite walk in Queens, which is through Flushing Meadow Park, [...]

So there I was at Refugio Paz de Las Aves, teetering on the edge of sanity after a barrage of insane Ecuadorean avifauna. First came the famed feeder birds, a parade of preposterous birds including but certainly not limited to guans, toucanets, barbets, pihas, and mountain-tanagers. Next were the star attractions, the amazing antpittas of Paz de Las [...]

You poor suffering souls who come back repeatedly to read the dreck that I write about my assorted birding adventures will recall that last summer, when we were both still expectant fathers rather than actual fathers, I suspected Patrick Belardo from The Hawk Owl’s Nest and all other birders from New Jersey were cursed when [...]

As I was saying (see Part I),  I, David, Renato & Paola, and birders from four different continents had just been treated to one of the most spectacular feeder bird displays imaginable. Spotting an Andean Cock-of-the-Rock is cool enough but one simply does not expect to get so close to toucanets, pihas, barbets, or mountain-tanagers.  Yet, the main event [...]

Legendary among birders who have enjoyed the best of the Americas is the man who speaks to antpittas. Long before I ever traveled to Ecuador, I heard tales of Angel Paz, of how he has trained special, secretive birds to come when he calls. The absurdity of antpittas, these large, charismatic underbrush-lurking antbirds, putting on [...]

How would you like to join me on a trip to the beautiful Bavarian Alps in June? Because that’s where I’m hoping to be going with Philip Precey of Wildlife Travel (WT), a travel company with a difference - profits the company makes are used to support conservation both here in the UK (via the [...]

Having a borrowed car for a week is much less fun when a blizzard hits and one has to dig said car out of about a foot a snow plus what the plows pile on top.  Daisy knew I was a bit bummed about having a car for a week and only managing to take [...]

Sunday was a rare day that I had a car (borrowed from Daisy’s sister), some free time, and nice weather for which Sunday was a reasonable description of the meteorological conditions, though, really, Sunnyday would have been a bit more accurate.  Of course, when real-world conditions line up like that I am virtually compelled by [...]

What makes Ecuador one of the best countries for birdwatching in the world, bar none? Obviously, the highest species diversity per square mile doesn’t hurt. But Ecuador goes above and beyond in the service of sensational wildlife watching. How many countries do you know that have a road dedicated to birding?

Ecoruta El Paseo del Quinde
Ecuador’s [...]

With many, many, many apologies to Wallace Stevens, who does not deserve what I am about to do to his most famous poem, here is my take on the Superbowl of birding, which has been covered almost exhaustively already by my teammates on the Bloggerhead Kingbirds, Andrew, John, Christopher, Mike, and Nate.  So, without further ado, [...]

Yes, the Superbowl of Birding was an absolute blast and I will be recounting in exquisite detail the day the Bloggerhead Kingbirds had in a future post, but for the moment it will be enough (I hope) to recount our day before the Superbowl of Birding, that is, this past Friday, 29 January.  After all, [...]

With the highest species diversity per square mile of any country on Earth, Ecuador can be seriously overwhelming for birders. Most guides try to ease new visitors into the inevitable frenzy of brightly colored birds by beginning at Yanacocha Reserve, just an hour outside of Quito. This protected temperate forest on the slopes of Volcano [...]

I’ve just returned from an unforgettable four days in northwest Ecuador as a guest of Renato Espinoza and Paola Cevallos of Pululahua Hostal. How was the birding? You can trust I’ve got many tales to tell but for now, I’ll let some pictures do the talking…

Despite being the borough that is home to Williamsburg, where irony goes to die, Park Slope, which obnoxious doesn’t even begin to describe, and, worst of all, the Christmas Bird Count that stole half of Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge from the Queens County Christmas Bird Count, Brooklyn isn’t all that bad.  There are some top-notch [...]

In the words of the A-Team’s indomitable leader, Hannibal, I love it when a plan comes together. I also love it when new birders come together. It all came together for me this past weekend, at least in terms of birding.
The plan was first set in motion, though I didn’t know it at the time, [...]

Though it may sound like Dick Cheney’s fondest dream - putting fifty-plus fanatics on a boat for eight hours in the Atlantic Ocean in the middle of winter with a storm coming - in this case it was not torture.  In fact, this specific group of fifty-plus fanatics not only wanted to be on a [...]

Fitting in an outing to see some birds has gotten exponentially more difficult now that I am back at work.  Spending time with Desmond and Daisy (don’t get me wrong, I love it!), putting the nose to the grindstone forty hours per week (which I love a bit less), and the fact that though the [...]

This past Sunday was the Queens County Christmas Bird Count, my second living in the borough and doing the count.  We originally were scheduled to do the count on 20 December of last year but, well, weather got in the way so we had to put off the count for two weeks.  Anyway, when Sunday [...]