Being part of an international cabal of inspired bird bloggers can make the world feel like a cozy, congenial community yet every so often, one comes face to face with how HUGE this planet really is. No, I’m not talking about the endless hours you needed to schlep to wherever you spent your yuletide holidays… the better part of a workday in a plane may put a dent in your latitude but the same period in a car surely won’t.

Winter has my portion of the world in a cruel, icy grip, which means that I’ve shoveled my driveway at least five times in the last two freezing days. Further south, the United States is dealing with unexpectedly cold weather, though if one is wise enough to dash towards the equator, the bitter bite of frost fades into a distant memory. The reason I’m sharing this unpoetic phenological observation is to stress that, since most of the IATB community resides in the Northern Hemisphere, we sometimes forget that one half of the world is in the throes of a summer that may be as proportionally infernal as my winter is icy. For example, Andrew Skeoch & Sarah Koschak of Listening Earth reside in Victoria, Australia. Despite the brutal 100-degree Fahrenheit heat (my, that sounds nice!), Andrew has kept his cool long enough to put together a truly international edition of I and the Bird #116. Enjoy this first IATB of 2010 and be sure to learn about the wild soundscapes Andrew and Sarah create!

Whether you’re sweating or shivering, birds are all around you. If you are enjoying your seasonal avifauna and writing remarkable posts about wild birds or birding on your blog, you should be sharing your work through I and the Bird. Our next host is none other than my talented friend and Nature Blog Network colleague, Seabrooke of the Marvelous in Nature. Send your links and summaries to me or Seabrooke (sanderling AT symbiotic DOT ca) by 1/19 for the 1/21 edition.

Written by Mike
Mike is a leading authority in the field of standardized test preparation, but he's also a traveler who fully expects to see every bird in the world. Besides founding 10,000 Birds in 2003, Mike has also created a number of other entertaining but now extirpated nature blog resources, particularly the Nature Blog Network and I and the Bird.