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Last week Corey wrote about appreciating our local birds before the migrants arrive and it made me reflect on how easily we look past the familiar as we seek out new experiences. I’ve been meaning to start a series addressing the wonders of the common and familiar. Hopefully it can illustrate how the world unfolds [...]

Yesterday evening, Sunday evening, I had plans to get to bed, wake up on Monday morning, and go to work. That changed when I got on the computer and learned that a birder way up in northern New York, on the Tug Hill Plateau, had reported a heck of a bird coming to her feeder. Nancy [...]

In Bergen County, New Jersey’s northeasternmost county, there are quite a few small county parks that are popular with dog-walkers, joggers, parents looking for somewhere to take their kids, and teenagers looking for places that their parents aren’t. A category of person that I have not yet met in one of Bergen County’s parks is [...]

Or, to be more specific, how many American Goldfinch can you find in this picture?  It was taken up the street from my folks’ home over the long Independence Day weekend.  Seeing as I was just trying to get a lousy shot of a single bird I was surprised by what I found when I [...]

Have you had trouble keeping finches at your feeder? If so, you’re not alone, it’s a common bird feeding question. American Goldfinches are one of the prettiest reasons to keep your feeders full in the summer. It seems that goldfinches are so pretty they know they can afford to be a bit more finicky than [...]

I think we can all readily admit that when summer comes, nature just seems to burst out at the seams. It is this season we experience vast musical repertoires, green canopies, hot air, and bustling energy. Now, here in Colorado this is the season for the high-country birds. The grasslands have been popping off with [...]

You might think that a warm snap would be a welcome occurrence in Montana in January, and I’m not going to lie: it totally is. Nevertheless, when I went out into it, I discovered the walking situation on un-shoveled sidewalks had degenerated from snow on top of packed snow to water on top of ice. [...]

You may remember that back in January I rejoined the Bloggerhead Kingbirds and competed in my second Superbowl of Birding.  You may also, if you have an absurdly good memory, remember that the day before the competition we tried to chase down some good birds.  What you are most likely not at all aware of [...]

I have seen Desert Finches exactly once.  They were in Kazakhstan, where they belong.  Desert Finches have never been reported anywhere in the western hemisphere and have definitely not shown up in the southern United States.  So when a comment appeared on my post about Desert Finches in which the commenter claimed that there was [...]

On the recent Queens County Bird Club field trip to Kissena Park in search of migrating sparrows, field birds, and whatever else might cross our path, I was distracted by some male House Finches Carpodacus mexicanus feeding on, or, to be more accurate, pigging out on, crabapples.  They were so intent on eating the apples [...]

Though I have already done a post on the Desert Finch of the Kazakhi deserts I felt that the similar Mongolian Finch (Rhodopechys mongolicus), sometimes known as the Mongolian Trumpeter Finch, deserved its own blog post as well.  These shots were taken at a completely different waterhole than where the Desert Finches were drinking and [...]

On our last day in Kazakhstan we birders traveled hundreds of kilometers to the east of Almaty in order to explore the desert environment there.  And while many birds were viewed, none were quite as fascinating to me as the two pink-winged finches we spotted, the Desert Finch and the Mongolian Finch.  This post, of [...]

Once every four years, this nation turns its eyes to Iowa. That time is upon us as candidates vie for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2004 Iowa Caucus. Go, Howard Dean! Since the Hawkeye State is the center of the media universe today, we’d like to take this opportunity to admire the Iowa state [...]