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As migration proceeds in fits and starts I find myself torn between wanting to find as many birds as I can on each birding outing and wanting to take my time with each species that I haven’t seen since they left for fairer climes back in the fall. It is a conundrum and one that [...]

I often like to make the joke that Spring in the south lasts about three days, and a good spring is one that falls on a weekend.  Summer, or at least summer weather, comes on fast down here and you expect the residents to be on the ball about prepping the old home for multiple [...]

One great aspect of visiting southern California in winter is that birds are everywhere that there is even marginal habitat.  On my trip we stayed in Yorba Linda in northern Orange County, which, you will be unsurprised to learn, is pretty much the archetype of sprawl.*  Despite the developed nature of the landscape there were [...]

Business brought me out to Orange County, CA for a week in mid-October. Despite the length of my stay, I had precious few available moments for birding. My dear pal Amy brought me for some Upper Newport Bay birding not once but twice. The first attempt was undermined by the severity of Santa Ana winds [...]