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The Adirondack Mountains of New York State, March 2007 Daisy and I took advantage of her spring break and one of my precious vacation days to spend the day birding in the Adirondacks. Normally students on spring break wear sunglasses to protect their eyes from the bright tropical sun in some place like Cancun. Not [...]

The Ruffed Grouse is a bird of the forests across much of North America, from Alaska and the mountains of the west through Canada, and in the east down through the Appalachians to Georgia.  It is a beautiful bird and well worth taking some time to examine closely if such a situation can somehow be [...]

There’s a reason why the name of Linnaeus is still spoken with respect more than two centuries after his death. Giving organisms standard names allowed precise communication across cultures and languages. In the birding community, standardization of common names has followed, and is an on-going project (with mixed success.) This is obviously very useful as [...]

Some decisions have been made recently that will have serious ramifications for the future of the Greater Sage-Grouse. The wrangling of politicians, conservationists, and special interests warrants discussion, but first, we should consider the bird itself. The Greater Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) is a handsome bird in the family Phasianidae. Distributed throughout 11 western states and [...]