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Back in the States, identifying different species of gulls was a manageable task, and mediocre birdwatcher though I was, I had no difficulty distinguishing the 5 more common gull species in the Mid-Atlantic region. However, when I took up residence in the Eastern Mediterranean, I began having problems especially with the various types of white-headed [...]

I am a funny man in a very peculiar way. I am odd, and whenever I am not odd, I am different. In fact, my singularity is such that, if the Gaussian distribution of humanity’s normality was the Himalayas, I’d be the guy standing on the beaches of Rodrigues [and boy, do I wish that [...]

This morning, after we Bloggerhead Kingbirds competed at the Superbowl of Birding all day Saturday (more on that later), we made our way to the Gloucester fishing pier (in Essex County, Massachusetts) and into a gull-conundrum.  You see, a couple of other birders, Tim and Brian, had a gull and it wasn’t just any gull. [...]

After seeing my life Burrowing Owls in San Bernardino I still had until 5 PM when I was supposed to pick my brother-in-law up at work.  That meant that I had about six hours of birding time ahead of me and I was determined to make the most of it!  What better place than the [...]

Driving down Rupert Road you will undoubtedly see lots of birds as you make your way toward the Anderson River Park entrance. As you enter the park, across from the boat ramp, on your right, there are soccer fields where the Yellow-billed Magpies hang out. Atop one of the soccer field light poles is an [...]

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 [...]

On the pelagic trip off the coast of New York this past Sunday one of the highlights of the trip was seeing the small and graceful Black-legged Kittiwakes swoop into the chum, grab food, dodge the larger gulls, and maneuver back out of the crowd, all without seeming to expend any real effort.  Rissa tridactyla [...]

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 [...]

Over two years ago, when I was doing a New York State Big Year, one of the birds that I tried to see but managed to dip was a Common Gull Larus canus that was hanging out in Brooklyn.  Since then I have seen a Common Gull in California where they are referred to as [...]

Daisy, Desi and I had a wonderful Christmas visiting my folks upstate.  One of the nice things about seeing so many relatives is that everyone wanted to help take care of Desi, which meant that Daisy and I had a bit more time to, well, do whatever we wanted.  For me, this included making a [...]

When a birder sees a really, really, good bird and another birder doesn’t see the bird, the first birder will often “grip off” the other birder.  This is a process whereby the birder who failed to see the bird is reminded of having missed the bird in any way imaginable.  For example, let’s say that [...]

One tends to think of birding as an idyllic pastime.  One goes into the field, sees gorgeous creatures, identifies them, and then brags to one’s birding friends about what wonderful creatures one saw.  Sometimes one sees one of the gorgeous creatures do something interesting and one tells one’s birding friends about it but with less [...]

…when it’s been renamed in the newly-released 49th Supplement to the A.O.U. Check-list of North American Birds, Seventh Edition. The new supplement includes various and sundry switches of interest to North American listers, ornithologists, and taxonomists but probably very few others. Paramount among the changes is a new classification and sequence of genera and species [...]

Chrissy Guarino is a birder’s birder. In using that term I mean that not only does she have the requisite skills in terms of identifying avians but that she also brings a certain joy to birding that sometimes is in short supply on those long hard slogs that may or may not have a really [...]

On Friday the weather forecasters said rain. We (Daisy, some assorted family members, and I) decided to ignore said forecasters and head down to La Jolla, the famous northern coastal suburb of San Diego, for the heck of it. Previous visits there had netted me some pretty good looks at a variety of gulls, Brown Pelicans, shorebirds that like [...]

Niagara Falls is a world-renowned tourist destination because of, well, the really freaking big waterfalls there. Because of the monstrous falls a host of tourist traps, from casinos to mini-golf, have sprung up, to say nothing of industrial projects (mostly on the American side) that take advantage of the hydro-electric power generated by the mighty [...]

My day Saturday was spent gulling the Niagara River, a most gull-friendly spot, especially in early winter. Three species were plentiful: Bonaparte’s Gull, Herring Gull, and Ring-billed Gull. I hiked down to the floor of the gorge at “The Whirlpool” and was amazed by the sheer number of Bonaparte’s Gulls that circled ceaselessly searching for [...]

When one is doing a Big Year in New York one must go on pelagic trips. As many as possible. Because I wasn’t doing a Big Year at the beginning of the year I didn’t go on the February trip out of Freeport so I had a giant hole in my year lists where wonderful [...]

The alarm went off at 3:30 AM and I woke up unsure of where I was but convinced I missed the boat. Of course I didn’t but it was a horrible time and way to awaken. I showered, brewed some coffee, and was off to Freeport for a See Life Paulagics trip on the boat [...]

One of my favorite things about birding Jones Beach is how even if there aren’t rare birds around there is still plenty to see. Even when the beach is crowded with swimmers there are still gulls and terns and plovers living their lives, and because they are relatively used to people one can often observe [...]