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The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) declares Slimbridge Wetland Centre in Gloucestershire to be the birthplace of modern conservation. That may well be true. All I can say is that Slimbridge seems to be brilliant for birding. I’ve never been myself (yet) but Charlie has mentioned Slimbridge more than once. Now, one of our readers has turned to us for [...]

I think I’ve done it, and by “it” I mean devised an ID challenge so… challenging that even our audience won’t be able to crack it. We all know how difficult empids can be to identify. Now take a bird that may not even be an empid or even a flycatcher for that matter but [...]

At last, I believe I’ve found an ID challenge too diabolical for even the crack cadre of avian savants that tend to respond to our cruel offerings. If this turns out to be true, though, I’ll actually be disappointed because this ID may, for once, matter (as opposed to certain futile attempts to identify imaginary [...]

I give up! Readers of this blog are simply TOO gifted in the arena of avian identification. Corey can continue to try to stump you. I, on the other hand, will attempt to harness your wicked powers of perspicacity for good! For example, following is a photo submitted by reader Jesse Boone of Atlanta, GA. [...]

You lords and ladies of armchair avian identification really feasted on our last ID challenge, didn’t you? Apparently, that duck wasn’t as tricky as I had hoped. I believe that part of the problem is that you simply had too much visual information to work with. This next ID challenge may prove more challenging than [...]

I’ll admit it… you guys are good. Our ID quizzes have evolved over the years to contend with and challenge the arrogant (oh, did I say that?) perspicacity of our readers. Corey is so scared of you eagle-eyed armchair ornithologists that he’s been reduced to posting blurry plumage pics, which many of you still recognize. [...]

Empidonax flycatchers… you can’t live with them, you can’t build a complete life list without them. As countless as the stars above have been the brillant birders brought low by these humble homunculi, these tiny little iterations on an undistinguished theme. Such has become the fate of our friend Alberto Lopez, late of Puerto Rico [...]