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It had been over a week since the bird was first seen and nearly a week since it was first identified.  What bird am I talking about?  The Swainson’s Hawk in Greene County, New York, discovered by upstate birder and Greene County partisan, Rich Guthrie, and described by him here, here, and here.  Why does [...]

Yes, you read that right!  Two Harris’s Hawks are being used to scare pigeons away from a Warsaw subway stop.  Now if only someone would bring some cool raptors to Port Authority in New York City, so I could watch them from my office window…

Today is International Vulture Awareness Day 2009!  Rather than go into great detail about a variety of vultures as Mike did in his excellent post earlier today I figured I would track down five great quotes about Turkey Vultures, or, at least, five quotes that are either about Turkey Vultures or generically about vultures.  Though [...]

Just yesterday, 3 July, I headed north out of the city by bus, met up with more birders in New Paltz, and continued all the way up to the town of Root in Montgomery County, New York, all in order to see my first-ever Mississippi Kite (Ictinia mississippiensis).  Present at the location, at the intersection [...]

I can hear the groans from here: “Panama - the trip to the airport?” Come OOOOONNNN, Charlie. Surely a blinking drive to an airport can’t be worth blogging about? If the trip starts at Canopy Tower at dawn, winds down Semaphore Hill with a couple of stops en-route, diverts into dry forest, and then goes [...]

If it wasn’t bad enough that this blog is about to be taken over by two errant New Yorkers on their triumphant return to reality after a week soaking up the specialities of Honduras and Guatemala, I now have to endure a friend - Marc Johnson of the hugely important Foster Parrots Ltd - sending [...]

Pictures of two different accipiters, without comment as to possible identification.  One was found perched and digiscoped in Kissena Park this past Monday, the other flew directly overhead and was photographed with my 100mm macro lens in the Rockaways on Sunday.  Sharpies or Coops?  That is, Sharp-shinned Hawks or Cooper’s Hawks?  Or one of each?

The Common Buzzard Buteo buteo and the Red-tailed Hawk Buteo jamaicensis are both their respective regions’ commonest ‘buteos’ and are obviously closely-related, but - in theory - they should never meet: B. buteo breeds (in various forms) right across Eurasia while B. jamaicensis is equally widespread but is found across the other side of the [...]

Anyone attempting some sort of Big Year Bird List who works for an airline and wants to see as many birds as possible (eg me, myself, I) needs to make at least one trip out to the Middle East, and preferably either in April or September/October, and even more preferably be able to hook up [...]

Sunday was a day with Daisy’s family, and what better way to spend it than with bawdy lasses, courageous jousters, hilarious jesters, and strong mead?  No better way, of course, which is why we headed to Sterling Forest in Tuxedo, New York, to the New York State Renaissance Fair.  For those who don’t know, Renaissance [...]

I just came across a series of photos I mean to post earlier in the year and then add to our ever-growing collection of photo-galleries, but, what the hey, I’ll post them now. Unseasonal they may be, but I think they’re interesting nonetheless. I don’t suppose many of us will be seeing Short-eared Owls this [...]

I just realised I haven’t written a word of a visit to my home patch last week by the NY blogger and birder Carrie Laben of Great Auk - or Greatest Auk? If I visit a blogger somewhere and they don’t write about it within a few days I start fretting that I must have [...]

I really enjoy going to India - the birding is great, the people (not that I’ve met all of them of course) are friendly and have a great enthusiasm for life, and travelling inside the country is always - how can I put this, er, ‘interesting’. Perhaps I’m getting more relaxed as I slide slowly [...]

I’m just back into the hotel after an excellent morning’s birding in Bangalore’s Nandi Hills with the extremely likeable and very knowledgeable Mike Prince (he of Bubo Listing). I’ll get a post online soon (I’m in rather desperate need of some sleep first), but highlights included the regionally-endemic Yellow-throated Bulbul, Indian Scimitar-babbler, Grey Junglefowl, a [...]

The taxonomy of the “Black Kite” Milvus migrans is a complicated affair. It appears that there may well be three species within the traditional Black Kite grouping: Yellow-billed Kite, consisting of both M. (m.) aegyptius and M. (m.) parasitus (breeding in northeastern and southern Africa, respectively); Black Kite M. (m.) migrans which breeds through Europe [...]

Identity theft is a serious crime. Birds, to my knowledge, rarely bring legal action against one another, but if they did, there is a serious suit brewing amongst the accipiters. Presenting the case of Cooper v. Sharpie!
Sharp-shinned Hawks and Cooper’s Hawks are so alike as to be nearly indistinguishable. These two birds are [...]

Autumn is upon us, which means that beloved birds are once again on the move. Millions of birds are flying south to their winter habitats. Every migrant responds to its own timetable and follows its own route. To spy smaller birds like warblers and waders, simply keep your eyes open as they filter stealthily through [...]

Female/immature Amur Falcons Falco amurensis
South Africa, March 2007

Closely related to the European Red-footed Falcon Falco vespertinus, the beautiful and agile Amur Falcon breeds in northern Asia and Siberia and winters in southern Africa. After breeding Amurs undertake what is probably the longest regular overwater passage of any raptor when they cross the Indian Ocean [...]

Looking for Regional Specialities, North of Pretoria
03 March 2007

I’ve been birding in South Africa many times - particularly around Johannesburg/Pretoria - but have been acutely aware for a while that without good local knowledge I was never going to find some of the region’s really difficult local specialities and tricky “LBJs” (those hard to find [...]

Many a lifelong birder picked up his or her first field guide because of raptors. Bird of prey like eagles, hawks, and owls inspire a level of interest or even passion that most other types of birds can only envy. And as cool as the raptor suite seems to casual observers, it reserves some of [...]