If you were stymied on Monday, now can you name this bird? The photos were taken in North Carolina on December 30, 2013. The answer will appear at the end of Monday’s post.
Category: Birds
January Bird Quiz
I’ve been studying eastern birds in anticipation of an upcoming trip to the southeast (I can hardly wait!). This bird was photographed in North Carolina on December 30, 2013. Can you name it? I will post the uncropped photo on Saturday, along with another picture of the same individual, giving you one more chance. The answer will appear at the end of next Monday’s post.
A Goose with Pink Feet
Have you heard? There’s a Pink-footed Goose at Milavec Reservoir (about 30 minutes north of Denver)! The word spread quickly throughout Colorado’s birding community. This was amazing. This was incredible!
As the Audubon website explains,
Although many Pink-footed Geese nest in Greenland and Iceland, these birds all migrate across the North Atlantic to spend the winter in Britain and northwestern Europe. Strays that have gone the wrong direction have been found in North America only a couple of times, in eastern Canada.
Splitting Red-tailed Hawks?
If you’ve been birding for any length of time, you know that species come and species go. The birds don’t change, but our perception of which variations are actually different species is constantly undergoing review. We have lumpers, who combine disparate species into one, and splitters, who separate subspecies into two or more different species. Add in the (relatively) new ability to examine DNA, and you have a recipe for constant change.
Is that a Northwestern Crow?
I spent Thanksgiving week in the Pacific Northwest, visiting family (granddaughters!) and friends. Somehow, in the midst of tickles and snuggles, craft projects, and a delicious turkey dinner, I managed to squeeze in an hour of birding—and it wasn’t even raining.
Since we were in Federal Way for lunch that day, we headed for the tiny Dumas Bay Sanctuary. And I do mean tiny. If you walk north along the narrow beach, you quickly run into signs warning of private property. And if you head south instead, the park boundary markers stop you after only a few yards. At least the birds have permission to trespass, and we birders have binoculars.
December Bird Quiz: Uncropped Photo
If you were stymied on Monday, now can you name this bird? The photos were taken in Arizona in April. The answer will appear at the end of next Monday’s post.
December Bird Quiz
I thought I would offer two clues this month. The first one is harder. If you would like more information, click to continue the page. Now can you name this bird? The photo was taken in Arizona in April. I will post the uncropped photo on Saturday, giving you one more chance. The answer will appear at the end of next Monday’s post.
I’m Thankful For This…
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m sure you’re busy today, so today’s post will be short.
In honor of all the turkeys that will give their lives so we can celebrate God’s generosity, I’d like to share a cartoon I recently discovered. Not that it’s new. This website has been around a while now. But I didn’t know about it, and if it’s new to me, then it might also be new to you.
Please click on over to Bird and Moon and prepare to be delighted. I’m linking you to one of my favorite cartoons, but be sure to check out the rest of them, plus the store and everything else. Just don’t let dinner burn while you’re distracted!
Bird and Moon: Science and Nature Cartoons
(No, I wasn’t paid to promote this. I just think it’s awesome!)
Birding Niagara Falls
(If you’ve just tuned in, this is the fourth post in a series about our 2017 trip around the Great Lakes.)
By the time we left Grand Rapids, I had spent some enjoyable mornings birding Michigan while my husband, Pete, had attended a number of successful meetings. We had also visited two of the four states I had been missing, moving me that much closer to my goal of visiting all fifty. The trip was going well. And now it was time for Pete to check off his own bucket list dream.
Mountain Plover 