Category: Vertebrates

Posted on in Birds

Invasion of the Yellowjackets

I’m sitting quietly at my desk as an unidentified insect makes an orbit around my head, buzzing aggressively. What in the…? It changes direction, aiming directly for my eyes. I want to flail at the bug, but realize that may not be a good idea, so I jump out of my chair and out of the way. Buzzzzzzz…. It finally lands on the wall and I get a good look. Yikes! It’s a yellowjacket!

Moments later, there are two wasps circling my screen, then three, and four. It seems that every yellowjacket in the neighborhood has somehow found a passage into my house, and they’re ganging up on me.

(more…)

Posted on in Birding Tips, Birds

Rare Bird? Read This!

I make it a point to generate my own material for this blog. I research and write the articles, I take most of the photos. However, once in a while I come across another blogger’s post that is so well done, and so helpful, that it makes no sense for me to try and do better.

In this case, Greg Gillson has written a post called “How NOT to report a rare bird.” This caught my attention because I have, in fact, had occasion to report a rare bird (although not as often as I could wish!) and I really had no idea what I was doing.

Please click on over to Birding is Fun and read Greg’s article. He is concise, informative, and entertaining.

Posted on in Birding Tips, Birds, Humor

New Birds: A Proposal

Last August I posted my suggestion that we add inanimate objects to our life lists. For some reason, my idea didn’t meet with the enthusiasm I had hoped for. Still, I think it has merit. Birders love to catalog things, and think of all the different kinds of beer cans, water bottles, plastic bags, and similar items we can enjoy identifying and collecting.

In any case, I’m not giving up. Perhaps we balk at trash and rocks, but how about other living objects we might mistakenly perceive as birds? Surely we can consider such additions as…

(more…)

Posted on in Birds

The 2013 Aiken Calendars Are Coming!

cover-with-text-western-tanager-small

Are you a Colorado birder? Do you know a Colorado birder? Do you just like birds? The Aiken Audubon Society of the Colorado Springs area has created a gorgeous 12-month 2013 calendar to raise funds for education, field trips, and conservation. Printed in full-color, the photographs are of birds found in state, and I’m pretty pleased to say that more than half the shots are mine!

(more…)

Posted on in Birding Tips

Believe Your Eyes

nyctanassa_violacea_-ciego_de_avila_province_cuba_-juvenile-8_Some years ago, my friend and I were out birding here in Colorado. It was a month or so after Hurricane Katrina had inundated the Gulf Coast, but that fact was far from our minds on that early morning in August. We had stopped at a little pond alongside the road to check out the ducks and waders, when we spotted a large brown-striped bird standing at the edge of the water. It looked a lot like the bird in this photo (which is courtesy of Laura Gooch via WikiCommons—thank you).

At the time, we were both fairly new birders. We didn’t own one scope between us. As the bird was on the far shore, we took turns squinting through our binos and consulting our field guide. Our view wasn’t nearly as good as the photo here.

(more…)