Category Archives: Birds

Two silent eastern phoebes in Burcham Park

Posted on March 17, 2019 by

Where is your patch, the place you bird every day you can? Mine in East Lansing is Burcham Park. I nominated it for a hotspot and so it is on eBird, though so far only I have recorded birds there, … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Michigan, Migration | Leave a comment

Birding the Western Ghats in Southwest India

Posted on November 5, 2016 by

The Western Ghats! A hottest hot diversity site recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and known also poetically as Sahyadri. The trick is how to penetrate this land of elephants and tigers, past the pot-holed roads and shrines. … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Birding as a world citizen: ten tips

Posted on October 31, 2016 by

My favorite way to bird is related to the slow food movement: stay local, stay focused, and stay appreciative. So how can I keep to my principles when I bird in places as far away as the Western Ghats in … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Environment, India | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Birding from Lisbon, Portugal

Posted on July 22, 2015 by

Bernardo Barreto picked us up in his dark Ford at 7:30 from the Hotel Berna. We drove northeast out of Lisbon, crossing the Tagus on what might be called the third bridge, upstream from the 25 April bridge, half closed … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Egrets, Environment, National Wildlife Refuge, Portugal | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Mexican-Ecuadoran secrets of the tufted jay, Cyanocorax dickeyi

Posted on August 13, 2014 by

Don’t you wonder why birds are where they are? Have you been on one of those guided birding trips where you hop in and out of the van spending ten minutes here, or five minutes there, to see the most … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Jays, Mexico | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Scissor-tailed flycatchers at Mount Doom in Missouri

Posted on May 26, 2013 by

Scissor-tailed flycatchers (Tyrannus forficatus) are highly uncommon in Missouri, but there is a pair nesting right by Mount Doom and yesterday we saw them flying in the distance, against the rocky nuclear waste site. The bird guides do not put … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Flycatchers, Natural areas | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Birding the California coast at Coal Oil Point, Santa Barbara

Posted on February 19, 2013 by

Walk the same route over and over so you can get to know the common birds for that place     and notice the rarer ones. Here is a walk I took for three weeks while working at the Kavli Institute … Continue reading →

Posted in Birds, Natural areas, Shorebirds | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment