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Behind the Bins
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Join me behind the bins to watch birds around the country and sometimes in other places around the globe.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'birding'
Birding from the top of the Canopy Tower
With a view of the Panama Canal and the surrounding forest canopy, the Canopy Tower is an incredible place to stand in the early morning light. I climbed the narrow steps to pop my head above the hatch to see the vista open before me. As I ...
Birding in Panama – part 1
I arrived at the Canopy Tower at 2:15 to find out my first bird tour was at 3. I quick, quick, changed clothes and met Domi, one of the guides, in the parking lot. We headed out to the Pipeline Road. We were no sooner out of the car before w...
Panama Bound
I am off to the land of Motmots, Flowerpiercers, Tinamous and Howler Monkeys. I will be at the Canopy Tower in Panama for 4 nights and the Lodge for 3. Can I hear a W00T? I’m super excited. I am dragging my creaky old laptop with me, so ...
Hawaiian Shirt Shorebird Safari
You are not really here to see shorebirds are you? C’mon, fess up. You want to see birders in Hawaiian shirts. Well, I’ll get to that. I first heard about the Hawaiian Shirt Shorebird Safari back in June when I attended the Bloggers w...
Birding the Long Trail
The sun was beating down mercilessly as I trudged down a particularly open part of the Appalachian Trail. I would not call what I was doing hiking, frankly, it was more of an amble. Sweat trickled down my my cheek. Stopping to pull off my hat a...
What’s the deal-ee-o?
“Why are we stopping?” I shrugged, “I dunna know.” I pulled the car over onto the grass behind the others. Diane, Catherine and Christopher peered through the tinted windows at the marsh. Frowning, I stared out the driver&...
What’re You Lookin’ At?
Where you goin’? What do ya see? I don’t see anything. Wait. Maybe. Piping Plovers are tiny shorebirds that look like rocks. Seriously if they weren’t running around all over the place you wouldn’t know they were there. ...
Bird Photography Weekly
Sitting in the car with all the windows and sunroof open, I leaned back with my eyes closed to revel in the cascade of voices around me. Wood Warblers were singing, off in the distance a Black-billed Cuckoo called, the Wood Thrushes led the flute...
Ever Been Thrown a Birding Bone?
“C’mon,” I muttered to myself, “Throw me a bone.” I had been out for hours combing the woods when I stumbled across another birder sitting on a rock. I stopped to exchange the usual pleasantries. After several m...
Warbler Neck
Warbler neck is a serious malady that affects all birders in May every year. If you have ever spent 40 minutes staring up, searching every movement in the tree for the elusive warbler-of-the-moment, you know what I mean. Fortunately this chronic co...
Birding Clinton Road
I live close (seriously, like 5 minutes) to one of the most amazing birding hotspots in NJ and I don’t take advantage of it. That is going to change. I popped over this morning in the cold and misty rain to see what had come in. As I crept ...
Take a Walk on the Wild Side
I squeezed the car into the pull-off making sure my tail was off the road. Since the weather was gorgeous, I had come to my semi-secret place to check in on the warbler migration. This is the place where Hooded Warblers nest every year and the on...
Birding with Alligators
I live in the northeast where there are, thankfully, no alligators (NYC sewer gators, notwithstanding) so when I come across them in my travels they always freak me out a little; it’s all that nature programming that shows them running with bur...
Birding Liberty State Park
Loads of toursits visit the Statue of Liberty when they come to New York City for the first time. Few of them realize that Liberty State Park, located smack-dab on the Hudson River amidst the crush of humanity in Jersey City, is a local birding ...
Not all Red Birds are Cardinals
Cardinals were everywhere at Brazos Bend State Park . I was seeing 10-15 at a time. They were in the shrubs, trees, bushes and on the ground. I’m tellin’ you there must have been a flock of 70 birds there. Often I would see moveme...
Birding San Bernard NWR
Do you read Birding on the Net regional lists before you travel? I do. A few weeks before the trip I started to see reports on TexBirds of a Least Grebe at San Bernard NWR. Although I had seen this bird in Costa Rica, I did not have it on my...
Birding Sam Houston National Forest
Years ago I met some birders at King Ranch who were extending their Texas trip to drive north and try to see the endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers. Up to that point, I thought they were over in the Carolinas and other southern states; apparently...
Short-eared Owls at sunset
As the sun sank lower, cars started to arrive at the Liberty Loop parking lot. They pulled in by ones and twos. I had been standing there for hours with my feet ice cold in the snow jawing with some bird photographers. We watched Harriers, Red...
Awash in Rough-legged Hawks
I was surprised to see 4 different Rough-legged Hawks at the Great Swamp (in the measly 1/2 hour I had to spend there) on Saturday. Curious to see if there were any at the Wallkill; I decided to take a run through the farm country in lower Orange c...
Sorting through Flocks of Canada Geese
One of the joys and sorrows of winter birding in the Northeast is all of the odd geese (Greater White-fronted, Pink-footed, Ross’s, Cackling) that show up with the migratory flocks of Canada Geese. But searching for an odd goose in a sea of C...
Birdy Christmas Presents
Ever since the bears destroyed my favorite squirrel-resistant feeders back in the Spring, I have been in the market for uber-sturdy bird feeders. And lo and behold, Santa brought me 3 all-metal birdfeeders-2 tube feeders and a tray. I knew he was fol...
Birding in Albuquerque
Anytime you go birding in Albuquerque you need to include the Rio Grande Nature Center State Park in your circuit. It is close to the downtown and offers a view of a wetland in an otherwise water-starved landscape. The Visitor’s Center has ...
3-Owl-Day
Melody came to pick me up at O’dark:30 to go owling. With a warning about possible snakes and illegal drug smugglers, we stalked off into the pitch black desert under more twinkling stars than I have seen in a long, long time. Shivering i...
Birding Southeast Arizona-Part 2
Here is the list for today. I saw many of the same birds as yesterday; but did add a few lifers. We spent time in the grasslands since the rain had stopped before heading down to the Chiracuahuas to look for the Mexican Chickadee, Yellow-eyed Jun...
Birding Southeast Arizona-part 1
To maximize my time in Arizona and not wander all over the state being frustrated, I hired Melody Kehl to guide for me. She picked me up at the hotel at 5:30 AM to try for the Sinoloa Wren at first light. The day turned windy and rainy so many bi...
Arizona Wish List
Ferruginous Hawk, Prairie Falcon,Montezuma Quail, Masked Bobwhite, Scaled Quail, Spotted Owl, Elf Owl, Painted Redstart, Red-faced Warbler, No. Pygmy Owl, Common Poorwill, Broad-tailed hummingbird, Williamson’s Sapsucker, Red-naped Sapsucker, Gray ...
I Like Gulls
Can we talk about gulls for a moment? I know some birders eschew them, won’t even look at them, call them names like sea rats, G-U-11s, but, truth be told, …shhhh…I sorta like them. Maybe it’s because growing up in the fla...
Conversation with a college student
I was sitting in the back of the conference room with my laptop plugged into the wall, when a young woman put her camera down next to me and sat down. We exchanged smiles and idle conversation. I asked her how she was enjoying BlogHer and she t...
Birding in Napa Valley
Currently in between business conferences, I am loafing in Napa Valley. Unable to find a bird guide (Grrrr), I randomly drove around this morning looking for birds. With the countryside being so dry, I thought it would make the most sense to ...
Pied-billed grebe
Licking a banana ice cream cone and strolling the embarcadero, I stopped to watch an immature pied-billed grebe swimming close-by. A young man sitting on the wall watched me snap a picture. “Why are you taking a picture of a duck?” It...
