September, 2009
Latest: Bird Migration & Stopover Ecology Project
Head on over to Rochester’s City Newspaper for my latest piece on bird migration and a local stopover ecology project. The article opens with a scene from Braddock Bay Bird Observatory in western NY (west of Rochester), so I include some photos below of time I spent watching the banding operation last spring. More on [...]
Approaches to Bird Identification & A Kirtland’s Warbler
I recall an interesting conversation I had at the Midwest Birding Symposium on approaches to bird identification. To set the stage, I also dug up a few more decent shots of the Kirtland’s Warbler at East Harbor State Park, western Lake Erie in Ohio (September 18, 2009). At lunch I had the pleasure of sitting [...]
Revisiting The Kirtland’s Warbler
The hour of 3 am and I are becoming intimate bedfellows. That being the case, I may as well prop up my eyelids with toothpicks, wince from the glare of my screen in this darkened room, and report on my trip to the Midwest Birding Symposium. I went into the symposium believing that I was [...]
My Life Kirtland’s Warbler (i.e., Life Is Good At MBS)
My $75 registration fee was just returned in spades. During one of the early morning talks at MBS today, my cell phone vibrated with a very curious message: “Kirtland’s Warbler at East Harbor State Park, Meadow Trail.” At that point, I had to bail on the fine and illustrious speaker, Jim McCormac, because I knew [...]
Good morning from the Midwest Birding Symposium (MBS)
Writing from the Coffee and Cream cafe in Lakeside, Ohio. Weather is splendid, there’s good energy in the air, and many happy people walking around anticipating opening ceremonies that occur in about two hours. I spent the majority of the first day at MBS birder-watching. Migrant flocks of old friends mixed with others I’d [...]
Wind Farms & Bird Migration: A Solution?
One Texas wind farm project has employed radar technology that can sense a flock of migrating birds up to 4 miles away, which causes the wind turbines to shut down. Promising idea, but a closer look shows why bird mortality will more likely be avoided due to the farm’s proper siting within the flyway. All eyes on Penascal in Texas, and soon, Vermont…
Meet-Up at the Midwest Birding Symposium?
Monday here. I am getting excited for The Midwest Birding Symposium (MBS), taking place this weekend, September 17 – 20, 2009 on the southern shore of Lake Erie. If you’re attending the event, be sure to look me up (see below). Hosted by Bird Watcher’s Digest, The Ohio Ornithological Society and the Lakeside Association, the 2009 Midwest Birding Symposium (MBS) will be [...]
The Art of Listing: A Big Year Quest in NY
What does a birder do when he (or she) has graduated from little brown jobs to peeps and age-classing juvenile gulls? In New York, he sets about a big year where he attempts to see 300 species.
Top Fall Birding & Nature Festivals
Okay, peeps. If you are not already scheduled for a fall birding festival I’m afraid I’ll have to send the birding police after you. Festivals are like one big happy hour for birders. Except our happy hour starts at dawn, breaks at noon, then starts up again in the afternoon with great talks by esteemed [...]
Fall Bird Banding @ Braddock Bay
Today I took the kids over to Braddock Bay Bird Observatory, or more specifically to the Manitou Beach Banding Station, which is located on the near-shore area of Rochester, NY, just south of Lake Ontario. For 25 years, volunteers have been banding birds during spring and fall migration. I went to observe the process and [...]
