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Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
Today was another in a stretch of unseasonably warm spring days, sunny, hazy with pollen, with temperatures in the upper 80s or 90 by afternoon. But the mornings are cool and pretty and bright with birdsong, with green leaves now opening on just about all the trees, even the white oaks, [...]
Aerial courting goes awry for bald eagles
Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
Two bald eagles crash into the ground leaving one dead and the other seriously injured after misjudging the distance during what experts believe was a mating ritual.
Andrea Gusty / KTVA Channel 11 News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska—It’s a case of aerial courting gone awry that has one Anchorage facility helping an injured bald [...]
Mystery tree ID? Help!!!!
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Princess Lisa is intent (some might say obsessed) about knowing every plant and tree that grows in her garden. Lately, we’ve been ripping out nasty invasives like Japanese Honeysuckle and Multiforal Rose, and replacing them with good native species, like Milkweed, which attratcs Monrach butterflies. We like Monarchs.
But [...]
Book Review: Birds of Europe
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
One of Warren’s first birding books (perhaps the first birding book) was the “Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe,” circa 1972. We still have it here on our ornithological bookshelf here at the Lovenest. It’s moldy, torn, scribbled in - and treasured.
Still, that hardly makes us [...]
Big BirdCouple Love…
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
From the Austrian Times…
It’s a love story of epic proportions….
When Italian hunters shot a female stork called Malena, local vets in Croatia where the stork had been nesting revealed that, although they had saved her life — she would never fly again.
She was placed back in her nest with her [...]
Dipping on Ptarmigan
Submitted by BrdPics Blog
Last weekend I led a Denver Field Ornithologists trip in search of White-tailed Ptarmigan in the Indian Peaks Wilderness west of Boulder. This was a snowshoe birding trip, and with a foot of fresh snow they were absolutely required to get around. We ’shoed up to treeline, ticking only 3 birds (Mountain [...]
Northern Parula
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
The day began with the buzzy, summery song of a Northern Parula around the edges of the woods. The morning was cool, sunny, colorful and full of birdsong, and the Parula’s rising zzzzzzzhhhh-ip! that trips over and falls at the end was the highlight. It even came to a low branch [...]
Brown Creeper
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
Early this afternoon in sunny, unseasonably warm weather, a Brown Creeper appeared in the trees around our back yard and edge of the woods. I first saw it as it flew to the trunk of a white oak beside our deck, and watched as it crept quickly, straight up the trunk, [...]
Trumpeter Swan from Ketchikan
Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
This young trumpeter swan was sent to us from the Deer Mountain Tribal Hatchery and Eagle Center in Ketchikan. After caretaking it for a few days, it seems that it had a toxic reaction to something.
It seems to be getting some strength back and got to play in one of our [...]
Big BirdCouple Love…
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
From the Austrian Times…
It’s a love story of epic proportions….
When Italian hunters shot a female stork called Malena, local vets in Croatia where the stork had been nesting revealed that, although they had saved her life — she would never fly again.
She was placed back in her nest with her [...]
Nisos
Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
Nisos, the osprey, came to us over 2 years ago. Somehow he had a self amputation, either by flying into a cable or wire, or he had a situation with a airplane. He lost his left wing tip, so obviously he can’t fly or be released.
Ospreys can be hard to [...]
Mixed Feeding Flock #10 - Conservation
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
We’ve been blogging about a lot of things lately, but not as much as we should about our favorite subject, the most important one: conservation!!
With that in mind, here’s a reminder that Earth Hour is just three days away, on March 27. That’s also Princess Lisa’s birthday!! Around the world [...]
Black-bellied Plover and Ruddy Turnstone, Piping Plovers and Red Knots
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
Our last day on Kiawah was rainy all day, except for a short break of about an hour just before noon, when I headed out to the beach. It was beautiful. A low, stormy gray sky, gray-green water, and only three or four other people as far as I could see. [...]
White Ibis, Little Blue Heron and Clapper Rail
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
In addition to the missing Osprey nest nearby, highlights around the Willet Pond on Kiawah included a fine Gray Catbird sitting among brown marsh grass, and several Red-winged Blackbirds, whose shoulder patches gleamed very bright, glistening red. At least three dozen Pied-billed Grebes were scattered over the pond, floating in small [...]
Is it spring?
Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
If it is, it’ll be the earliest spring has started that I can remember. Not that I’m complaining. The eagles out at the flight center seem to think that it’s here. They are strutting their stuff, getting their strength back, getting ready for release.
They’re flying in between the post, [...]
Happy Spring!
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Here in the northern hemisphere, it turned into spring at about 1:30pm today. The temperatures outside sure felt spring-like. Birdcouple was out .. birding.
We went to Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, one of our favorite spots. Osprey were everywhere. Among the birds we saw were 6 Common Mergansers. For Warren, it [...]
A Missing Nest
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
One of the places we visited each day on Kiawah March 8-11 was the site of an Osprey nest in a pine, where last year a Great Horned Owl had taken over the nest in March, but the Ospreys returned in June. This time we were sorry to find the nest [...]
Bald Eagle on the Beach
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
Late one morning last week, toward the eastern end of the beach on Kiawah Island, a young Bald Eagle stood on the edge of the surf, near low tide, a long way across the sand from where I had just walked out on a path through the dunes. It was so [...]
Tidal Pools
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
The tide was far out and still receding as I walked further east on the beach, coming to a long, deep tidal pool that lay between me and the edge of the waves. Beyond it on a stretch of wet sand well above the waves sat two American Oystercatchers, conspicuous with [...]
“For the Birds” 2010 is over
Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
The evening started with Eryn doing an AWESOME job playing the piano for our arriving guest. That little lady has a lot of talent.
Our education birds were out entertaining the attendees. Everyone got to see what Bird TLC has to offer for education programs.
Staff and volunteers were busy most [...]
For the Birds 2010
Submitted by Bird TLC Blog
This Saturday @ the Sheraton Anchorage from 6 -10PM. Tickets available at www.birdtlc.net or call 562-4852. Get some good stuff and raise some monies “For the Birds”.
Rating 3.00 out of 5
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Birds of Europe, 2nd Edition
Submitted by BrdPics Blog
I’ve just received a review copy of The Birds of Europe, 2nd Edition with Text and Maps by Lars Svensson and Illustrations and Captions by Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterström.
The first edition was widely considered to be the epitome of field guides, and the revisions found in this edition will cement its [...]
Red-throated Loon
Submitted by Birding Notes Blog
One highlight of a visit to Kiawah Island, South Carolina, last week – March 8-11 – was a beautiful, close-up view of a Red-throated Loon.
It was low tide, late morning on a sunny, chilly day. We were walking east on the beach, close to the edge of the waves. Forster’s Terns [...]
Audubon & Important Bird Areas
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
We were pleased as punch to get a pair of these lovely pins from our friends David Curson and David Yeany II at Audubon Maryland-DC.
They were a lovely reminder of our crazy Bird Blitz-ing last June down in Charles County. We surveyed birds, gathering data on at-risk and declining species [...]
State of the Birds 2010: Climate Change
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Annual State of the Birds report is just out and available here. Bottom line: Climate change threatens hundreds of species of migratory birds, already stressed by habitat loss, hunting and other human development.
The report is a collaboration of the US Fish & Wildlife Service and numerous conservation agencies. [...]
