If you are really interested in bird-watching you will find great benefit from purchasing some binoculars. If you are in your garden perhaps you may be able to watch birds with your naked eye. However, if you want to go out into nature to spot some more unusual birds, your experience will be far more [...]
In a departure from our usual text-based content, I am bringing you some interesting new birdwatching videos today!
Have you heard of Google Video? It's in Beta right now, and it's pretty cool. I found 3 birdwatching videos that I thought my readers might enjoy. I'm sharing the first one today, ...If you are looking for an activity that you can enjoy with your kids, whether they're 5 years old or 15 years old, you might want to explore the popular hobby of bird watching. It is one of the fastest growing outdoor activities in America - and a great way ...The bird feeding experience is influenced by the quality of the wild bird food presented and the effectiveness with which it is made available to the birds. Foods vary greatly in their attractiveness, as will be discussed later, and some bird feeders have a much higher innate attractiveness than others. ...
Donald Kroodsma’s follow up to The Singing Life of Birds provides much of the same song learning techniques but with an easier read. Birdsong by the Seasons: A Year of Listening to Birds has 24 stories that follow the calendar year with tales straight from the field.
All of the 24 accounts are fascinating and fun [...]
Nojoqui Falls County Park is a hidden gem of a bird watching site on California's Central Coast near Solvang.
A natural shoreline lake like Oso Flaco Lake near Guadalupe, California, offers habitat variety for easy bird watching opportunities.
The new Swarovski EL binoculars are out and they are, in a word, unbelievable. In a fantasy world where warbler fallouts happen every day, Black and Yellow Rails take model poses seven feet from you, and the sun is always at the perfect viewing angle, these are the sort of bins you’d have. The good [...]
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Posting this from DFW Airport, as we wait for our flight home to the East Coast, where the juncos assuredly don’t look like this yellow-eyed fellow.
We’ll be posting more in the days ahead on our amazing Southeast Arizona adventure - the birds; the incredible deserts, canyons, plants and [...]
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Happy Earth Day to one and all! On Earth Day 2010, we were privileged to see these rare, endangered creatures, two Spotted Owls, roosting in Miller Canyon, in Arizona’s Huachuca mountains. Along with the incredible diversity of other birds, flowers and mammals, we saw today, this Spotted Owl Birdcouple was [...]
Bird-watching in Tropical North Queensland is delightfully easy and enjoyable when utilizing this self-guided camping tour.
Parrots are endearing pets with big personalities, but they also come with enormous costs and responsibilities.
Wild bird feeders can harbor life threatening parasites, infections and diseases, which can be prevented with regular maintenance.
If you can make it to the Cornell Lab at noon on Friday, stop in for a brown-bag lunch seminar and hear Kevin McGowan recount his visit to Rota. He was there to help in a study of the endangered Mariana Crow (he has written a couple of popular posts about the work already.) But [...]
Donald Kroodsma’s The Singing Life of Birds: The Art and Science of Listening to Birdsong is an excellent tool for learning bird sounds. Instead of focusing on how to identify specific bird songs and calls, Kroodsma teaches the reader how to listen.
This unique approach can potentially bring your birding ears to new levels and increase [...]
To attract the most interesting and entertaining birds to the feeder, it's important to know what type of bird seed to use and how to feed it.
Spring is in full swing and warblers are returning all over the country—here in the Northeast the hollows ring with Louisiana Waterthrushes and Pine Warblers trill through the hills. It’s now or never to brush up on your warbler songs, and the Macaulay Library is here to help. They’ve digitally re-released all 57 species and [...]
The following is a review of the Swarovski 25-50x W Eyepiece spotting scope eyepiece. This wide angle eyepiece can be used for wildlife observation and digiscoping.
To use the 25-50x W eyepiece (or any Swarovski eyepiece) you must remove the previous one first. Or if this is your first eyepiece just install it by first removing [...]
Once the most numerous bird in North America, the passenger pigeon was hunted to extinction while its natural habitat was being destroyed.
Join in now on the 87th edition of Bird Photography Weekly!!
Help spread the word with these badges:
Copy this code to place this badge:
<a href="http://birdfreak.com/category/bird-photography-weekly/"><img src="http://birdfreak.com/images/bpw-sharing-logo-wide.jpg" width="225"/></a>
Copy this code to place this badge:
<a href="http://birdfreak.com/category/bird-photography-weekly/"><img src="http://birdfreak.com/images/bpw-sharing-logo-smaller.jpg" width="125"/></a>
May is my favorite month to bird as it is jam-packed with a constant supply of ever-changing migrant birds. I always try to keep the windows wide open so I can awake to the sounds of newly arrived warblers, orioles, tanagers, grosbeaks, flycatchers, and more.
Black-billed Cuckoo
May has been the most amazing month for birds at [...]
While camping with your children, you have the perfect opportunity to encourage fun and simple bird watching activities with your children.
The Illinois Young Birders Club has been in the works for awhile and is officially up and running. Young birders age 9-18 are welcomed to join for only $10.00 a year.
Since the club is brand new they have an urgent need for a logo. Members are encouraged to submit their concepts for what will eventually [...]
If you are interested in a new easy way to directly help conservation projects you can now purchase an Ohio Wildlife Legacy Stamp. The cost is fifteen dollars and fourteen of it is used directly for conservation. Each year there a photo contest will determine the image featured.
The main reasons to buy the stamp:
(from [...]
In the quest to become a more rounded naturalist (aside from “just” birds) I have been constantly looking at plants, insects, and everything else wild I encounter. As the “nature lover” at work, it is oft assumed that I know the answer to anything outdoor related. Sadly, this is not the case.
But I do have [...]
Happy Earth Day 2010! There’s plenty happening today that will remind you of what a wonderful planet we live on, and one of those is the announcement of the winners—chosen by you—in the first-ever We Love Birds photo contest. This dreamy portrait of a preening Great Egret, by Donna Teubert, is one of the 10 [...]
Watching birds is not an activity for one age group or demographic. It ranges from weekend hobby to serious scientific study and is for anyone interested at any skill level. Birding is COOL, it is hard-rock citizen science, and it is becoming INFESTED WITH YOUNG PEOPLE.
Okay, not infested: but there is a growing number [...]
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
Maginificent. Just like that Magnificent Hummingbird up there, that is how our Arizona birding vacation has been so far.
Lisa and I have been in Southeast Arizona for 4 days, the last 3 1/2 days, the last 2 at Cave Creek Canyon in the Chiricahua Mountains, and our heads are spinning [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BirdWatchingBlog/~4/KcMN9AU6-J0" height="1" width="1"/
Working Dogs for Conservation began in 2000 by four women who were not only scientists but dog trainers. Initially, the working dogs were trained to detect scat (poo) from a variety of animal species. They are now trained to detect live animals and plants as well.
A lot of data can be extracted from scat which [...]
: , Mountain Tourism Biodiversity in Ireland Monday , 19 April 2010 Job vacancy , Ecology Wildlife Biodiversity Finbar Ryan Originally uploaded by Mike Maunsell Part time Research Officer : Crop Wild Relative Database The National Biodiversity Data Centre seeks to recruit a Research Officer to assist with the development of a national Crop Wild Relative Database . The post will : involve Collating existing data and creating a database on the distribution of priority Crop Wild Relative CWR species in . Ireland Identifying national CWR hotspots and matching these to the existing protected area network to address the large knowledge gap that exists on the occurrence of wild plant genetic resources both inside and outside protected . areas Establishing a website within the suite of national
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
What can we say? Not much after a 20-hour day, that began with a 3:15 am wake-up call to make an early flight out of Washington, DC.
Worth it? You had to ask? First afternoon in Southeast Arizona, spent at Sweetwater Wetlands. 37 species of birds. Eight lifers for Lisa, [...]
Submitted by The Birdcouple Blog
We’ve been looking for new birds to show up in our yard, now that spring is well underway. But we’ve had a lot of other new arrivals, too. Like this beautiful Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.
And this baby Box Turtle that Lisa found when she was getting ready to [...]
Join in now on the 86th edition of Bird Photography Weekly!!
Help spread the word with these badges:
Copy this code to place this badge:
<a href="http://birdfreak.com/category/bird-photography-weekly/"><img src="http://birdfreak.com/images/bpw-sharing-logo-wide.jpg" width="225"/></a>
Copy this code to place this badge:
<a href="http://birdfreak.com/category/bird-photography-weekly/"><img src="http://birdfreak.com/images/bpw-sharing-logo-smaller.jpg" width="125"/></a>
Five alluring birds to observe in Arizona's Verde Valley are Anna's Humminbirds, Bald Eagles, Gambel's Quails, Breat Blue Herons and Red-Winged Blackbirds
The past two weeks have been a blur of visiting Illinoisans as family got together to visit the Ohio Birdfreaks for a bit of Easter and spring break fun. Eddie and Stacia stayed behind to keep an eye on the Illinois spring migrants and keep all the dogs in line. One of our outings included [...]
Update April 14: Entries are now closed for the photo contest—but you can still vote for your favorites over at We Love Birds! Photo Contest post as of April 6: We’re just under a week away from the deadline for the We Love Birds photo contest. So if you haven’t gotten your entry in yet, [...]
Prairie Spring: A Journey Into the Heart of a Season by Pete Dunne is a journey into the transition of the doldrums of winter into the season of life, Spring. But it is also a recount of how birding is becoming more mainstream and how birders are a real source of environmental improvement power.
Dunne excellently [...]
This past Saturday I birded Rock Cut State Park with my great friend, Tim Young. It was the first day that really felt like Spring in terms of birds. Everywhere we looked were birds we hadn’t seen since last year. All around us we were welcomed to wonderful songs and sightings.
I did a bit of [...]
Birders can have a great time on the Suffolk Coast, even in Autumn, with the spectacular array of wildlife at the RSPB reserve at Minsmere.
For the last few months, we’ve been overhauling the Cornell Lab’s website, giving it much the same kind of redesign as All About Birds got last year. We wanted our website to do a better job of conveying the breadth of what we do here, so that a Web visitor could get the same sense [...]
Possibly one of the benefits to attending meetings in Europe is the conference facilities. Cornell Lab researcher Wes Hochachka recently visited Cáceres, Spain, a town the Romans founded in 25 B.C., and instead of shuffing into some concrete-and-glass monolith dotted with Starbucks, the attendants got to watch White Storks nesting atop the building’s brick-and-tile roof. [...]
Join in now on the 85th edition of Bird Photography Weekly!!
Help spread the word with these badges:
Copy this code to place this badge:
<a href="http://birdfreak.com/category/bird-photography-weekly/"><img src="http://birdfreak.com/images/bpw-sharing-logo-wide.jpg" width="225"/></a>
Copy this code to place this badge:
<a href="http://birdfreak.com/category/bird-photography-weekly/"><img src="http://birdfreak.com/images/bpw-sharing-logo-smaller.jpg" width="125"/></a>
On April 8th, 2010, I (Birdfreak) gave a presentation for the North Central Illinois Ornithological Society (NCIOS); the Rockford, Illinois bird club. The presentation, Tools for Enhancing Your Birding Experience, was designed to provide information about field guides, learning bird sounds and using sound devices, a demonstration on digiscoping, and an overview of some of [...]
There is a new proposal currently underway to create a new National Wildlife Refuge close to Birdfreak Headquarters (aka, northern Illinois). This new refuge would be called Hackmatack NWR and located in Walworth County in southern Wisconsin and McHenry County in northern Illinois.
The name Hackmatack (hack-ma-tack) is an Algonquin Indian word for the Tamarack Tree. [...]
All birds have unique characteristics, but some species have the perfect blend of charisma and character to convince young (or new) birders to really get into it. If a bird has this perfect mix of traits we call them a CHARACTER BIRD. When you are teaching a young birder, it helps to get them motivated [...]
Join in now on the 84th edition of Bird Photography Weekly!!
Help spread the word with these badges:
Copy this code to place this badge:
<a href="http://birdfreak.com/category/bird-photography-weekly/"><img src="http://birdfreak.com/images/bpw-sharing-logo-wide.jpg" width="225"/></a>
Copy this code to place this badge:
<a href="http://birdfreak.com/category/bird-photography-weekly/"><img src="http://birdfreak.com/images/bpw-sharing-logo-smaller.jpg" width="125"/></a>
One of the best things about birding is that you never know where or when you’ll find certain birds. Sure, common birds often come to feeders. And there is nothing too shocking about seeing Mallards or Canada Geese along the Rock River. But a rafter of Wild Turkeys meandering down the sidewalk in a city [...]