November 2010

What my neighbour is teaching me about birds

Thumbnail image for What my neighbour is teaching me about birds by MartinGarner 30 November 2010

Top photo: Crossbill (vocal type unknown), Bashkino, Moscow region, Russia. 17th November 2007. Sergey Yeliseev. Bird sound is a fascinating aspect of our interest in birds. The longer I have been birding the more I realise that the majority of the time, it is bird calls and song that attract my attention, often well before the [...]

3 comments …continue reading

Mayan Mexico – A Taste of the Tropics

Thumbnail image for Mayan Mexico – A Taste of the Tropics by Rich Hoyer 30 November 2010

While Mexico is riddled with centers of endemism — its pines, oaks and deserts offering a distinctive Middle American flavor — the Mayan south is instead a Neotropical paradise. This past March after I co-led the WINGS Western Chiapas and Oaxaca tour with legend Steve Howell (seeing many of those wonderful endemics, perhaps the topic [...]

5 comments …continue reading

wild Scarlet Macaw personalities

Thumbnail image for wild Scarlet Macaw personalities by DaleForbes 28 November 2010

Scarlet Macaws are really impressive – big, beautiful and raucous. And for three years my life revolved around them. Tough luck, hey? And there was not a moment in which I was not completely fascinated by them. I was working for a conservation organisation, called Associación Amigos de las Aves (now, The Ara Project) in [...]

1 comment …continue reading

The Fifty Best Birds in Asia: Part 3

Thumbnail image for The Fifty Best Birds in Asia: Part 3 by SusanMyers 27 November 2010

The list goes on! The list continues and as I put it together I realize perhaps fifty isn’t enough!  It’s very hard to choose and I probably should apologize for having so many from Borneo, but I’m not going to… 21. Siamese Fireback Lophura diardi There are a number of families that reach their aesthetic [...]

3 comments …continue reading

Tapajos Hermit Recognized by SACC

Thumbnail image for Tapajos Hermit Recognized by SACC by Rich Hoyer 26 November 2010

A quorum in the South American Classification Committee has been reached on the proposal to consider the Tapajos Hermit, Phaethornis aethopyga, as a valid species, separate from the Little Hermit. It appears that Vítor de Q. Piacentini has been working on this problem for some time. I didn’t know any of the history behind the [...]

1 comment …continue reading

Satellite Tracking of Sooty Shearwaters

Thumbnail image for Satellite Tracking of Sooty Shearwaters by Rich Hoyer 26 November 2010

Satellite technologies, similar to those used by cell phone companies, are enabling scientists to track the Sooty Shearwater seabird species. The data helps to identify critical at-sea habitats for marine life and can further ecosystem-based management of the forage species on which seabirds and other marine predators rely. Read the full news post at the [...]

1 comment …continue reading

Featured Bird Blogger of the Week

Thumbnail image for Featured Bird Blogger of the Week by dAwN FiNe 26 November 2010

Howdee all, Week 4 of Featured Bird Blogger of the Week. Hope you have enjoyed the past featured Bird bloggers..Links to all the previous posts here Today I would like to introduce you to ~Vickie ~from Vickie Henderson Art. When you go to her blog site you can tell right away that Vickie is an [...]

4 comments …continue reading

Leo Musings . . . .

Thumbnail image for Leo Musings . . . . by Rebecca Nason 25 November 2010

Time Spent with Leo’s . . . Fair Isle can be a special place to enjoy many migratory birds, but one bird in particular stands out to me as a real Fair Isle special, not in the rare sense but in the views one can obtain of this usually secretive & difficult species to see [...]

3 comments …continue reading

Just Add Migrants, then Chop, Slice, Stir

Thumbnail image for Just Add Migrants, then Chop, Slice, Stir by Kenn Kaufman 24 November 2010

  I live where I do (in northwest Ohio, USA) because it’s such a great place for observing bird migration.  When I first got together with Kimberly, who is now my wife, she was working as a bird-bander in this phenomenal region; after I had visited here and seen something of the migration, I decided [...]

4 comments …continue reading

Eye-ringed Thistletail Schizoeaca palpebralis – Threatened?

Thumbnail image for Eye-ringed Thistletail Schizoeaca palpebralis – Threatened? by Gunnar 24 November 2010

Eye-ringed Thistletail of the Satipo road and which Birdlife International presently consider Least Concern, should maybe best be considered threatened, since the restricted area where it occurs, is under threat from quite immediate rural development through agriculture and livestock. Money is being poured into the rural areas through the mining compensations and compensation to the victims of terrorism of the 80s and early 90s. Check out the great pictures of Hadoram Shirihai.

5 comments …continue reading

Live with the Mystery…

Thumbnail image for Live with the Mystery… by MartinGarner 23 November 2010

Someone recently repeated back to me a strap-line I like to use: “Always Discovering”. Well I have really been enjoying November 2010 on the discoveries front. In order to ‘do’ discovery, we also have to admit that the stuff we don’t know is greater than what we do know. We must learn to Live with the Mystery. Despite a plethora of books, and  illustration, birds remain a treasure trove of [...]

1 comment …continue reading

Darwin’s Mocking-Thrushes

Thumbnail image for Darwin’s Mocking-Thrushes by Rich Hoyer 23 November 2010

The Mockingbirds of the Galápagos I’m just back from my week in the Galápagos Islands onboard the marine yacht Integrity. With great weather, an exceptionally hard-working crew, Richard Polatty as our naturalist guide (who must be the best in the Galápagos), and a superb group of participants, I can’t imagine a better trip. Though I [...]

2 comments …continue reading

Wallcreepers!!!

Thumbnail image for Wallcreepers!!! by DaleForbes 21 November 2010

The Wallcreeper has got to be one of the most spectacular and enigmatic of mountain birds. Their appearance, behaviour, feeding, breeding, migration, call… all lend to create an unforgettable and intriguing bird. Rarely seen and very difficult to photograph, there are still massive gaps in our scientific understanding of the Wallcreeper (Tichodroma muraria, Mauerläufer, El treparriscos, Le Tichodrome échelette, Il picchio muraiolo). I have now taken tens of thousands of photos of the Wallcreepers here in this region, and they continue to stun me every time I see them.

9 comments …continue reading

The Fifty Best Birds in Asia: Part 2

Thumbnail image for The Fifty Best Birds in Asia: Part 2 by SusanMyers 20 November 2010

Righto! I’m back with the next installment – yes, 11 to 20. I know you’ve been looking forward to this all week! Actually, this is where it starts to get tricky for me. The first ten are pretty easy but the next forty are more difficult. How to choose? And why would I put Banded [...]

2 comments …continue reading

Great News- Sociable Lapwing eastern flyway found!

Thumbnail image for Great News- Sociable Lapwing eastern flyway found! by DaleForbes 20 November 2010

One of the most incredible results and successes of the Amazing Journey project was having one of the Sociable Lapwings (Vanellus gregarius) satellite tagged on the Steppes of central Kazakhstan move down the unknown eastern flyway to the Indian subcontinent. Dinara – as our star was dubbed – was tagged in June 2010 and stuck [...]

0 comments …continue reading

Tales from the OC Warbler

Thumbnail image for Tales from the OC Warbler by dAwN FiNe 19 November 2010

Howdee all, Every now and then I would like to share a blog post with you, from a blog I read regularly or one that is suggested to me. This is a recent post from Felicia at the OC Warbler Enjoy! Monday, November 15, 2010 Failure To Launch A late breakfast at the Viera Wetlands. [...]

0 comments …continue reading

Featured Bird Blogger of the Week: John Briggs

Thumbnail image for Featured Bird Blogger of the Week: John Briggs by dAwN FiNe 19 November 2010

Howdee all, This is week 3 of Featured Bird Blogger of the Week. If you would like to see the other Featured Bird Bloggers and my first post about why I am doing this..Click here. This week I am happy to feature an awesome photographer. Say hello to John Briggs @Mainebirder on Twitter.  I am [...]

4 comments …continue reading

Birds on the Beach . . .some are clearly cold!

Thumbnail image for Birds on the Beach . . .some are clearly cold! by Rebecca Nason 18 November 2010

Birds on the Beach . . . . This morning I have started to look through a large selection of Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) images, taken during October 2010 on Fair Isle, Shetland UK. Chiffchaff’s can come through the Island in good numbers during the Autumn & good views can often be obtained as these birds [...]

6 comments …continue reading

Central Peru birding videos

Thumbnail image for Central Peru birding videos by Gunnar 17 November 2010

I would have liked to write a long post about Satipo road, where I shall be heading in a couple of days, since there now is a basic lodge to stay (see top picture). The community is  running a lodge for birders (see the top photo). All this as a result of taking a few [...]

4 comments …continue reading

Hitchhiking Bunting

by MartinGarner 16 November 2010
Thumbnail image for Hitchhiking Bunting

Snow Bunting breaking the rules! My family owns a caravan at Sandy Beaches, Spurn. The Snow Bunting above hung out by my caravan; without ME being there. The second bit is the most important. Sandy Beaches is a generic sounding place for a small holiday ‘van park. Spurn however  is often rated as the best place for migration [...]

1 comment …continue reading

← Previous Entries