October 2011

Am I failing miserably as a Birder?

Thumbnail image for Am I failing miserably as a Birder? by DaleForbes 30 October 2011

Birdchaser Rob Fergus has just updated his thought-provoking Bird RDA and come up with the idea of a 20 Bird Minimum Daily Requirement. As Rob describes it, the new concept “more clearly states the purpose of the distinction–that birders need to see a minimum number of species each day in order to stay sharp.” When [...]

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Inca Tern – eyegasm

Thumbnail image for Inca Tern – eyegasm by Gunnar 29 October 2011

The world’s most beautiful Tern Young Peruvian bird photographer Alfredo Fernandez is keen as keen, always chatting with me about birds on Facebook.  I was not surprised that he shared yet a couple of more Flickr albums with me. I totally melted with his Inca Terns. And then he said, let me know if you [...]

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Blue-throated Bee-eater… a colorful sacrifice!

Thumbnail image for Blue-throated Bee-eater… a colorful sacrifice! by Alex Vargas 27 October 2011

Bee-eaters are fantastic and gracious birds, pretty colorful all of them. The Blue-throated it’s amongst my favorites as it is a beautiful -not so easy to get- target… and I love that kind of challenge! This is a quick story that involves a cool bird, a super hotspot -by all means- to go get it [...]

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Journal Club: Jumping genes reveal birds and their sex chromosomes evolved together

Thumbnail image for Journal Club: Jumping genes reveal birds and their sex chromosomes evolved together by Grrlscientist 26 October 2011

SUMMARY: Avian retroposons — “jumping genes” — reveal that birds and their sex chromosomes evolved together, and provide us with important clues into the evolution of sex chromosomes and sex in general Like mammals, the sex of individual birds is determined by the combination of sex chromosomes they get from their parents at fertilization. But [...]

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Searching Among Saguaros and Shindaggers for Skippers

Thumbnail image for Searching Among Saguaros and Shindaggers for Skippers by Rich Hoyer 25 October 2011

Rich Hoyer finds some nice birds and bugs while searching for a rare skipper back home in Arizona.

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20 Bird Minimum Daily Requirement

Thumbnail image for 20 Bird Minimum Daily Requirement by Gunnar 24 October 2011

Birdchaser Rob Fergus has come up with a brilliant concept that actually works almost everywhere. As a birder you know you feel good when you bird. But not every day is a complete birding day, as it is not practical. You have to work  or study.  Yes,  your life is full of obligations. But what [...]

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The Greatest Wild Goose Festival?

Thumbnail image for The Greatest Wild Goose Festival? by DaleForbes 23 October 2011

Quite possibly the coolest wild goose festival in the universe takes place every winter around a lake in western Hungary and the quaint town of Tata. It is also the only one I know of, but that is besides the point. The XI Tata Wild Goose Festival (Tatai Vadlúd Sokadalom) will take place on 25-27 [...]

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Scilly – the final day

Thumbnail image for Scilly – the final day by TomMckinney 22 October 2011

Two things about this trip to Scilly were inevitable – 1) it would have to end at some point; 2) despite me working my arse off trying to find a Pallas’s Warbler, someone else would beat me to it by finding one on the island of Bryher yesterday. Not that I’m complaining, I mean with [...]

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Ruby Tuesday

Thumbnail image for Ruby Tuesday by Rebecca Nason 21 October 2011

MALE SIBERIAN RUBYTHROAT – SHETLAND, UK It has been a while since I have posted on Birdingblogs and what better way of returning than to mention a particularly rare and stunning bird which is at this very moment sculking in the undergrowth of a small garden in Gulberwick on the Shetland mainland – the cream [...]

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Scilly – day 29

Thumbnail image for Scilly – day 29 by TomMckinney 20 October 2011

“What’s your favourite bird?” Stupid question, and for me it’s impossible to answer. However, when pushed I might well say Pallas’s Warbler. I absolutely love them. I’ve seen quite a few but never found one of my own, so this week I’ve been secretly determined to find one by working Carreg Dhu gardens and Holy [...]

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Happy Birthday Birdingblogs

Thumbnail image for Happy Birthday Birdingblogs by Gunnar 20 October 2011

Birdingblogs started on Oct 20, 2010 as a joint effort between a number of bird bloggers. We can only conclude that it has been very successful for everyone involved. One year later Birdingblogs has positioned itself around position five or six on NatureblogNetwork and has Google Page Rank 4. All very well for a new [...]

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Sunbirds Heaven

Thumbnail image for Sunbirds Heaven by Alex Vargas 20 October 2011

Sunbirds are Fantastic birds and Krating Waterfall it’s a real Hotspot to photograph them! I was trilled to see 3 species of Sunbirds at the roadside gardens of the Rain Forest Discovery Center (Malaysian Borneo) in 2010, but when I visited Wat Krating Waterfall -in Khao Kitchakut National Park (eastern Thailand), I was blown away [...]

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Journal Club: The birds and the trees

Thumbnail image for Journal Club: The birds and the trees by Grrlscientist 19 October 2011

Hoarding and breeding strategy of the Gray Jay SUMMARY: Gray jays hoping to survive and reproduce during Canada’s harsh winters must store food in the right kinds of trees If you’ve ever met a gray jay, Perisoreus canadensis, then I think you’ll agree with me that this audacious and personable bird is one of the [...]

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Cristalino Jungle Lodge – Rich Hoyer’s Last Days and Bird List Totals

Thumbnail image for Cristalino Jungle Lodge – Rich Hoyer’s Last Days and Bird List Totals by Rich Hoyer 18 October 2011

Rich Hoyer summarizes his last days and the bird list total from two months at the amazing Cristalino Jungle Lodge

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Scilly – day 17

Thumbnail image for Scilly – day 17 by TomMckinney 18 October 2011

Having now seen all the good birds, today was supposed to be a proper holiday. Sarah bought a bucket and spade, I bought a Super-Pro Stunt Kite. Excellent! Walking to the beach I bumped into a few birders who were excited by the prospect of westerlies bringing in something good from wherever it is that [...]

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Scilly – day 4

Thumbnail image for Scilly – day 4 by TomMckinney 17 October 2011

Two boat loads of birders, including some of our party, were disappointed and frustrated on a trip to the island of St.Martin’s where they dipped on Blyth’s Reed Warbler (reported late yesterday) and narrowly missed the long staying American Golden Plover. Back on St.Mary’s we mega-serious-hardcore birders were thrilled by a trip to Hugh Town [...]

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Great garden birding

Thumbnail image for Great garden birding by DaleForbes 16 October 2011

As a birder we pretty much always have our eyes peeled for birds. It is in us. And we cannot escape it. In the parking lot of the local grocery store, from my office window, and even while watching TV (heard a Willow Warbler in CSI Miami a few days ago). And besides when we [...]

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Scilly – day 2

by TomMckinney 15 October 2011

Two days in and I haven’t seen the Waterthrush. It’s not for lack of effort. It’s complicated. It makes me angry. If I think about it too much I start throwing things around, chairs out the window, televisons through doors. I kicked out at the dog this morning, which is pretty worrying because we don’t [...]

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Bird-Photographer Luis Vargas, a Costa Rican that Loves Dogs!

Thumbnail image for Bird-Photographer Luis Vargas, a Costa Rican that Loves Dogs! by Alex Vargas 13 October 2011

Luis Vargas, his Birds, his Dogs, his Travels and a Lesson to Everyone I decided to feature my good friend Luis (it has my last name, but we are not related), as he is a pretty simple and friendly guy that has lots of birds and story to share. He has a fantastic feeder in [...]

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Isles of Scilly – not even day 1

Thumbnail image for Isles of Scilly – not even day 1 by TomMckinney 13 October 2011

Great start. Fog has stopped all flights to Scilly. Excellent. We’re due to fly tomorrow, but the forecast looks bad again for most of Friday. And so tomorrow morning we’re transferring to the Scillonian 3, the best boat ever. Sort of. Since I first went on it, just some time before my balls dropped, people [...]

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