Costa Rica in July

by 0

Rich Hoyer is happy to be back and posting, and this time to share just a few photo highlights from the Costa Rica tour he just completed.

The Cowbird and the cuckoo

by 0

For this week’s installment of Darwin’s Other Birds I give you pure Darwin, from the Voyage monograph on birds, concerning the cowbid and the cuckoo. MOLOTHRUS NIGER This species is […]

Winging it on Fair Isle

by 0

Winging it on Fair Isle . . . . Puffin Flight Photography – July Update. My favourite image taken on Fair Isle during my whistle-stop visit, a Puffin in flight […]

Darwinian Thinking From The Birds

by 1

In Darwin’s time explorers had converted the European view of the world by their observations, much like travelers of today convert their own view of the world, from a simple […]

Are you going to the birdfair?

by 8

The BIG British BirdFair Meet-up. It might be a surprise to some that I am actually going to the British Birdfair this year. Last year about this time I was […]

Top 10 birds of Turkey

by

Turkey gives fabulous birding with Northern Bald Ibis, Caspian Snowcock, Spur-winged Plover and many more. Tristan Reid presents the 10 best birds and the key birdwatching areas. In fact, Tristan made a pledge to raise money for BirdLife Turkey by tattooing his right arm with the same 10 birds.

Birds Feared Darwin

by 1

If Darwin was alive today he would be a bird watcher. But he would do his bird watching differently, using a nice set of binoculars rather than a shotgun. In […]

Pathetic pelagics in Peru

by 0

Steve Howell, Hadoram Shirihai and Peter Harrison comment on the fabulous pelagics from Peru run by Kolibri Expeditions. Now there is only one problem. There is no boat. But there may well be one – if you can help it. In fact it is a very good offer. You gotta check it out.

How to niche an eco-lodge into a birding-lodge

by 7

Gunnar Engblom has visited Amazon Refuge on the Yanayacu river near Iquitos. Here Gunnar presents a manual how an eco-lodge should cater to birders with an example Amazon Refuge as an example. A birding lodge is easier to market than an eco-lodge especially if there are some good birds that birders would do a detour to see. A birding lodge targets a very specific niche and makes marketing much easier.

The mocking bird mocks ironically

by 0

Most people think of Darwin and Birds in relation to Darwin’s Finches. Unless, of course, you’ve heard a bit more about Darwin than the first-order mythology we tend to attach […]

Breeding Spoon-billed Sandpiper found in Chukotka

by 1

Breeding Spoon-billed Sandpiper has been found by a unique conservation collaboration between BirdLife International and Heritage Expeditions – a BirdLife Species Champion in far eastern Russia at the Chukotka coast.

The 50 best birds in Africa (part 1)

by 10

Africa has tons of great birds to offer, from the reclusive Grey-necked Rockfowl, to the super-DIY Weavers, and the powerful and enigmatic Martial Eagle. But what qualifies a bird to […]

Darwin on the Andean Condor

by 3

Darwin demonstrates his approach to doing science in his description of the Andean Condor, which was used in the monograph on birds that came out of the famous voyage of the Beagle.

Satipo Road – new name?

by 0

For fundraising purposes the birding circuit known as Satipo Road needed a new name. Rainforest Partnership has a hard time to market a road as a pristine area among non-birders, and the name Pampa Hermosa which has been used in the past is already in use at two other birding sites in Peru. A recent poll singled out Colibri Trail as the favorite, which makes much sense since there are 45 species of Hummingbirds recorded from this area. Colibri means Hummingbird in virtually every language except English.