This site uses cookies to improve your experience. To help us insure we adhere to various privacy regulations, please select your country/region of residence. If you do not select a country, we will assume you are from the United States. Select your Cookie Settings or view our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Used for the proper function of the website
Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Cookie Settings
Cookies and similar technologies are used on this website for proper function of the website, for tracking performance analytics and for marketing purposes. We and some of our third-party providers may use cookie data for various purposes. Please review the cookie settings below and choose your preference.
Strictly Necessary: Used for the proper function of the website
Performance/Analytics: Used for monitoring website traffic and interactions
Our guide through the woods and towns of Indiana is one Nathan Lochmueller, who looks back to tell the tale of a coming of age that involves a lot of crawling through the woods on breeding-bird surveys, a lot of beer, and a few scrapes with implacable forces like the law, armed KKK members, and snapping turtles.
My own trip was not an intensive birding experience, and August is clearly not the most productive month. The reservoir is surrounded by traditional farming landscape, adding the European Turtle Dove and the Ortolan Bunting to the scene. Black Stork and three pairs of White-tailed Eagles breed here. eBird bar chart. #4
a couple sea turtles, and a jumping sailfish but no birds. Including this one perched on a sea turtle. Also known as the Fairy Tern, this species breeds on Cocos Island and is very rarely seen from pelagic trips in Costa Rica. Most photos in this post were taken by Diego Quesada of Birding Experiences.
This is the time of year when the Pied Oystercatchers breed and already three of the sixteen pairs along this stretch of beach have successfully laid eggs. I normally park my bicycle up and walk this section as there are either three or four pairs of Pied Oystercatchers breeding in this territory.
Most likely, the researchers have indicated, the hatched birds would be viable and not too different from regular chickens, possibly less different than some of the odd breeds generated by more traditional methods. The chickens were done in before hatching. Here’s the thing. The palatal region was also altered to a more ancestral phenotype.
What I have always missed there and what I still miss is to experience presence of the European Beaver. Yet another abundant species in his days was the European Turtle Dove , of which we lost about a quarter of population to hunting in this century alone – nowadays officially a threatened species in the IUCN Red List.
This may be the most awesome pelagic you’ll ever experience… For me it was the publication in 1984 of Peter Harrison’s ground-breaking identification guide to ‘ Seabirds ’ that opened up the off-shore world of pelagic birding right on Cape Town’s door step.
An additional, five-page chapter touches on Other Sea Life–Fish, Sea Turtles, Jellyfish and Krill, Kelp, and Landbirds (the possibility of an exhausted migrating bird landing on the boat.). That’s 22 Marine Mammal species and 43 Seabirds. western waters in the fall. Beginners would benefit from this book as well.
The authors themselves–Rob Hume, Robert Still, Andy Swash, Hugh Harrop, and David Tipling–collectively have 100s of years of birding and photographic experience. The chapters, however, offer very good introductions to each bird group.
Migrants will be around but their hormone driven urges to get back to the breeding grounds for procreation make them less than reliable on count day. Sharing those special birds with so many like-minded people of all ages may have been the most magical experience on race day. Waiting for the sandgrouse. And yes, the need is desperate.
The Refuge has also become a place where people can experience and learn about wildlife and the places they call home, whether through self-guided discovery or by participating in one of our many educational programs. Seney National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1935 as a refuge and breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife.”
I read that the Peak was a great place for thrushes in winter; experience proved the veracity of that observation, but you’ll need to examine the underbrush closely. Hundreds massing at Mai Po, many coming into breeding plumage. 62 Oriental Turtle-Dove. 9 Little Grebe. 4 or more seen both at Mai Po and in Starling Inlet.
Several Ferruginous Duck and one surprising male Goosander , four Glossy Ibises , Common Kingfishers , Eurasian Hopooes , a high note of a Penduline Tit somewhere from the willows along the canal, Eurasian Spoonbills , European Turtle Doves gently purrring …. Five years ago, I observed Dalmatian Pelicans breeding on purpose-built platforms.
Both are common, really common, and both are essentially indistinguishable in non-breeding plumage. One interesting experience here was finding a baby terrapin on the road and picking it up to move it only for peter to call out a Common Iora , one of my two lifer families of the day. Next we drove to the local bird breeding centre.
The story of the cahow, a “Lazurus species” that was thought to be extinct for over 300 years and then discovered to be breeding on a tiny remote island in Bermuda, is part of modern birding legend. In 1951, there were 18 breeding pairs of cahows discovered on three tiny islands. These are magical experiences.
Apparently they breed to the south and return to feed at Lake Bindegolly. There was evidence of terns breeding at some earlier stage by the remaining carcasses in the bush. Evidence of other life during flood was a turtle shell and we were under no doubt that this environment was constantly changing throughout the year.
Trying to breed the species in an aviary provided some disappointments, for example with regard to their nest-building abilities: “I don’t know what previous experience the birds had at nest construction, but their attempt was pretty pathetic” ( source ). Ditto Oriental Turtle Dove. Force of habit, I guess.
Unfortunately, the Ashy Drongos did not exactly do what he predicted that they would do – mob potential predators more frequently during the breeding season and mob the more dangerous predator (in this case, the Black Eagle) more intensely. If you do not like that explanation, the HBW has another one: “khloros green (cf.
I had spent several holidays with my family in the USA in the 1980′s and then worked in Maine during the summer of 1985-beware the poison ivy and the snapping turtles! Read about them here but also get out and experience them. I then had a year in Florida – beware the alligators and hurricanes!
We organize all of the trending information in your field so you don't have to. Join 30+ users and stay up to date on the latest articles your peers are reading.
You know about us, now we want to get to know you!
Let's personalize your content
Let's get even more personalized
We recognize your account from another site in our network, please click 'Send Email' below to continue with verifying your account and setting a password.
Let's personalize your content