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Yesterday evening I got home from the second Swarovski Skills Camp at Lake Neusiedl in the east of Austria. I am still tired from the long drive, but it was great to play with the very best toys for birders, to be able to share experiences and to ask the factory staff all sorts of silly questions. It was also great to finally travel overseas again, meet a lot of people I did not know (and some I did), to be in a new country… and not just the new country, but its best birding area, where al
Citrix executive Barry Magee explains that incorporating D&B's Rev.Up ABX software program into their existing processes was not so much about giving people data, but rather transforming how they worked. The post Turning the Lights On Revenue-Generating Bottlenecks appeared first on Sales & Marketing Management.
Every now and then you read a book which you believe should be read by everyone on the planet. Nature’s Best Hope by American entomologist and conservationist, Doug Tallamy, is such a book. The reason why is that it preaches simple truths: 1. We are in the midst of an incredibly dangerous biodiversity crisis [coupled with climate change] . 2. That every human on the planet ultimately depends on biodiversity and nature for stable weather and climate, food, water and fresh air; that is, life
Poas Volcano isn’t just a mountain built with magma. In common with so many other volcanoes, Poas also houses farms, people, and forests full of birds. Strawberries are grown year round, visit the area and young locals will let you know. They hold up boxes of strawberries as you drive past, loudly exclaiming, “Fresas! Freeesas!” Soaking up nutrients from volcanic soils and shaded with black fabric, the small fruits are a tasty piece of Poas.
To paraphrase Aristotle via Aldo Leopold, one swallow does not a summer make, but zero swallows, that is fall. That at least holds mostly true where I am in eastern upstate New York, where I haven’t personally seen a swallow in several weeks, and the last reports in my home county of Albany are now over a fortnight old. Now that we’re officially into autumn as of yesterday afternoon, there may be a few swallows lingering along the riverways and reservoirs here, and some may be found here and the
“Why do you always keep a list?” my brother asked on a hot and muggy afternoon in North Florida. Gwynn sat behind me in the canoe as we paddled lazily around a shallow lake. Visiting from California, he had visited local gardens and trails with me, spent time by the pool, and took a few mini-canoe trips. Each time, a small notebook tagged along with me, and I would note the bird species I spotted, then put it away. “Well…” was my first answer, as I struggled to arti
Indeed, you only live twice: your second life starts when you bird Costa Rica for the first time. And, yee-haw, this would be my second attempt at a second life: three weeks ago I was invited to bird Costa Rica! And that is how this mess I am in, started. Do you ever manage to get ready for a birding trip in a calm and orderly fashion? And find enough time to study the field guide to your destination?
Indeed, you only live twice: your second life starts when you bird Costa Rica for the first time. And, yee-haw, this would be my second attempt at a second life: three weeks ago I was invited to bird Costa Rica! And that is how this mess I am in, started. Do you ever manage to get ready for a birding trip in a calm and orderly fashion? And find enough time to study the field guide to your destination?
When looking for birds in Costa Rica, the Central Valley isn’t the first place that comes to mind. Fly in to Juan Santamaria airport and this is where you arrive; a heavily populated and urbanized intermontane valley. Tongues and patches of green space host birds but most birders leave as soon as they can. I can’t blame them, I would too.
After a lifetime of lockdown measures we’re all surely chomping at the bit to get back out and slip back into that birding groove. I for one have been cautious, probably overly so. Nevertheless, I have taken my fair share of chances in life thus far. I shall not get into those, as we may never get to the birds! A few weeks ago a local birder let us know of a pair of Pearl Kites that had seemed to take up residence about 40 minutes from where I live.
The last few days, I have been mildly obsessed with a Velvet Underground cover version of “I’m waiting for the man” by Matt Berninger (video here ). Of course, it is hard to justify such an obsession in a blog post ostensibly all about birds. On the other hand, such a challenge is also an opportunity (such a cliche, I know). So, I went through the lyrics of said song and found the one line that apparently applies both to waiting for your local heroin dealer and to birding: R
In some places, birds have to live with large amounts of trash in their environment. Fortunately, some have found creative ways to deal with this issue: Trash indicating food ( Yellow-billed Chough , Balangshan, China). Trash as nesting material ( Upland Buzzard , Ruoergai, China). This is actually getting more popular in nesting areas with a high risk of gentrification.
And just like that, migration is upon us. Actually, many birds started their seasonal peregrination weeks ago and may have many more weeks ahead until they’ve reached their destinations. Migration is meaningful to those of us who appreciate when non-local birds invade our local airspace, so make the most of this one. Most of the birds I spotted this weekend are the same species I’ll be hanging out with all winter.
Every fall weekend bears a bite of bittersweet wonder around here. The thrill of a wave of migrants also brings a pang of worry that these may be the last songbirds we see for a while. No worries, though, as long as the next season brings its own suite of specialties. Plus, fall has a lot more to offer all of us. I finally tracked down Black-bellied Plover , a shorebird species that had been eluding me for the county for years, plus a bonus bird in the form of a very infrequent Forster’s T
Conceptualizing a plumage aberration such as leucism, where pigments are prevented from reaching some (or all) feathers (in the case of birds) may be a feat of the imagination that can most easily be applied to one of the more common species – maybe an American Robin , or a Rufous-bellied Thrush. Personally, I’ve seen leucistic hummingbirds more than anything else – I photographed a completely leucistic Black-throated Mango many years ago on Tobago, and more recently I’ve
With my favorite Shanghai birding place at Nanhui getting gradually destroyed under the watchful eyes of the local government favoring Tesla over terns, I have been searching for some alternative Shanghai locations with less ongoing construction, fewer people, and hopefully more birds. Fengxian is one of these places – geographically not as good as it is a bit away from the most straightforward coastal migration part, but indeed a bit less disturbed for now.
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Mengbishan is about five hours away from Balangshan by car, on a road that is partly excellent, partly horrible. The horrible essentially meaning half-an-hour delays for construction while the road is being upgraded. As often in China, the choice seems to be between terrible infrastructure and almost no people or great roads accompanied by caravans of tour buses.
The photograph above is your typical photograph of a Yellow Chat around Broome. You will be walking along and there is a little bit of movement on the ground and you observe a couple or more Yellow Chats. Recently we encountered a flock of over one hundred Yellow Chats , but they did not stay still and they were impossible to photograph. Often the Yellow Chats will sit on the top of the saltbush near the coast, but once again only briefly.
When out birding, I prefer completely wild habitat. There is something about a mature rainforest, for example, that cannot be replicated by any human. Reforested areas may come close, but there is a feeling that weathering the passage of time engenders. Humans have altered their habitat for hundreds of years, creating various new habitats that some aspects of nature have come to colonize.
This year, like every year, the Pied Oystercatchers have not given up on trying to successfully breed along our coast here in Broome. The breeding season started early this year with the first eggs laid at the end of May. This pair of Pied Oystercatchers have incubated two clutches of eggs and had chicks for a few days on both occasions. They are currently making nest scrapes once again, so maybe it will be third time lucky.
Ronald Reagan once said that “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the Government, and I’m here to help.” When starting a birding tour, which words by your tour guide can have a similarly terrifying effect? For my money, the question “Do you like music” is a strong contender. What to do when faced with this question, if the urge to start the birding trip is stronger than the initial reflex to run away?
September has arrived, bringing the first waves of a new season of migration. Millions of birds around the world are making moves. Will you move with them? I spent the last week in Alaska chasing all kinds of excitement but finding fewer birds than I’d hoped. The weekend found me in the Fairbanks area, where the dominant bird right now has to be Sandhill Cranes.
Only one week after the Atlantic hurricane Grace dropped a good amount of rainfall on Michoacán, the outer bands of the East Pacific Hurricane Nora did the same, this Saturday and Sunday. As a result, I suspected that many of the sites on my Monday birding rotation would be pretty muddy. So I headed to the one place where most of my walking/birding route is paved.
An unfortunate side effect of birding in the developing world, is the amount of habitat destruction you are likely to see. Michoacán has such wonderful forests — I just wish I didn’t have to witness so many being cut down. A few months ago, images made their way around social media here promoting the idea that each person plant one tree.
“I am not a psychologist, but I portray one in my role as the pastor of a small church.” Actually, my wife and I have a fairly deep understanding of counselling techniques — which is a good thing, because studies show that much counselling and mental health work occurs in church settings. Many people are more comfortable speaking to a pastor than to a psychologist or psychiatrist.
I am guessing that no birder practices this passion exclusively for the birds. If you are like me, and I suspect you are, it’s also for the butterflies, beetles, lizards, and plants. In my case, it is especially for the plants. In fact, I’ve brought a good number of those plants (in the form of cuttings and seeds) back to my two gardens.
Each year around the end of August we eagerly await the return of the Oriental Plovers. We usually have our first encounter with them in the last week of August and if it is hot and dry they are often found on the beach. The numbers of Oriental Plovers gradually appear to increase day by day over the following weeks. The legs of the Oriental Plovers are significantly longer than the Greater Sand Plovers , which are also returning to Broome’s beaches at this time of year.
My favorite part of fall is early fall… really early, like not even officially autumn yet. Not only does this time of year suit me because everything is still green and relatively warm, but I also like the current wave of migrants landing on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Really, the worst part of birding mid-September in upstate New York is the realization that, in a couple of weeks or so, the excitement of migration is over for us.
Ruoergai is a large grassland in Sichuan on the far eastern edge of the Tibetan plateau. This is a wetland with an altitude mostly between 3300 and 3600 meters, sparsely populated mainly by Tibetans. The poster bird of this area is the near-threatened Black-necked Crane. According to the HBW, “Summer habitat at high altitudes of 2950–4900 m: grassy wetlands, boggy meadows …” – which – getting rather wet feet when taking these shots – I can fully confirm.
Regular performance feedback is critical to workplace engagement. And the flow of feedback should go both ways. The post Creating a Feedback Culture appeared first on Sales & Marketing Management.
Automating sales and marketing activities lets you focus your human resources elsewhere. When your sales agents don’t have to spend hours creating proposals or prospecting, they can do more in less time. The post 5 Ways Sales Automation Will Help Your B2B Company Thrive appeared first on Sales & Marketing Management.
If you hire and train sales development reps smartly, they move on to leadership roles. Here's how to keep your pipeline of star talent filled. The post The Next-Gen Sales Development Team appeared first on Sales & Marketing Management.
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