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There is a thing parents know very well – how important it is to choose the right name for a child. E.g. one Croat birder I know, Vedran – I never met a guy so well described by his own name, which loosely translated as “joyful”. Or Fleming – he has chosen “Bond”. It seems to me that Lynx Edicions must know Vedran, too, and it was with him in mind that their authors, David W Winkler, Shawn M Billerman and Irby J Lovette, chose the “Bird Families of the World: A Guide to the Spectacular Diversity
Author: Mike Schultz, President, RAIN Group Negotiation is everywhere: in selling, setting salaries, getting the labor union back to the table, figuring out where to go out to dinner.even getting your kids to go to bed. Since negotiation is everywhere, so is negotiation advice. Harvard professor Steven Pinker once said, “Much of the advice from parenting experts is flapdoodle.”.
I didn’t expect to see any birds. It was over 90 degrees F on a Georgia afternoon, the humidity adding an extra dose of discomfort. In a rare afternoon to myself, I had driven across the Florida/Georgia border to pick up a few things in a nearby town (curbside + social distancing), and discovered a historic estate, open to the public, along the road on my way back.
Most birders know what a nemesis bird is and, most of all, what that truly means. It happens to every birder and it may take a while but eventually, every person who strives to see different species of birds comes across that one warbler, that particular shorebird or bunting or crossbill that they really, honestly, should have seen. Basically, you know it might be a nemesis when you keep trying and the bird stays elusive.
Every month of 2020 has felt like a year, yet the imminent end of summer still feels too soon. If the end of August blues are getting you down, allow me to prescribe a certain cure: go birding. I really have no choice but to go birding west of Rochester this weekend, as all sorts of uncommon shorebirds have come and hopefully not yet gone during a busy week.
Every month of 2020 has felt like a year, yet the imminent end of summer still feels too soon. If the end of August blues are getting you down, allow me to prescribe a certain cure: go birding. I really have no choice but to go birding west of Rochester this weekend, as all sorts of uncommon shorebirds have come and hopefully not yet gone during a busy week.
Last week, I “attended” the virtual North American Ornithological Conference (NAOC). Because NAOC is so large, it is more accurate to say I sampled small parts of the enormous event. As I said in an earlier post , I was curious whether an ornithological conference would be interesting to a birder, so I plunked down $50 for registration and planted myself in front of Zoom for several hours a day.
In the era of digital cameras and social media, images of birds are easy to come by. Even photos of the rarest of birds can be found, even heart-wrenching images of bird species that are no longer with us. The fleeting photo of an Ivory-billed Woodpecker tugs at and flies away with a piece of the heart, that final image of a Slender-billed Curlew is difficult to look at, it’s a stab deep inside.
If you read my last post, you will know that my last three weekly outings were not overly productive, as far as birds are concerned. I blame, in chronological order, an unexpectedly dry lake, an unexplained lack of avian activity, and lots of drizzle. But any birder can tell you that a bad day birding is better than a good day almost anywhere else. For me, that has a lot to do with all the beautiful places I get to be, while looking for birds.
Sliding into mid-August in New York feels like the easing into a Jacuzzi: the heat may be intense to start, but the good times are just getting started. Many of the most infrequent shorebird visitors to the greater Rochester area prefer to hide out on an island in the mouth of Braddock Bay. Since I don’t have access to a boat, I resigned myself to scanning the isle fruitlessly from the end of the East Spit… until I learned that the water was so shallow that I could just walk out ther
A couple of weeks ago, I shared some of my favorite photos from my several years of birding. They are certainly not good enough to get me close to the world of professional wildlife photographers, but each is special to me in its own way. Between my recent trip to see waterbirds on a lake that, as it turned out, had mostly dried up, a strangely unproductive trip to one of my new sites, and a dreary, drizzly Monday out, I don’t have much to show for my last three outings.
Since last week another Pied Oystercatcher nest on Cable Beach has produced two chicks. The header photo above shows where the family rested shortly after the two chicks left the nest on Tuesday. We had been patiently awaiting the arrival of the two chicks since the eggs were laid a month ago. I showed you this nest here at the bottom of the post. The Pied Oystercatcher pairs are approximately five kilometres apart on this section of Cable Beach.
The North American Ornithological Conference (NAOC) is held every four years. It seems that pretty much everyone who is anyone in ornithology in the Western Hemisphere attends, making NAOC is one of the largest ornithological conferences in the world. I had already joined the American Ornithological Society (AOS) because I thought it would be a good source for topics for articles and posts on 10000 Birds, so I received the email announcement and follow-ups for “NAOC 2020.
These are times of unfamiliar circumstances and in more ways than one. As the tide of climate disaster keeps rising, protests continue, and economies fall into recession, we move through time and space in a limbo of anxiety and uncertainty. These are the pandemic doldrums, a situation where horizons are muddled by the fogs of worry. As with any barrier, a sharp tool is required to cut through, to perceive the possibilities on the other side.
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Just under a fortnight ago, I saw a report on the local bird alert of a sighting of a group of approximately 20 Nacunda Nighthawks at a wetland not more than 20 minutes from where I live. Even though I had seen these cryptic austral migrants before, there was no way I was going to pass up an opportunity that was this close to home. Especially as we were at the time about to experience a rapidly advancing tropical storm.
Back when I started birding during my youth in California, it didn’t take long for me to notice and appreciate how Northern Mockingbirds would sometimes do backflips in the air while singing. Northern Mockingbirds aren’t all that common in central Mexico, and for some reason, I rarely hear them sing here. Fortunately, I can meet my needs for acrobatic singing with our Blue-black Grassquits.
In a way, kingfishers may be the poor man`s pittas – almost as colorful and exciting, but much easier to observe. Here are some that I have seen in the past few years. African Pygmy Kingfisher (Mkuze, South Africa, Nov 2018). Belted Kingfisher (Reno, USA, Jan 2015). Black-capped Kingfisher (Nanhui, China, May 2018). Brown-hooded Kingfisher (Bateleur and Mkuze, Nov 2018).
August weekends don’t always promise birding excitement, but the tantalizing prospect of a singular sighting always exists. Don’t ever think that the best birds can’t appear at the most unexpected times. Case in point, my best bird of the year so far, at least in terms of my state and county lists, manifested in the form of two ridiculously unlikely Swallow-tailed Kites who have adopted improbable momentary residence in the Rochester area.
This pervasive pandemic we’re currently experiencing has squashed everyone’s travel plans – humans that is. Migration (in particular bird migration) is well underway, however. And when I say bird migration I’m referring to a specific group of birds – shorebirds. These intrepid travelers have captivated the very essence of my being, years ago when I used to work on an industrial port on the west coast of Trinidad I noticed each year these alien looking birds would ap
As we speed towards the end of an utterly odd August, dangerous weather conditions and flame threaten to engulf various swathes of our world. No matter where you find yourself, heed the imperative of 2020: live to see better days! I could definitely use better birding than the dull summer fare observed in the Southern Tier this weekend. Interestingly, the most common bird at our friend’s mountain cabin was, by orders of magnitude, Cedar Waxwing ; seeing waves of waxwings is never a bad thi
A few days ago, I saw a Yellow Bittern trapped in a fishing device. The bird got very nervous when I approached, trying to strike me with its beak through the net. Now, I am sure there is one Shanghai fisherman cursing the evil person who cut a hole in his net. Herons and egrets are easily the most visible birds at Nanhui, particularly in summer. It is interesting to see the different evolutionary strategies of closely related bird species – the various snow-white egrets with their “
Birders are quite possibly the only hobbyists who get really excited about oncoming hurricanes , except maybe for the small number of severe weather enthusiasts – or “storm chasers” – who follow tropical cyclones rather than the usual tornadoes. Every year along the Atlantic Coast of North America, from June to November, experienced birders anticipate the exciting possibility of finding rare, tempest-tossed seabirds blown in from the tropics far north of their usual range.
The one surviving Pied Oystercatcher chick that I introduced you to four weeks ago continues to thrive. Although it is stood alone in the header photo it has its parents very close by. They will warn it of any dangers both vocally and flying at any threat. The family of Pied Oystercatchers soon made their move to Gantheaume Point. Due to the presence of vehicles on the beach during the day close to the reef they would have had to make the journey over-night.
Striated Herons are fairly easy to observe around Broome even if they are rather sneaky around the port area. At Gantheaume Point they are reliably found throughout the year. The changing shape of the Striated Heron as it moves around the rocks as it feeds and as it moves up the beach as the tides come in are incredible. It is almost enough to make you wonder if it is the same bird or not!
Another month, another movement of the world’s birds from one point to the next. Learn to read the signs, and you’ll be able to tell the time of year just by which species cross your path… I had the chance to observe some interesting avian activity along the lakeshore this weekend, but the Eastern Bluebirds down in rural Pennsylvania were most distinctively colorful, which counts for a lot with me.
When you live somewhere that lacks rainfall for the majority of the year then a dripping tap brings in the birds. If ever you need an excuse to not fix dripping taps then encouraging birds has to be a good excuse! Even a dripping sprinkler head will attract birds. In our own garden we offer several locations for the birds to come and drink and native plants that will attract the birds too.
Although I have introduced you to the Red-capped Plover in the past I thought I should show you a nest that we found recently. The Red-capped Plovers along the coast near Broome tend to nest on the sand above the high tide mark. They can also be found inland at the ephemeral lakes and can breed throughout the year if the conditions are right. Just as the Pied Oystercatchers sometimes nest on the sand and sometimes nest on rocky outcrops we have found the same to apply to Red-capped Plovers.
Last week, I shared with you some photos of Blue-black Grassquits , doing their jump-song routine. Those photos were from a trip to Paso Ancho, my nearest site fully within Mexico’s Tierra Caliente (“Hot Country”). The reason for said trip was to see if I could catch some Sinaloa Martins on their way south to their unknown wintering grounds.
Author: Paul Nolan Managers who create intricate business plans and put significant effort into developing short- and long-term goals for their teams and individual employees often revert to managing by time. The shift to working from home has forced many managers to adopt new approaches. It’s a change for the better, says Laura Vanderkam , a consultant on time management and productivity, and the author of “The New Corner Office: How the Most Successful People Work From Home.”.
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