Monthly Archives: August 2022

Eurasian Marsh-Harrier

On Thursday morning, Washington DC resident Byron Smith left his summer home on Maine’s North Haven Island to look for birds.  Smith is a life-long birder whose formative years were spent in England and Iran.  He has birded in Russia, China, Australia, India, South Africa and many places in-between.  Smith knows his birds. While walking […]

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Patagonia Picnic Table Effect

Among birders, there is a phenomena known as the “Patagonia Picnic Table Effect.” When a rare bird is discovered . . . other rare birds are soon found near the original sighting. Named after a rest area in Patagonia, Arizona where a rare Rose-throated Becard was found.  In the following days dozens of birders descended upon […]

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Least Bittern

In May of 2019, Ingrid and I spent a delightful few days in Louisiana, watching our son Bradley receive his MBA from LSU, experience the subtleness of the New Orleans French Quarter and to do a little birding.  The later gave us a handful of new life birds and we can’t wait to go back […]

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Long-tailed Jaeger

“Jaeger” is the German and Dutch word for hunter and when it comes to birds . . . a Jaeger is a ferocious hunter of the oceans. There are two types of Jaegers often found in Maine waters, the Pomarine Jaeger and the Parasitic Jaeger.  Each of these birds roams the Gulf of Maine, attacking […]

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