Some days it’s fun to set little challenges for one’s self. When I used to run, it would be cover so many miles in such and such at time. In recent years it’s been about finding birds. Each spring, it is exciting to spot the first returning Red-wing Blackbird (early March); the first Eastern Phoebe […]
For the first time in ten years, yesterday a Trumpeter Swan showed up in Maine. Once thought to be nearly extinct, the enormous Trumpeter was heavily hunted for food and feathers. In the early part of the last century, the population was thought to be down to 70 bird in a remote corner of Yellowstone […]
Join me for a Zoom Presentation on my Maine Big Year this Wednesday, April 6 @ 7:00 pm-8:00 pm (edt). We’ll be showing video, audio and photos of some of the record 324 birds that I identified during my 2021 adventure. You’ll enjoy hearing about the unexpected and absurd encounters one has while traveling 60,000 […]
This weekend Ingrid and I went to visit my sister Ellen and her husband Carlo at their University Park, Maryland home . . . just outside of Washington DC. They live in a charming suburban neighborhood about at mile from the University of Maryland. The homes are mostly brick, the streets treelined and kids sell […]
The endangered Piping Plovers have returned to Maine beaches as they do each spring. While most of the nesting beaches require dogs to be kept on a leash after April 1st, the Plovers are now returning to Maine in late March. Today I saw several dogs run through a group of Pipers foraging in the […]
During our winters, the Dickcissel travels to South America and gathers into enormous flocks of thousands of birds. Then during the summer this Sparrow-like bird returns to the North American grasslands to breed. Today I photographed a Dickcissel, loosely associating with a flock of House Sparrows in the Potts Point neighborhood at the very tip of […]
If one follows bird sites on social media, you’ll occasionally nearly white birds. Early on I was told these are not “albinos”, but leucistic birds. The difference: An albino individual is unable to produce melanin pigments. This leads to a good diagnostic feature with which to distinguish leucistic and albino individuals – the colour of […]
This morning I decided to take a break from CNN, consume a little $4.29 a gallon gasoline and head for Greenland, New Hampshire. A couple days ago, a Northern Lapwing had been seen in a Greenland cornfield. The Lapwing is a common sight in Europe, browsing in meadows, mudflats and farmland. Every couple years, one […]
Birders are gossips. We’re always listening to other birder’s conversations, searching the internet or simply asking others “have you seen anything good?” Today Ingrid and got two lifers (birds we have never seen before) without any intelligence before hand. While searching a beach east of Corpus Christi we saw a shorebird . . . probably […]
Our tallest bird, averaging 5′ 2″ with a 7 and a half foot wing span, the Whooping Cranes is a life birds for Ingrid and me as our birding trip to Texas continues. A critically endangered species due to hunting and habitat loss. By 1941 only 15 birds wintered in Texas. Serious conservation issues and […]
As Ingrid and I prepare for our Big Year in 2024 (the Birds of the lower 48 states) we’re scouting different locations. Having a general idea where and when regional birds are being seen goes a long way toward a successful Big Year. We are currently halfway through our third trip to Texas since 2015 […]
Maine’s local NBC affiliate, WSCH 6, ran a story on my Maine Big Year . . . WCSH 6 207 Magazine
After two year of birding only in Maine (Pandemic and Maine Big Year), yesterday evening Ingrid and I flew into the Gulf Coast of Texas for a week of catching up. First stop was the Leonabelle Turnbull Birding Center in Port Aransas, Texas where we saw dozens of species including White Pelicans . . . damn […]
This afternoon while taking a break from Book promotion (a lot more than I expected) I did some birding from the car. While driving north of Damariscotta Lake I saw something large fly across the road in front of me. I figured it was probably a Red-tailed Hawk but I slowed to check it out. […]
With the excitement of the Maine Big Year and the “Every Bird in Maine” Coffee Table book behind me, I’m finally out birding for fun again. Its kind of nice after a year of Go Go Go, to spend some time leisurely checking out the birds in the area. The bird news in Maine birding […]
A photo montage of every bird observed during the 2021 Maine Big Year. https://youtu.be/0Qo4eptL8f0Every Bird in Maine – A Coffee Table Book on the 2021 Maine Big Year Amazon PrimeButeo Books Apple Books: eBookBates College Store Google Books: eBookLetterpress Books Sherman’s BookstoresMaine Audubon Nature Store Mockingbird BookshopsNonesuch Books The nocturnal hike to see the rare […]
Every Bird in Maine One Man’s Journey to See Every Bird in Maine A Photographic Account of a Maine Big Year in Birding Why would a successful Maine software developer in his early 60’s close his laptop and spend an entire year chasing a little known Birding Record? Follow the author’s 2021 adventure as he […]
Last year during my Maine Big Year, I made two trips to Aroostook County in northern Maine (9 hours round trip) trying to get a Greater White-fronted Goose. The bird was swimming with thousands of Canada Geese at an extreme distance. On the second trip, I finally found the bird after two hours of scoping. […]
Despite the cold weather as of late, this Lincoln’s Sparrow is still hanging around in Nobleboro, not far from the fish ladder. Never the easiest sparrow to find in Maine this species should be in North Carolina and parts south by now. He was hanging out in a forsythia bush near a bird feeder.
This afternoon I found this beautiful female Snowy Owl sitting on the shore of Biddeford Pool, Maine. The number of Snowy Owls we see on the coast of Maine fluctuates each winter depending upon the summer lemming population in the arctic. Prevelent lemmings, the Snowy’s favorite food source, will lead to more owlets being successfully […]
Today a Townsend’s Warbler showed up about 5 minutes away from our condominium in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. To see a warbler in January in Maine is really quite unusual (diet consists primarily on caterpillars). But to see a west coast warbler on the coldest day of the year (wind chill of minus 17) is even […]
The incredibly rare Steller’s Sea Eagle continues to be seen in mid-coast Maine close to our home. The last few days he’s been hanging out in Boothbay Harbor. This bird of the Russian ice is a brilliant winter tourist attractions as birders all over the United States continue to stream into the area for a […]
For the last month Ingrid and I have been hearing and occasionally seeing a Carolina Wren hanging out around our Wiscasset, Maine house. We live right at the northern most limit of the Wren’s northern range and we have never had one around the yard before. Today we had a heavy snow storm and the […]
With the Big Year over, I spent New Years weekend taking down Christmas decorations and watching football. But by January 4 I was ready to go bird again . . . but without the sense of urgency of the previous year. Of course birding in Maine in January is not for the faint of heart, […]
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