When most of us hear the term “Beach” we think of pristine sand . . . ideal for sun bathing and sand castles. Birders want none of that pristine sand!!! We want seaweed or a “wrack” running from the surf up onto the beach. Ideally the wrack should have started to decay and be full […]
Wedding Anniversaries come around once a year . . . thank God. Each year: I have to remember the Anniversary. Buy a card for the Anniversary. And buy a present for the Anniversary. For someone as scatter brained as I am . . . a Wedding Anniversary can be a real challenge. Most years I […]
Day 3 of our two week European Holiday did not disappoint. Today we visited the sights of London . . . Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Rose-Ringed Parakeets, West Minster Abbey, St. Paul . . . What??? Wait??? Rose-Ringed Parakeets??? In London???? This latest birding distraction began in front of Buckingham Place as we posed for […]
Ingrid and I are in Europe on a non-birding vacation (gasp). Our first stop was the Tower of London . . . old fortresses, the crown jewels and . . . RAVENS!!!! At least 6 Ravens (currently 9, including a non-captive breeding pair) live on the grounds of the Tower of London . . […]
Yesterday, Ingrid and I visited Morse Mt (Seawall Beach), a nature preserve owned and managed by Bates College . . . my beloved alma mater. When I was in college, a bunch of my friends were geology majors. While I was writing 100 page papers and arguing the finer points of Federalist #10 . . […]
Ingrid and I live beside a saltwater river along the coast of Maine. Even though we are a good ten miles from the ocean, we have a huge tidal swing. Lobstermen pull their traps in front of our home, and we regularly see harbor seals. As a matter of fact, this week a humpback whale […]
Today Ingrid and I drove down to Hills Beach and Causeway in Biddeford Pool, Maine . . . one of the states premier places to see migrating shorebirds. We found a Marbled Godwit, one of the larger and more interesting of the migrating birds. It has an enormous bi-colored bill that it uses to probe […]
Ingrid and I have five hummingbird feeders scattered around our yard . . . each one could easily accommodate a half dozen birds at the same time. But Ruby-throated Hummingbirds don’t like to share and the hummers in our yard spend most of the their late August days chasing each other away from these feeders. […]
In mid-June our Haikubox was delivered after what seemed like an eternal product backorder. I ripped open the box like a little kid at Christmas!!!! A Haikubox is an AI-enabled device that identifies bird species around your home by their songs and alerts in real time when it recognizes one. This technology has been available […]
When I first started birding, I figured that birds migrated north in the Spring and migrated south in the Fall. Boy was I surprised to learn that shorebirds (Sandpipers, Plovers, etc.) start their migration in mid-summer. In the spring we don’t see a lot of shorebird. That’s because they are moving from their wintering […]
Each winter, Ingrid and I hope to locate a White-winged Crossbill high up in Maine spruce trees. Some years we are lucky enough to see one or two . . . some years none at all. The White-winged Crossbill, is a stocky bird with a large head, a unique bill and it lives most of […]
With our 2024 Continental USA Big Year now just 167 days away . . . Ingrid and I continue our planning. We now have a three ring binder of pelagic trips, plane flights, guides, target birds and maps. Its a bit overwhelming. Today, a couple dear friends from New Hampshire gave us a couple “Birder” […]
It was Wednesday May 30, 2013 and Ingrid and I were driving up to Bar Harbor for something called the “Acadia Birding Festival.” Ingrid and I had only been dating for four months, and we were still in that phase where I would accede to anything she asked; now I make a federal case when […]
PEOPLE STARING AT THEIR PHONES. PEOPLE STARING AT THEIR PHONES. PEOPLE STARING AT THEIR PHONES. If you are in a hospital waiting room or sitting at a bar or riding a bus or standing in a grocery store line . . . you’ve probably noticed PEOPLE STARING AT THEIR PHONES!!! But one would think Birders […]
Last night Ingrid were watching “Hijack”, an Apple+ series that we highly recommend. In the middle of a particularly dramatic scene . . . my lovely bride jumps up screaming: “whoa, whoa, whoa”. Apparently, a photo of a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher had been posted on a Maine Facebook page. The Scissor-tailed is a common bird in […]
This morning Ingrid and I were enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning, drinking coffee, reading the paper and complaining about politicians that clearly are not as smart as we are. Then our phones pinged . . . the legendary Brookline (Massachusetts) Bird Club was in Maine . . . and had spotted a Loggerhead Shrike in […]
I’ve read that Maine is the heaviest forested State in the union . . . not sure how they measure something like that? Does someone go around and count each individual tree? Regardless, Maine has trees everywhere . . . why we are called the Pine Tree State. Along our southern and mid-coastal regions . […]
If you live in central Florida or southern Texas, you may have seen a Crested Caracara picking at road kill along rural stretches of highway. This odd looking long legged scavenger is easily recognized with its large reddish-orange bill and black cap. Competing with vultures for carrion . . . the Crested Caracara can […]
Today Ingrid and I saw a Prothonotary Warbler at Hinckley Park in South Portland . . . the third time in the last four years this chunky yellow bird has shown up near the ponds at this perennial birding hotspot. The name Prothonotary refers to the yellow robes worn by papal clerks (or prothonotaries). Prothonotary Warblers […]
Ingrid and I love bird watching at sea . . . and I’m not sure why. Its hours of staring out over the ocean with nothing but water and sky to see. You’re always cold or hot, or sun burned or wind burned. There is a curious smell . . . a mixture of […]
As spring migration wraps up . . . Ingrid and I did a bit of birding over the long weekend. On Saturday we drove to the Brownfield in western Maine where we found a Louisiana Waterthrush singing loudly. On Sunday we drove up the coast a bit and found a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher singing in a […]
Ethan . . . I wish I could experience the excitement of finding a rare bird with you . . . said nobody ever!!! But Ingrid and I found a Louisiana Waterthrush today in Brownfield, Maine . . . and the tape was running!!!! Click below and experience the excitement!!!!
Early in the summer of 2022 a Black-necked Stilt appeared in a salt panne adjacent to busy Route One in Scarborough. Birders from all over the state risked their lives walking the quarter mile required along this crazy stretch of road for a chance to see a bird rarely found so far from its southern […]
Reid State Park is one of Maine’s jewels . . . 770 acres of sand beaches, rocky shoreline, salt marshes and mixed forest. During the summer, tourists flock to Reid for sun bathing, cookouts and to soak in the glory of the Maine coast. It also has a great natural kiddie pool (a lagoon) that […]
