Welcome to the Big Year Birding Jay Quiz. For the next several minutes we’ll test your knowledge of these mysterious creatures. The questions will get harder as we go along. At the end there are no awards, prize money, or new cars . . . just the satisfaction that you’ve added to or confirmed your […]
On this blog, I primarily talk about the birds Ingrid and I see on our travels . . . but I recently got a few photos and a video from our son Bradley and his wife Tanner that I want to share. They live in a small Texas town, just south of San Antonio . […]
We all have our favorite birds – Cardinals, Owls, Eagles and the colorful warblers. Then there are the less popular ones – the Canada Geese that ruin our parks, the noisy crows that disrupt our cookouts and cormorants that can stink up an area. And then there is the Brown-headed Cowbird!!! Why do we […]
Summer Tanagers are a beautiful summer bird of the American South that rarely strays north of New Jersey. This morning Ingrid looked out the window and was stunned to see a male Summer Tanager. A real rarity for mid-April in Maine. For the next three hours we watched him eat sunflower, nyger and mixed bird […]
It’s been a good year for Red Crossbills as we’ve heard then singing (more like buzzing) off and on all winter. Generally found high in spruce or pine trees, Crossbills have a unique bill . . . thick and curved with crossed tips. This adaptation allows access to conifer cones that other bird species […]
Maine winters are long and cold. Fortunately Maine birders have the arrival of various species to buffer the passage of time. Late January, the first Turkey Vultures arrive Late February, the first Red-Winged Blackbirds appear Late March, Eastern Phoebes and Ospreys are seen For me, the true sign of spring is the arrival of the […]
Sandhill Cranes are still relatively rare in Maine, but today Ingrid and I drove two hours west to Fryeburg and were treated to a flock of 29 these amazing birds . . . some almost four foot tall. We had hoped to see the a Tundra Swan that had been seen near the Cranes the […]
Much is made of friction between hunters and birders but in actuality it is generally a positive relationship. Hunters work for the same access and preservation of green space (marshes, forests and grasslands) that birders do. A popular Birding podcast, sponsored by the American Birding Association (ABA), does annual stories on the issuing of […]
The Lapland Longspur is a tiny sparrow like bird that nests in northern Canada and Alaska and winters in the United States from Nebraska through New England. When in breeding plumage, males have a stunning black face, crown and bib with orange on the nape of the neck. But one rarely sees them in breeding […]
Each year Ospreys return to Maine during the first few days of Baseball Season (Go Red Sox). This year was no different as I saw this enthusiastic singer this morning near the Taste of Maine Restaurant in Woolwich.
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