Yearly Archives: 2024

Bicknell’s Thrush

This morning Ingrid and I loaded into a van with eight other crazy birders and headed up the Mt. Washington Auto Road in quest of a highly sought after bird. . . the Bicknell’s Thrush.  It’s a tiny brownish bird with a raspy, uninteresting song  . . . so why is the Bicknell’s so fascinating […]

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Greater Sage-Grouse

Today we visited a Greater Sage-Grouse Lek in Henefer, Utah.   A Lek is a a courting display, where dozens of male and female Grouse gather together in a dawn mating ritual. Males will repeatedly expand their chests, which are equipped  with special air sacks, trying to impress females. We arrived an hour before dawn, […]

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Elegant Trogon

Before our Big Year began, Ingrid and I talked about which bird we were most looking forward to (hopefully) seeing over the course of the year. I was hoping to see a Great Gray Owl . . . basically for petty reasons  . . . as it was the only species Ingrid had seen that […]

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Pyrrhuloxia

With a name that is as difficult to pronounce as it is to spell, the Pyrrhuloxia is often mistaken for a female Northern Cardinal. Found in brushy desert habitat of the Southwest, it can be differentiated from a Cardinal by its stubby yellowish bill and comical pointed crest.  

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If He Catches You . . . You’re Through

This morning, Ingrid and I were driving down a road in Los Fresnos, Texas when we were startled to see a large black anvil sitting at the edge of the road. A mile later we saw a wooden crate with the letters TNT stenciled on the side. A little bit further we saw a pile […]

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Cattle Tyrant

This South American Flycatcher has absolutely the greatest bird named ever . . . Cattle Tyrant . . . think about that . . . that’s a  fun name! Typically, this bird follows grazing animals in small flocks across farmland and marshes . . . in South America.  Until November 11 of 2023, it had […]

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