The list of continuing ABA Area rarities has nearly faded into nothing, but this week sees the triumpgant return of a bird many probably though had moved on. The Tufted Flycatcher (ABA Code 5) in Arizona has been hanging around, unbothered by birders who have mostly stopped chasing it, an was seen again this past..
Continue reading…
Rare Bird Alert: October 20, 2017
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
American Birding Podcast: Birds and the Farm Bill with Amanda Rodewald
When birders think about the Farm Bill they might be forgiven for thinking immediately about corn and soybeans. But the Farm Bill is more than an agricultural omnibus, it also funds projects that provide important habitat for more than 100 species of birds and is the largest source of funding for habitat conservation on private..
Continue reading…
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
A Bird List with Pictures: Why?
A review by Rick Wright HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, by Josep del Hoyo and Nigel J. Collar Lynx Edicions, 2014-2016 2 volumes, 1916 pages—hardcover ABA Sales / Buteo Books HBWCSET In their preliminary remarks to this tally of all the world’s birds, the authors take the compilers..
Continue reading…
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
A Stillness Beneath the Waves
A review by Charles Hagner The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan W.W. Norton, 2017 364 pages, hardcover I love Lake Michigan. I have driven around its southern end more times than I can recall. I’ve traced its contours from the windows of jet planes. And I’ve crossed it by ferry. Still,..
Continue reading…
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
#ABArare – Yellow-breasted Bunting – Newfoundland & Labrador
On October 16, Vernon Buckle photographed an ABA Code 5 Yellow-breasted Bunting at his feeder in Forteau Bay, on the mainland (Labrador) part of Newfoundland & Labrador. This is a 1st record for the province and for Canada. All previous records of this species come from western Alaska. Photo: Vernon Buckle Forteau Bay is the..
Continue reading…
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
Birding and the Art of Careful Observation
A review by Johanna Beam A–Z of Bird Portraits: An Illustrated Guide to Painting Beautiful Birds in Acrylics, by Andrew Forkner Search Press, 2015 144 pages, hardcover The Laws Guide to Nature Drawing and Journaling, by John Muir Laws Heyday, 2016 303 pages, softcover ABA Sales / Buteo Books 14644 Bird Art: Drawing Birds Using Graphite..
Continue reading…
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
Rare Bird Alert: October 13, 2017
The California Blue-footed Booby (ABA Code 4) continues in the Farallons, and as the only long-staying ABA Area vagrant seeming to stick tight in this season of bird movement. One exciting re-discovery came from South Carolina, where the American Flamingo (3), originally found in the immediate wake of Hurricane Irene, was refound in the extensive estuary..
Continue reading…
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
Birding with a Tricorder
Here’s a photo from a bird walk this past Sunday afternoon: It’s pretty obvious what’s going on here. Four birders are pointing their smartphone cameras at a flowering rabbitbrush, a plant favored by painted lady butterflies. Painted ladies, you may have heard, are staging a remarkable population outbreak all across North America. If you’ve..
Continue reading…
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
Happening NOW: Red Crossbills on the Move
On a warm summer evening, sometime in mid-June, I found myself sitting on a dock in central Wisconsin, unwinding after a long day spent working on that state’s breeding bird atlas. Mid-sip on a Summer Shandy, that familiar sound met my ears: jip-jip-jip. Distant at first, they soon approached the lake, appeared as a duo..
Continue reading…
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
Blog Birding #340
Jessica Gorzo, at her eponymous blog, collects a comprehensive list of onomatopoetic bird names, including a few you might not have suspected. Birds names given by the earliest cultures that encountered them were often imitations of their songs/calls. What may be surprising is how many of those names have stood the test of time! For..
Continue reading…
Enjoyed this post? Share it!
ABA.co.za Powered by Who-is and Jislaaik Marketing