
Gull Frolic
The Gull Frolic is a wonderful late-winter bird festival on the western shore of Lake Michigan near the IL/WI border. I was invited to be...

A North American (pretty) big year
In early 2021, I drove to the Florida Keys to see the Black-faced Grassquit pictured above as well as Cuban Pewee. Little did I know at...

What to make of 3 billion birds lost?
A recent headline, first appearing in a prestigious science journal and then cascading through world media proclaimed: “Three Billion...

My Alabama Big Year 2019
A Brown Booby near Waterloo Alabama was year bird 312 for me. I wrote this account for the Alabama Ornithological Society Newsletter but...

GEESE! Part 3. Final Leg
This flock of Snow Geese was in a harvested corn field in Southeast Missouri, right next to an occupied house. My third day of the trip...

GEESE! Part II Snow Geese dead and alive
I found big flocks of Snow Geese in Illinois on the second day of my waterfowl trip I got up well before dawn on my second day, intending...

GEESE! part 1: Tennessee NWR
After turning in final grades for the semester, I couldn’t bear to spend another day staring at my computer screen, so on Saturday Dec 5,...

Chicken Run: Red Junglefowl in Fitzgerald, GA
Red Junglefowl in Fitzpatrick, Georgia have been added to the official ABA checklist. They now count as life birds in the ABA area. I...

The Cassia Crossbill is not a species
I recently went to see the Cassia Crossbill (Loxia sinesciuris) in Idaho to add that species to my life list of North American birds. I...

Ruby Lake: a stunning desert wetland
The wetlands that comprise Ruby Lake National Wildlife Refuge were both beautiful and very birdy. After My successful Himalayan Snowcock...