From the Daily Record: A BIRDWATCHER has won Scotland’s first five-star award for wildlife tourism – for taking groups to live in caves. Jeremy Hastings, 45, runs Islay Birding on the Hebridean isle. He offers 10-day trips where tourists sleep in caves to learn survival techniques. His is among 22 nature based operators given a [ Read More ]
Carrol Henderson and I have a love for old bird books. The other day, he showed me this gem: Birds Through an Opera Glass by Florence A. Merriam. Even before Roger Tory Peterson, this woman was starting the trend to observe birds through optics as opposed to the “double barreled” method. The book came out [ Read More ]
If you haven’t seen the Fox Sparrow and Suprise at Mike’s blog, do so this instant. He got a surprise when he got home and watched the video up close as opposed to through the view finder.
At yesterday’s tourism meeting, it was said that last year in Minnesota we had 8 bird festivals. This year we have 14 going on throughout the year. Here’s a new one I just learned about called the Southwest Minnesota Prairie Birding Festival going on April 20 – 21. It’s based out of Luverne, Minnesota and [ Read More ]
A faithful reader over at Schmoker’s Blog noticed that the great-horned owls at the Valmont Owl Cam are giving it a second shot. Originally, the female laid two eggs and then quit incubating. They eggs were removed and the cam switched to a family of barn owls. But the great horned owl pair were stimulated [ Read More ]
Holy crap, this is going to be a super cool post! Warning: Gratuitous photos of pileated woodpeckers ahead. So, today I had a meeting with the Explore Minnesota Tourism folks at Eastman Nature Center in Elm Creek Park (cool stuff that generated from that meeting will pop up in the next few weeks). During a [ Read More ]
Thanks to Non Birding Bill, I got a mention in today’s Star Tribune Web Search. It’s a really nice write up. Yes, Mom, we are going to pick up a copy for you and will mail it to you, but you can also see it online by clicking the link above. Happy Birthday too.
Yesterday I was driving home and I was on Hwy 77 heading onto Hwy 62 going west. As I rounded the exit, I noticed a very large stick nest in a residential area. I made a note to myself to check it out this weekend. A pair of red-tailed hawks have been hanging out in [ Read More ]
I lurk on a listserv that has a bunch of beyond hardcore birders fine tuning really tough bird identification issues. They mostly talk about gulls which makes my eyes glaze over, but last night an interesting little pickle came up. A woman posted a link to a photo of a raptor that has been stumping [ Read More ]
