Birdchick

I love this photo that Scott Pakudaitis got at St. Kates of a red-tailed hawk (must have been hatched last year, the tail is still brown and its eyes are yellow). Cool shot, Scott!

Hello all, NBB here. Sharon’s on the way back home, but she just got a call that a segment she pre-recorded will be appearing on KSTP-TV today, probably around 4:45 p.m. We’re told that the segment may also be on the web later this week.

If you’ve been looking for Mike McDowell’s most awesome digiscoping blog, you’re not alone.  He had some server issues last week.  Boy, can I relate to that.  We had a server crash a few years ago and it was agony trying to figure out how long it would last.  Mike’s turned out to be a  [ Read More ]

Part of my plan for coming to Indianapolis was a surprise 70th birthday party for my mom. My brothers and sisters got the party set up while mom and I were at the workshop. My sister Robin had someone make a cake in the shape of Mom’s favorite books (above). One of the books included  [ Read More ]

Sunday was a busy day.  I went to Eagle Creek Park for their Sunday Morning Bird Walk and afterwards, I gave a digiscoping presentation.  My mom and sister Terri came along with me so mom could see the talk (but in reality, this was a ruse to get her out of the house so the  [ Read More ]

While in Indiana, I went out for some birding with my mom, my aunt and one of my sisters. In the Hoosier State, spring is ahead of my home in Minnesota, so I welcomed watching the song sparrows on territory singing for a mate (above).  There were also a few field sparrows singing which had  [ Read More ]

The big talk right now on ID Frontiers Listserv is an unusual hybrid and for once, they don’t mean gulls!  Someone got photos of what looks like a blue tit hybrid…but what did it hybridize with?  Chickadee?  Titmouse?  It’s not a true blue tit. The photos were taken in New Hampshire and the bottom line  [ Read More ]

Much like being ahead in time zone, my mother’s yard is ahead of me as far as spring goes.  I left Minnesota yesterday and drove to Indianapolis, watching the change from the highways. In Minnesota, cardinals are just testing out early morning song and we have one one robin jut establishing territory.  On the way  [ Read More ]

Mr. Neil emailed that he had been by the hives and that Kelli was silent.  I emailed back, “You mean Kitty, right?” If you recall, Kitty was in a small cluster and the cold was probably going to kill her.  The Kelli hive was strong and loud.  No, he meant Kelli.  I hoped that he  [ Read More ]

If you’re familiar with the artwork of John James Audubon, you know that he put birds in creative positions.  Part of this was that he shot the birds and then put them in a position to paint them.  Like this great blue heron: I’ve never seen a great blue heron in that exact position to  [ Read More ]