Birdchick

I’m mostly using this post to test out using a bluetooth keyboard with an iPad for blog updates.

Two VERY interesting articles on my list this week.  One from the American Birding Association’s publication called Winging It.  Go to the Winging It page and click on Vol 23, no. 5 and look for Birding With A Conscience. Also, check out this article on Birding While Black–Does It Really Matter? He was part of  [ Read More ]

I found some phalarope photos that I had forgotten about.  These are some red-necked phalaropes that we saw on the Steppes in Kazakhstan.  When you are learning shorebirds, phalaropes are ones that can be easy to distinguish from the others, they have a unique shape, can be quite colorful and they are just plain fun  [ Read More ]

I spent the day birding around Arrowwood NWR while in North Dakota with my buddy Kate Fitzmeier.  And when I say “around,” I literally mean around–it was completely flooded, note the the flooded road above. Some roads were more flooded than others.  Check out the Slippery When Wet sign above–I’ll say! I was sad we  [ Read More ]

Warning!  The photos in this post might be gross for some for some readers.  It’s about a piece of bird (most likely a rail) that I found on a barb wire fence. One of the things that really surprised me about this year’s Potholes and Prairie Bird Festival was the amount of flooding that occurred  [ Read More ]

I’m currently in North Dakota at the Potholes and Prairie Bird Festival giving workshops and leading trips.  Today was awesome, I did what I would call a slow and easy trip.  It’s intent is to be a digiscoping workshop, give people a chance to try and take some photo of birds without feeling rushed like  [ Read More ]

This past Sunday was just about as perfect as a day can get for me. It started at 4:15am when Kate and I woke up to load up our van for the ride home at the end of the festival. At 5am, we met up with good friends Kim Risen and Bill of the Birds  [ Read More ]

Ah, marbled godwits in the sun! Since the first two days of the festival were windy and rainy and generally not all that fun to bird in, I was worried people would go away with a wet feeling about the festival. Prairie birding really is something everyone should experience at least once, but when it’s  [ Read More ]

First off: I have spent the morning updating my appearances on my Google Calendar page (all the way into March 2009) and have even included the next Birds and Beers on June 19 at Merlin’s Rest. Birds and Beers is an informal gathering of birders of all abilities to connect and share birding stories and  [ Read More ]