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Behind the Bins
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Join me behind the bins to watch birds around the country and sometimes in other places around the globe.
Recent Posts Tagged With 'local schmocal'
Blue Skies, Nuthin’ but Blue Skies
We all stared at the flat blue expanse of the firmament. Not a cloud, not a wisp, heck, very few contrails even. We battled eye floaties, crinks in our necks, and sunburn hoping today was the big one; when the flow of thousands of Broad-winged Ha...
Northern Wheatear in DeKorte Park
Northern Wheatears rarely visit the metro area. They breed in the high Arctic, Alaska and Greenland. (This bird is of the Greenland race, see how buffy it is.) I missed a Wheatear last fall at Garret Mountain and by the time I was able to get to...
Clean-up day at Mt. Peter Hawk Watch
Mt. Peter Hawk Watch is volunteer run. And am I honored to be among those who will stand on the platform with bins trained to the skies in eager anticipation of the river of raptor that will soon flow south to Mexico and beyond. Every year at the...
Jamaica Bay meet-up
With an eye to the sky and a wish in my heart, Christopher (who had driven down from MA the night before) and I left for the Jamaica Bay outing in the predawn rain. The closer we got to Queens the brighter the sky became until we arrived to meet ...
Lepidopterist Grammar Question
I stood next to the car smearing on sunscreen. My reflection shimmered in the heat in the dark-tinted windows of the car a few feet way. I was leaning in my car to stuff the bottle of sunscreen in the pocket of the door when I heard the h...
Singin’ the Blues
“Blue, Blue, I’m so Blue, Blue, Blue.” A long time ago, a birding friend told me that, to her ear, the Indigo Bunting proclaimed his pride of color for all to hear. It stuck with me. When I got out of the car at the Wallkill NWR, I ...
Wading with Shorebirds at Jamaica Bay
C’mon, let’s take a walk. Wait, did you go get your permit? Yes? Ok then. In a few weeks, there will be a bloggy meet-up at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, NY. You are coming, aren’t you? It is one of the most amazing...
Birding the Long Trail
The sun was beating down mercilessly as I trudged down a particularly open part of the Appalachian Trail. I would not call what I was doing hiking, frankly, it was more of an amble. Sweat trickled down my my cheek. Stopping to pull off my hat a...
What’s the deal-ee-o?
“Why are we stopping?” I shrugged, “I dunna know.” I pulled the car over onto the grass behind the others. Diane, Catherine and Christopher peered through the tinted windows at the marsh. Frowning, I stared out the driver&...
What’re You Lookin’ At?
Where you goin’? What do ya see? I don’t see anything. Wait. Maybe. Piping Plovers are tiny shorebirds that look like rocks. Seriously if they weren’t running around all over the place you wouldn’t know they were there. ...
Bird Photography Weekly
Perhaps the most abundant warbler and certainly one of my faves, the masked Common Yellowthroat is easy to photograph. Or at least it is in my experience. The male will sit up on weedy sticks at roadside edges, in overgrown fields, hedgerows, sal...
Bird Photography Weekly
A long time ago, when I lived in the city in a walk-up apartment above a store and next to a bar; I had a small plot in a community garden. Working the earth was part of my childhood and I hoed, planted and weeded with abandon. It brought me peac...
Bird Photography Weekly
Long shafts of dying light filter through the trees, illuminating the stillness with a cathedral grace. Padding through shades of citrine and emerald, I am alone in the hush; a woodpecker drums on a distant bough and a Hermit Thrush with the twinkle ...
Grassland Bird Survey
As soon as I turned off the engine, I heard the sliding song of a Prairie Warbler. While not one of the targeted species, at least it was something. The grassland survey has been a disappointment so far. The route maps were vague, and the varie...
Mouths to Feed
A flutter of movement drew me across the street. A dark bird flashed away. I was scanning the trees when a hole in an adjacent snag suddenly filled up. The phrase “gaping maw” leapt to mind. If he had had a spoon he would have bee...
Bird Photography Weekly
Sitting in the car with all the windows and sunroof open, I leaned back with my eyes closed to revel in the cascade of voices around me. Wood Warblers were singing, off in the distance a Black-billed Cuckoo called, the Wood Thrushes led the flute...
Birding Doodletown
Seriously. There is actually a place called Doodletown. It is one of the local hotspots and the one place were many of the hard-to-see warblers nest; think Cerulean. Doodletown always pops up on the local ListServ and in conversation when the...
Wordless Wednesday
Birding Duke Farms
Once upon a time, friends and I would go to Duke Gardens every February to walk in the greenhouses and feast on the riotous color of spring flowers; a treat for our winter-weary eyes. We did it for years. Then Doris Duke died, we all scattered...
Wordless Wednesday
My favorite green frog quote “They seldom scream in alarm when caught.” ...
World Series of Birding
I peered into the darkness as the windshield wipers slapped a path through the driving rain. The guard lights in the parking lot cast long eerie shadows. Straining to hear night sounds with my ear angled toward the crack of the window; headlights...
Bird Photography Weekly
The song of the Louisiana Waterthrush bounces through the forest; loud enough that I can hear it as I drive. This is one warbler that is not a neck-craner. When you hear it, pull over and scan the forest floor for it walks along the edge of woodl...
Citizen Science
Have you ever been involved in a citizen science bird survey? New Jersey Audubon conducts several every year: Shorebirds, Piedmont, Pinelands, Nightjar, Harbour Herons, and Grasslands. Pick one. Participating allows you and me to be part of som...
Bird Photography Weekly
My sister and I had just finished dragging the table and chairs out of the garage and uphill into the back yard and were enjoying our first sip and sup of well-deserved crisp white wine and creamy Saint Andre cheese when, from out of the corner of m...
Ever Been Thrown a Birding Bone?
“C’mon,” I muttered to myself, “Throw me a bone.” I had been out for hours combing the woods when I stumbled across another birder sitting on a rock. I stopped to exchange the usual pleasantries. After several m...
Warbler Neck
Warbler neck is a serious malady that affects all birders in May every year. If you have ever spent 40 minutes staring up, searching every movement in the tree for the elusive warbler-of-the-moment, you know what I mean. Fortunately this chronic co...
Birding Clinton Road
I live close (seriously, like 5 minutes) to one of the most amazing birding hotspots in NJ and I don’t take advantage of it. That is going to change. I popped over this morning in the cold and misty rain to see what had come in. As I crept ...
Chasing a Ruff
Hark back with me to May 1995. I was in Cape May for the Spring Weekend racking up lifebirds when a Ruff was reported. The discovery was met with lots of excitement. My friend and I jumped in our car like everyone else eager to see the bird b...
Take a Walk on the Wild Side
I squeezed the car into the pull-off making sure my tail was off the road. Since the weather was gorgeous, I had come to my semi-secret place to check in on the warbler migration. This is the place where Hooded Warblers nest every year and the on...
Bird Photography Weekly
In the distance from atop some weeds a rusty hinge squeaked out 3 notes. ♪Me. Me. Me. ♪ I looked around perplexed. It did not sound like anything I knew, yet, there was something familiar about the 3 creaky notes. Like an opera...
