Allow us to introduce the 2021 Redstart Birding Optics Guide! It’s hot off the digital presses, it’s downloadable, it’s full of amazing products and content, and best of all, it’s FREE. Are you rolling your eyes at the thought of downloading yet another sales catalog to your growing digital pile? Trust us, our 2021 Optics Guide is much more than a catalog of products for you to flip through, although we do list them all—including every doggone detail and pricing… Read more »
I had a bird dream the night before I set the world I’d known on fire. Two large owls of indeterminate species were in the upstairs room of my first childhood home (of course, being a dream, it both was and wasn’t the same structure). I was panicking about the safety of some kittens that… Read more »
For the first time in the nearly seven years I’ve lived in this house, birds have nested on my front porch. Not one nest, but two: a robin and a mourning dove. I’ve long expected mourning doves to realize that the tops of the porch–roof support columns are wide enough for a nest, but it never happened until now, and, in fact, it was the robins who chose… Read more »
Let’s be real: There’s no substitute for the thrill of being out in the field to witness neotropical migrants and the requisite sensory overload. Just recently I’ve enjoyed the early offerings my local Columbus, Ohio, ravine provides come late March: eastern phoebes, brown creepers, chipping sparrows, to name a few. Now that I work… Read more »
Last year at this time we were in a COVID-19 tailspin at Bird Watcher’s Digest. Our governor had issued a shutdown order for all businesses in the state, and, like everyone in the world, we were terrified and dumbfounded. Honestly, our team of 12 people (who capably handle the daily workload of about 30 people) was just… Read more »
I’ll always enjoy the coziness of wintertime, but nothing rivals the anticipation of emerging bulbs and plants awakening in the flower beds in my yard come springtime. Last spring, when the pandemic effectively eliminated all of my 2020 travel, I turned to yardwork and improving the “birdiness” of my plants and flowers to bolster my… Read more »
Marietta College’s Institute for Learning in Retirement asked the editor of Bird Watcher’s Digest to teach a virtual course on birding for its Spring 2021 session. I was honored and excited! It was an offer I couldn’t refuse!! The course would meet for four consecutive Wednesday afternoons for two hours. I decided to offer the… Read more »
This spring has been rife with reports from backyard birders spotting finches and other feeder birds suffering from red, swollen eyes—the telltale sign of avian conjunctivitis. Bird Watcher’s Digest columnist and wildlife rehabilitator Julie Zickefoose has been treating birds with mycoplasma for many years, and she reports that this is the worst spring she’s ever… Read more »
Two things have carried me during this difficult past year: my people and birds. And not much makes my heart happier than when I get to share birds with my people. So you can imagine my delight when a couple of my closest childhood girlfriends who are newer to birding wanted to plan a getaway… Read more »
Watching birds in my backyard in the rain last week reminded me of something I heard my grandfather say on more than one occasion: “If the birds in the rain play, it will rain all day.” And sure enough, it rained all day. Remembering this made me wonder: Can birds predict the weather? Are there… Read more »
