By Rack Cross When it comes to birding trails one size does not fit all. Kingsport, nestled in the foothills of the Smokey Mountains of Northeast Tennessee, hosted an unforeseen series of events in our city of about 54,000 people that resulted in a municipal birding trail that serves to improve the quality of life… Read more »
Ed Kanze won the Birder of the Year 2017 contest with his essay, “Find a Bird, Get a Life,” which ran in the March/April 2017 issue of Bird Watcher’s Digest. Recently having claimed his prize: a trip to Costa Rica, courtesy of Swarovski Optik, he submitted this story: Costa Rica with Swarovski By Ed Kanze… Read more »
By Diane Porter Birds fly, innocent of national borders. They don’t get their passports stamped at the airport, but they carry the story of one nation to another. A Wilson’s warbler that I welcome back to Iowa in May tells me that a patch of forest in Central America is still there. Some countries where… Read more »
by Chris Larsen Peru is one of the very best places to watch birds and wildlife anywhere in the world. From the Pacific coast, via the high Andes to the Amazon rainforest, Peru wildlife offers an unparalleled variety of exotic species in some of the world’s most stunningly beautiful landscapes. Now, Blue Sky Wildlife, working… Read more »
By Duane Morse At some point in your birding career, you’ll want to go to the spring dance. The greater prairie-chicken dance, that is. And when you do, you’ll naturally want to gate-crash the nearby greater sage-grouse dance, and perhaps observe lesser prairie-chickens strut their stuff. Why not make a grand tour and see as… Read more »
By David La Puma, Ph.D Director, Cape May Bird Observatory New Jersey Audubon We’re in the midst of fall migration, in which masses of birds descend on our forests, farms, wetlands, lakes, and shores to find shelter and refuel for their journey further south or to hunker down and settle in for the winter. To… Read more »
By Mollee Brown, Marketing Assistant Bird Watcher’s Digest On the east side of Wisconsin, up the coast from Milwaukee and north of Green Bay, a peninsula juts into Lake Michigan. Small, charming towns line the narrow stretch with views of small islands and the gentle waves of the lake glimpsed through towering pines and impressive… Read more »
Complement your national park trip with a stop at a nearby wildlife refuge Contributed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Visiting a national park this summer? Pair it with a side trip to a less discovered cousin – a national wildlife refuge. The National Wildlife Refuge System, part of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife… Read more »
Attention birders! Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center are seeking birders to help collect vital information about the rare and endangered Kirtland’s warblers as they head north this spring. The first Kirtland’s Warbler Migration Blitz will take place in Florida, Georgia, and Ohio from mid-April through early June. Studies suggest 40 percent of mortality for this… Read more »
Cynthia Charles emailed Bird Watcher’s Digest recently to alert us to this situation. We thought OTWTB readers would share her concern. Here’s her letter: I have lived on Monhegan Island for 30 years. Monhegan is a small island (1 mile x .75 mile) located 13 miles off of the coast of Maine, and is a stop-off for many… Read more »
