Like many of you, my life turned upside down with the announcement that schools would be closing for at least three weeks—and possibly the remainder of the school year. For me, that means that instead of juggling my assistant editor duties at Bird Watcher’s Digest with just a toddler and preschooler at home, now my… Read more »
If there were a list of articles you never expected to write, this one would be at the top. Yet, here we are, an entire planet brought to our knees in a matter of weeks by a microscopic enemy known as COVID-19. Every day seems to be full of bad news right now. Like you,… Read more »
Have you noticed that after a while, the birds’ voices creep into your head? Like the Carolina wren’s teakettle litany that sounds like some other bird you just can’t name in the moment until you remember—oh, wren. Or the unmistakable call note of the eastern towhee, the conversations they don’t bother disguising. Or the shriek… Read more »
We’re putting the finishing touches on the May/June 2014 issue of Bird Watcher’s Digest, and readers of this blog get a preview! It’s going to be a good one, if I do say so myself. The cover species profile will be summer tanager, by BWD Assistant Editor and fellow blogger Kyle Carlsen. Kyle, who has… Read more »
Stimulus. Response. Reward. Repeat. The mockingbird gets excited as I open the back door and approach the shed. Even before I get back inside the house, he’s feasting. Frigid temperatures and deep snow for weeks at a time likely contribute to this mockingbird’s eagerness to accept my daily food gifts. He consumes the entire 1/4… Read more »
It was -6 degrees F this morning in Marietta, Ohio. The coldest temp I saw on my thermometer was -11, a few days ago. Koko does not like to go outside for any reason during temperatures this cold, but the wild birds of my neighborhood seem to be surviving just fine. They also seem to… Read more »
In south-central Indiana, where I lived for 31 years, the last 21 of ’em at the same address, northern mockingbirds were a rare but possible winter treat. Spring through fall there, my neighborhood was full of them. I’d walk my dogs for a mile without being out of earshot of a mockingbird. I’m sure there… Read more »
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana, an old friend once told me. How can it be December 13 already?! Nature gave me a gift this morning: a close-up Cooper’s hawk in my front yard, reeling back from a missed strike inside the branches of a tall arborvitae in my front yard…. Read more »
New yard bird: Dark-eyed junco, seen yesterday evening in the tulip tree! It was rewarding to have such a lengthy and diverse yard list from my old house in Bloomington. New species were few and far between, and always a thrill. But starting over has its rewards, too. I am anticipating new species. Which will… Read more »
My yard list is up to 17 species! They are, in chronological order: Northern Cardinal Carolina Wren Blue Jay American Crow Northern Flicker American Robin House Sparrow Carolina Chickadee White-breasted Nuthatch Tufted Titmouse Black-throated Green Warbler Downy Woodpecker Chimney Swift Mourning Dove Turkey Vulture Eastern Bluebird House Finch While walking my dogs along the miles… Read more »
