I didn’t look up right away when I heard the familiar squeaky seal barks off to my right. I was busy muddling my compost bin’s contents and knew that I’d see a red-bellied woodpecker when I managed to tear my eyes away from the earthy mess. Once I finally straightened from my swamp hag stance… Read more »
August is one of the quietest months of the year for birders. I have a handful of regular visitors to the yard—mainly jays, robins, cardinals, song sparrows, and downies, plus an eastern wood pewee somewhere out there calling day in and day out. Always a welcome sight (and sound), but not super exciting. Things will… Read more »
By Jerry Uhlman What a strange and surreal time we’re living through—and it may be far from over. Yet, in nature’s realm life goes on, seemingly with little awareness of the angst that we humans experience in our daily lives. While illness has been an overarching concern, the ripple effect of the pandemic’s disruption seeped… Read more »
One of the many (many, many…) side effects of becoming a birder is that once you start noticing birds, you start noticing other things with wings. For a growing number of birders, one of those things to catch our fancy is moths. And one of the great things about watching moths is that they become… Read more »
I agonized over the best course of action for the downed owl in the ravine stream. Within minutes of messaging me back, Chris arrived and carefully lifted the injured barred owl out of the stream, making a point to photograph it for educational and identification purposes. The bird offered no fight; in fact, it simply… Read more »
As a writer, editor, and all-around language lover, I am always delighted to come across new words—which happens a lot as I delve deeper into the birding world. Upon receiving a copy of Dr. Michael Kinsey’s Dreams of Zugunruhe, I was eager to jump in and find out what this big word in the title… Read more »
If you like birds, and you like puns, then you are in for a treat! “For the Birds” was written by Matt Clark, former executive director of Johnson Creek Watershed Council, an environmental non-profit in Portland, Oregon. You can listen here, and the lyrics are below. See if you can find all 47 birds in… Read more »
This will be my fifth Father’s Day without my dad, and I’d like to say it gets easier, but that’s not really true. I will never stop missing him with my whole heart, especially on holidays designed to remind me of him. However, I find it’s true what they say about how our loved ones… Read more »
BWD director Wendy Clark continues her reflection upon her journey over the past year, one that has been full of trials and tribulations for those of us at the home nest. Read Part 1 here. Fast-forward to March 2020. As a relatively new owner of a small business, our quarantine mandate meant that everything had… Read more »
The BWD staff asked director Wendy Clark to reflect upon her journey over the past year, one that has been full of trials and tribulations for those of us at the home nest. In the first part of this story, Wendy reflects upon the changes in 2019 that brought her to our team, and how… Read more »
