Ever since I read Julie Zickefoose’s latest book, Saving Jemima: Life and Love with a Hard-Luck Jay, I have had a soft spot for blue jays, a bird some folks find hard to love due to their noisy and aggressive nature. In the book, which recounts the summer she spent rehabilitating Jemima (while at the same… Read more »
What mighty force could possibly bring a myriad of agencies (US Fish and WIldlife Service, Ohio State Parks, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and the US Department of Agriculture’s APHIS division, specifically) to collaborate? A single, solitary piping plover nest. True story: This past summer, a pair of breeding piping plovers successfully hatched four chicks… Read more »
During a recent field trip to a nearby national wildlife refuge, I picked up a newly published checklist of birds for the sanctuary. It identified all the more than 300-plus species of birds that have ever been seen in the sanctuary along with an indication of the relative ease of seeing each species—if it abundant,… Read more »
On a recent lunch break, I walked down one hill and up three others to drop off a starfish sansevieria pup to a fellow plant mama living one neighborhood over. “I’m delivering a baby,” I messaged her, cackling over the cryptic lack of further explanation. I took the long way home, off the main drag,… Read more »
If I have any regrets in life, it is that I didn’t become a birder sooner. I suppose birding took its place in my life right when and how it was meant to, but when I think about all the birdy opportunities missed in my earlier years… well, there’s a twinge of sadness there. I… Read more »
One thing about bird watchers is that we rarely stop with birds. Once you notice one winged creature, it’s difficult not to become interested in other winged things. Butterflies are a natural extension for birders, especially since the birds are a bit quieter and often hidden in leafed-out trees during the summer months. Meanwhile, butterflies… Read more »
Do you remember the song “Cool Change” by the Australian musical group Little River Band? The song’s familiar refrain says, “Time for a cool change… I know that it’s time for a cool change.” That melodic earworm has been flowing through my brain for weeks now because it’s time for a cool change of our… Read more »
I was sitting here on my balcony a few minutes ago literally thinking, “Well, it’s Father’s Day, I wonder if I’ll see my Dad Bird.” (I wrote about my connection to my dad through a Cooper’s hawk last year – it’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever written.) And then I started typing up… Read more »
Every morning, I crawl out of bed, put on my walking clothes, and take my little dog, Frankie, for a walk. In other words, I go birding. At most times of the year and when I’m pressed for time, I stick to the streets and alleys near my house for about 20 minutes. There, the… Read more »
“Hearing a cerulean in front of the mausoleum.” Bird Watcher’s Digest editor Dawn Hewitt texted me a 6:35 a.m. update from her neighborhood birding patch, knowing that I had visited that same graveyard the weekend prior and was sorry to have missed a cerulean warbler sighting. I assumed this message was a kind gesture rather… Read more »
