We have a lot to be thankful for here at Bird Watcher’s Digest and Redstart Birding. There are our readers and our customers and the birding community that keep us in business. And our friends and family, of course. And our own crew that feels more like family than colleagues. This Thanksgiving—this year especially—we wish… Read more »
Because of its great success in getting people outside and enjoying nature the day after Thanksgiving, we’ve decided to bring Green Friday back in 2020! In a time when social distancing is of utmost importance, this calmer alternative to fighting the crowds for Black Friday shopping just feels like the right thing to do this… Read more »
We birders have long appreciated and understood the benefits of communing with nature for our bodies and our minds—not to mention our life lists. During this past year, in search of socially distant opportunities for fresh air and recreation, others increasingly are finding their Zen at local parks. Birding’s concurrent rise in popularity—an inherently socially… Read more »
I’ll never forget the first conversation Bill Thompson, III, and I had about Reader Rendezvous. We had spent a week at the British Birdfair followed by some holiday time in England with good friends. As we were nestling down in our seats for the seven-hour return flight ahead, he said, “Hey, Wen, what do you… Read more »
In case you missed it, last weekend, October 17–18, was the first Global Bird Weekend, “a new venture that aims to inspire birdwatchers to come together as a global community and celebrate birds, by participating in birdwatching, birdwatching events, citizen science and conservation.” The agenda for the weekend obviously included birding on Saturday, known as… Read more »
I was explaining how I’m a terrible birder, in that it takes me forever to get on a bird when a fellow participant in the hobby points one out to me. And how those kind souls trying to help me probably get frustrated when I so often give up after a few minutes of trying…. Read more »
Every story has a beginning. Bird Watcher’s Digest’s story begins with a woman named Pat Murphy. Pat was an experienced birder and a nature columnist for the Marietta Times newspaper. She eventually served as Bird Watcher’s Digest’s associate editor and as a columnist, and she was the leader of the local women’s birding club, the Betsey Birders. The… Read more »
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 »
