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 »
Back to the North from points farther south, the fellows chat throughout a winter-themed episode about such topics as suet feeding, birding in Texas and Colombia, weather and birds, winter clothing, acclimatization, fogging optics, and Ben’s new-found love of silk long johns. Bill recounts a traumatic first grade incident involving yellow snow, and his latest… Read more »
By Anisha Pokharel, Conservation Science Trainee, Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, Pennsylvania. I sing a song Of the Blue Mountains that stand with pride Of the cool breeze that passes by And the magnificent raptors that fly by. I sing the song of turkey vulture That loves dancing up and down, back and fro, Tickling my inner desire to… Read more »
Like a huge number of tourism authorities, tour companies, optics makers, and charities, the British Bird Fair is my opportunity to get feedback from birders in the UK and, in fact, all over the world. Our “Birding For All” stand is all about the charity I set up to encourage service providers to look… Read more »
They stomp their feet like a child having a tantrum. They flare long “ear” plumes (pinnae feathers) into an impressive double erection like jackrabbit ears, and bend over to stick their tail feathers straight up in the air to moon anyone nearby. Most impressively, they inflate apricot-colored air sacs on the sides of their neck… Read more »
I don’t think I am old, but when I realize that my parents were born before the passenger pigeon was extinct, that my grandparents were born when bison filled the plains and that there were Eskimo curlews and, probably, ivory-billed woodpeckers inhabiting the planet with me at one time, I start to feel old. As… Read more »
This story, by regular Out There With The Birds Contributor Jen Hajj, originally appeared in the July/August 2013 issue of Bird Watcher’s Digest. Imagine a brisk September morning in the 1930s. Hunters gather at the gate to Hawk Mountain, a site in rural Pennsylvania known for the thousands of hawks that pass during their annual… Read more »
If you’re like me, certain of the more vocal local birds, those with individually distinctive songs, gain nicknames as the breeding season unfolds. The song sparrow that sings outside my bedroom window in the morning has come to be called Chicken Legs, due to the fact that its melody reminds me of one W.C. Fields… Read more »
I follow whooping cranes. Not literally, although some people do. In fall 2001, when Operation Migration started using ultra light aircraft to lead juvenile whooping cranes from the International Crane Foundation breeding site in Wisconsin to St. Mark’s National Wildlife Refuge in Florida, their original route took them right over my rooftop. (Again, not literally,… Read more »
It’s early September. I’m not ready to face the fade of summer. But the birds tell me that the season has already turned, and that I’d better accept the facts and get out there if I’m going to catch a last glimpse of their southbound undertail coverts. I’ve already seen migrating royal terns and red… Read more »
