Marietta College’s Institute for Learning in Retirement asked the editor of Bird Watcher’s Digest to teach a virtual course on birding for its Spring 2021 session. I was honored and excited! It was an offer I couldn’t refuse!! The course would meet for four consecutive Wednesday afternoons for two hours. I decided to offer the… Read more »
This spring has been rife with reports from backyard birders spotting finches and other feeder birds suffering from red, swollen eyes—the telltale sign of avian conjunctivitis. Bird Watcher’s Digest columnist and wildlife rehabilitator Julie Zickefoose has been treating birds with mycoplasma for many years, and she reports that this is the worst spring she’s ever… Read more »
Two things have carried me during this difficult past year: my people and birds. And not much makes my heart happier than when I get to share birds with my people. So you can imagine my delight when a couple of my closest childhood girlfriends who are newer to birding wanted to plan a getaway… Read more »
Watching birds in my backyard in the rain last week reminded me of something I heard my grandfather say on more than one occasion: “If the birds in the rain play, it will rain all day.” And sure enough, it rained all day. Remembering this made me wonder: Can birds predict the weather? Are there… Read more »
On the afternoon of Saturday, February 6, I received the following message from my friend Kim: “Hey there! I have an injured owl question for you. There was an owl that a gentleman found hanging by his wing from fishing line at Antrim this morning and I’m not sure the little guy is ok. Do… Read more »
I’ve been in a funk for a while now. Do people even use the word “funk” anymore? It’s probably an antiquated throwback word, but it’s the best word I can conjure to describe the way I’m feeling. There are lots of reasons for my funk. I have some difficult anniversaries that circle ‘round this time… Read more »
I had my first-ever visit to a landfill recently. Waste Management’s Northwestern Landfill outside Parkersburg, West Virginia, offers a quick and easy option for depositing several years’ detritus scavenged from storage units and warehouses, as my friend with a box truck full of trash demonstrated early on a Saturday morning. As we entered the facility,… Read more »
Ultimately, this story is about birds. Trust me. For more than a decade I have been a dedicated composter. I don’t let a scrap of food go into the trash or garbage disposal. What doesn’t get eaten has gone into one of my two compost bins. Corn husks and cobs, citrus peels, avocado and peach… Read more »
February 12–14 was a big weekend for Bird Watcher’s Digest as we headed to south-central Indiana to lead our first Reader Rendezvous event in a year! We had a full schedule of birding trips booked in 2020, all canceled from March onward, and we were more than ready to travel again—with several adjustments made, of course, to… Read more »
You may have heard photographers say, “That’s great light.” Or perhaps you have thought: “I think I’ll just stay home today because the light is awful.” Light in winter can be challenging for outdoor photography, and it is a key variable in whether a satisfactory photograph is possible. Light is a basic building block of… Read more »
