10 Ways to See more Birds

These aren’t backed by any guarantee, just what has held true from my experience. In no particular order I present you with 10 ways to see more birds.
Walk slower. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people walk past birds because they aren’t walking slow enough, giving the birds more time to [...]

I and the Bird 49: the Wordchaser

For a poem, and the 49th edition of the birding carnival, hop on over to Via Negativa for a good time and interesting read as you peruse the latest, greatest bird posts in the blogosphere.

Clay-colored Sparrow

I saw my 2nd state bird in as many days yesterday. Although its not very common in PA, Clay-colored Sparrows are findable in several parts of the state. They breed in some limited areas in the western part of the state and are sometimes seen in migration elsewhere.

This bird is coming to a feeder in [...]

New State bird on the drive home

This afternoon, I was driving home from New Jersey after completing the hawk counting season. It was a pleasant day but I didn’t see much bird-wise for most of the trip. It was pretty ordinary in fact until I turned on to Schantz Rd southwest of Allentown. I spotted a plowed field off to the [...]

Big Day attempt and final day of the hawk watch

Today was a sad day in some respects. My last day at the hawk watch and last day with all the wonderful people that came up to help me scan the skies for the migrating raptors. I ended the season with 2,966 raptors, just shy of the more impressive looking 3,000 mark that I was [...]

Year Milestone

I finally hit the 200 mark for the year, a good start but not necessarily that stellar. There have been quite a few birds mixed in to make it interesting though. A Long-billed Murrelet showed up at Sandy Hook in January to provide me with my first rarity of the season. I was also able [...]

Digiscoping the Gnatcatcher

Here are some of my attempts at catching the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher through my scope. Seems that despite my best efforts, this guy was always able to hide behind at least a little bit of tree stuff. The last shot is my favorite, catching it mid-hover as it is going up to snag an insect off [...]

Flowing Waterfall

You might think I had nothing to do today, but in fact I saw quite a lot of birds (if you consider that doing anything). This waterfall is off one of the trails near Weis Ecology Center in northern New Jersey.

Ruby-crowned Kinglet, flightiest sprite in the forest

The Ruby-crowned Kinglet is a tiny little bird, weighing in at only 6.9 g or less than a quarter ounce. Despite its small size, it has to be one of the speediest foragers of all time. I come to this conclusion honestly, after trying with no luck to digiscope one individual that was foraging quite [...]

Mega! Yellow-billed Loon in Pennsylvania

As already blogged by Birdchaser, there is a beautifully plumaged Yellow-billed Loon drifting up and down the Susquehanna River near Harrisburg, PA. Only a little over an hour from my house, this would be an excellent bird to chase for both a state and life bird for me. But, seeing as I am in New [...]