New citizen science project to add to your schedule

This past February, the Hawk Migration Association of North America (HMANA) initiated the Winter Raptor Survey, a volunteer effort to determine winter abundances of raptors. The purpose according to the association’s website “is to get birders/raptor enthusiasts out in the field during the winter looking for diurnal raptors, and to provide those surveyors with a [...]

Superflight 2007-2008

As posted on BirdChat-

We are experiencing the biggest winter finch irruption since the”superflight” of 1997-1998, when many boreal finches went well beyondtheir normal ranges. The cause is the largest tree seed crop failurein a decade across more than 3200 km (2000 mi) of boreal forest fromSaskatchewan into Quebec. Today in Toronto, I had a Pine [...]

Banding the Saw-whets

female Northern Saw-whet Owl

A few nights ago I had the opportunity to help band saw-whet owls at a Girl Scout camp close to Halifax, PA. This excited me because, although saw-whet owls are one of the commonest owls in Canada and the northern US, I have rarely seen them. These owls are tiny, with the [...]

The Rhino and the Tickbird

For a nice story from The Onion click on the story below.

Rhino, Tickbird Stuck In Dead-End Symbiotic Relationship
POLOKWANE, SOUTH AFRICA—”We just go through the motions and there’s hardly any communication. I get on top and take the parasites off while he just lays there,” the tickbird said.

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Winter Finch Forecast 2007-2008

from the Ontario listserv…looks good for Evening Grosbeaks, redpolls and Red-breasted Nuthatches to irrupt into the US, hopefully into Pennsylvania.
“This winter’s theme is “finches going in three directions” depending on the species. Some finches have gone east and west or both, while others will come south. Most coniferous and deciduous trees have [...]

The lumping of the gulls

For any of you who have looked through a flock of gulls and thought it was hopeless to pick out the different species, you are in luck. Scientists have just released their findings in the UK journal Molecular Ecology Notes regarding DNA barcodes for bird species in North America. They found that most [...]

Eastern population of Golden Eagles being tracked

The National Aviary in Pittsburgh and Powdermill Avian Research Center are both working on satellite tracking several Golden Eagles that were trapped this fall near the Allegheny Front Hawk Watch near Bedford, PA. I was lucky enough to be in the trapping blind for a day when 39 Golden Eagles and 1 Bald Eagle [...]

Study reveals further declines for the world’s waterbirds

In the somber news category, the fourth edition of the Wetlands International report on waterbird species around the world has been released. It’s based on annual field surveys by 15,000 voluntary expert observers across hundreds of sites worldwide, including many IBA’s. Of the 878 species that they present estimates and trends for, 44% [...]

Vulture chick brings hope

For those of you who follow bird news around the globe, you are probably aware that vulture populations have crashed to an unsustainable level due to the widespread use of the veterinary medicine, diclofenac. Three species of vultures- the White-Rumped Vulture (Gyps bengalensis), Indian Vulture (Gyps indicus) and Slender-billed Vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) declined [...]

Natty Geo Hummingbirds

The last National Geographic has a great article on hummingbirds with some of the most beautiful hummingbird photographs I have ever seen. Apparently, these hummingbirds are captured, carried to the photographers SUV which is equipped with flowers and proceeds to photograph them. The goal is to document all the species of hummingbirds in [...]