Jan
26
2012
Here in Montana, petrels and albatrosses are not usually on the birding radar. Their foreignness and distance have only served to intrigue me. I imagine a giant albatross dynamically soaring amongst of crowns and troughs of mid-ocean swells. I can almost feel the salt-laden mist needling at my face. Heck, I might even be a …
Jan
23
2012
I rushed into the Lolo post office to receive a parcel from Princeton University Press. It was my review copy of The Atlas of Birds: Diversity, Behavior, and Conservation. I raced home and tore open the box, and fished the text from a sea of packing peanuts. The first thing that leapt out at me …
Sep
29
2011
More than 20 years ago, the birding world was buzzing with the release of the first edition of Kenn Kaufman’s Advanced Birding. Finally, there was a text dedicated to detailing the major identification issues of North American birding. At last, we had an accessible methodology for IDing those delightfully difficult Empidonax flycatchers. I devoured my …
Sep
20
2011
September chill bites at my nose a little more with each passing morning. The leaves turn from verdant splendor to a palette of reds, yellows, and orange. The intense blue sky domes over the landscape, and in that there are migrating raptors. Birds of prey that are making their way own the alpine ridges of …
Jan
18
2011
Stuck in Dillon, MT with very little to do for an entire summer. I was being paid by the Forest Service to literally hike and count rocks in creeks, one of the best jobs ever. The weather was finally comfortable and being outside had become the number one priority. I was looking for something new …
Jan
13
2011
It was getting very hot as morning slid into mid-day at Carara National Park, Costa Rica. Humidity hung in the air like your grandma’s heavy drapes. Silence replaced the din of song and call that filled the air only moments earlier. Suddenly, a chorus of harsh screeches shattered the scene. Above, long-tailed flashes of red …
Oct
01
2010
Goatsucker, nightjar, frogmouth and Oilbird – these are some of the strange and oddly descriptive names bestowed on the birds belonging to the Order of Caprimulgiformes. These birds have always had an aurora of mystery as they haunted the dark depths of night. Their strange cries perch in the evening. If you have ever seen …
Aug
25
2010
Sometimes I dream of South America and the adventures that still exist there. It seems to last continent for the adventure birder. A place where species are still be discovered and new birding areas revealed. Birding along an oxbow lake in Manu or finding Inca Wrens among the ruins of Machu Picchu are some the …
Aug
10
2010
The other day I received a greatly expected package from Houghton Mifflin, my review copy of Molt in North America Birds by Steve N.G. Howell. I quickly ripped the package open and I was staring at a beautiful cover of a molting Northern Gannet. With a familiar crack of a firm spine, I opened the …
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