The last week has been exceptionally mild with early morning temperatures around +5 degrees Celsius and warming up to the mid teens in the afternoons. Combined with brilliant sunshine and birdsong all around, the consensus is that spring has well and truly arrived on the Rhine Delta. My first encounter this morning was with a […]
First Spring Migrants Arrive Back in Swiss Foothills
Walking around my village in the Swiss foothills yesterday, I was totally surprised to hear the sound of my old friend, the Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros) – check out the link to the birdsong below. This insect eater doesn’t normally arrive back from Africa until the beginning of April. This could be a a sign […]
Birding in Brazil – Dourado and Itirapina cities, Sao Paulo state
Last weekend I went to a two days birding in Dourado and Itirapina, located in Sao Paulo state, about 100 miles away from my city. Itirapina still has a savannah area, and that is the only area where a few species can be found inside the state. March 17, Day 1 Hideko and Arthur were […]
The Owl importance of Corvids
On a special evening early last spring a friend and I were heading down the valley after an unsuccessful search for Eagle Owls. We arrived down by the house and suddenly heard the light calling of ‘boo boo’ which was the distinctive call of a Male Long-Eared Owl! We sat andlistenedfor a spell and also […]
Birds of Ecuador in the Amazon
Part 08/8 of Glenn Bartley’s month-long trip around Ecuador. During our stay in the Amazon we had incredible opportunities to photograph 4 species of Kingfishers. Also we photographed crazy birds like Hoatzin’s, Donocobius, Macaws, Woodpeckers, Toucans and Aracaris, Owls and even Parrots that were coming to a local site to eat clay. It really was […]
Eastern Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator niloticus)
Information on the Eastern Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator niloticus) is not so easy to come by on the internet and as a result I am posting a few details of this eastern sub-species of Woodchat Shrike here. Identification is fairly straightforward on spring/summer males with the lores and feathers next the nostrils white and an […]
Birding in British Columbia – Lewis’s Woodpecker (Melanerpes lewis)
Part 2/10 of my very action packed 6 weeks of traveling around the country in search of birds. In mid-May I set off for my annual road trip. This year I wanted to focus on the interior of British Columbia and some of the fantastic species that breed here. I spent 20 days camping out […]
Spring in New York City
This pale Cabbage White butterfly, also called the Small White, Pieris rapae, was the first butterfly I’ve seen in my Brooklyn neighborhood this year. One can just make out the diagnostic dark wingtips and the single dark spot in the center of the forewing (that identifies this one as a male). The butterfly’s spring form […]