Native plants have tight relationships with wildlife, formed over many thousands of years, providing natural sources of food, cover and places to raise young. Without healthy native plant communities, wildlife cannot survive. Just how much of my garden or landscape should be native? National Wildlife Federation recommends that yards strive for 50% to 70% native […]
Tag: chickadee
Birding By The Sea
Well, this is not actually a post about birding by the sea, but birding by the Long Island Sound at Hammonasset Beach State Park. Images in this post are from a trip to Hammonasset in mid-January when I met world eBirders Julie Hart and Daniel Schlaepfer with four additional visits in February. Julie was kind […]
Bird Bath Birds
I had the itch to spend some time with my birds. So I set up the D850 / 800mm on a bird bath where I could work on the computer and shoot. I actually had a great time, photographed over a dozen species and made a couple of images I really like. What I love […]
A Bird Sanctuary In Killingworth, CT Pt. III
The transition from one season to the next at the Bird Sanctuary in Killingworth, Connecticut, might be as evident due to changes in the weather as to changes in wildlife seen and its behavior. The calls of peepers are a distant memory as a very infrequent croaking of a frog is heard in the early […]
A Bird Sanctuary In Killingworth, CT Pt. I
The creation of a sanctuary for birds with a few feeders offering a variety of food to sustain them in the winter months was actually an afterthought. The Eastern Bluebird above (image 3) was photographed at Casa Almeida in January 2017. The Brown Creeper above (image 1) was photographed at […]
5 ways I’ve been taking shortcuts while birding
There are so many new birds arriving this time of year that I find myself taking shortcuts while birding. Here are 5 examples: 1) Ears only: When I’m walking through the woods I rely mostly on my ears to hear signs of bird activity. If I don’t hear anything then I keep moving. 2) Scanning […]
Where are the birds?
Every year I get several letters like one that came in mid-February from WXPR listener Doug Heise, who lives in Rhinelander and has been feeding birds for 30 years. He wrote about the species he’s fed over the years: “So many different varieties. chickadees, nuthatches, many types of finches, Pine Siskins, Chipping Sparrows, cardinals, Blue […]
Saw-whet Owl!
One of the only things I love more than the Chicago Cubs is the Black-capped Chickadee, and Saturday, the Cubs and chickadees conspired to bring me some magical Karma when I led a bird walk for Hawk Ridge Observatory along Duluth’s Western Waterfront Trail. It was warm for early March—it didn’t freeze the night before, […]