https://www.capetownetc.com/cape-town/where-cape-towns-animals-used-to-roam/ Continue reading

Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond:
It snowed on Saturday. Twice. In between, I happened to be watching several squirrels capering across the park from my window. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught something fly at a bush and then away, turning up to a tree limb. Several squirrels made a racket up there before retreating. It was a young Cooper’s hawk.… Continue reading Raptor Wednesday

Originally posted on Backyard and Beyond:
Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday I spotted raptors at the gory work of eating. First up is a mature Red-tailed Hawk in Green-Wood at the Sylvan Water. The unfortunate meal is a Grey Squirrel. I used a very large tree as a blind to get close as the weather went from cloudy to breaking sunny to cloudy and rainy. Continue reading Sylvan Raptor

Originally posted on birds fly free:
Known as the playground of the rich and famous, Martha’s Vineyard is jam-packed with visitors each summer. Traffic and parking can be problematic. Every July, the population on the island peaks at around 125,000, but in winter, the number of year-round residents dwindles to 15,000. This is why our Mass Audubon group heads out in mid-January to birdwatch on… Continue reading Winter Birds of Martha’s Vineyard

Originally posted on birds fly free:
In the early morning hours of Friday, September 13th, our Ipswich River Audubon group scrambled into the vans with coffee in hand. It was (yawn) 5:30 a.m. and the sun had not yet risen. The only unlucky thing about that Friday the 13th was that I spilled Latte all over the van’s cup holders, and then had to clean… Continue reading The Magic of Monhegan Island, Maine.

Originally posted on birds fly free:
The cooler temperatures are here and I decide to venture out into the wilds. I return to the marsh to see our NH Trumpeter Swan, who I’ve named”Louie”, but I can’t find him anywhere. I keep searching, dragging myself and my heavy lens into the woods. No swan in sight. Could he have already migrated? I decide to call… Continue reading Our Native Trumpeter, et al.

Continue reading Springtime on the New Hampshire Seacoast

Originally posted on birds fly free:
This spring, I visited several wildlife sanctuaries on the North Shore of Massachusetts looking for migrating spring birds. I have only been birding for 2-3 years, but it is such a fun hobby and honestly, I’m kind of obsessed with it. You can see and experience many species right here in your own back yard. It is a wonderful… Continue reading Spring Birding on the North Shore

Originally posted on Wickersham's Conscience:
It’s black. It’s big. It’s a hawk. Therefore, it’s a Great Black Hawk. Another complete failure of imagination by the folks who name birds. Great Black Hawk, Madre de Dios River, Peru With a wing span of well over a 3.5 feet and a body length of more than two feet, this is a large raptor. The long, bright… Continue reading Return of Bird of the Week: Great Black Hawk

Originally posted on Wickersham's Conscience:
Many of O’ahu’s native bird species are gone. The Polynesians and westerners brought in too many invaders: pigs, rats, mongoose, cattle, goats, chicken and, worst of all, avian malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. Island ecologies are notoriously fragile. and the Hawai’ian Islands proved to be no different. Today, native bird species, especially O’ahu’s amazing songbirds, are mostly gone. Invasive species dominate the… Continue reading Birding O’ahu: The Introduced Songbirds