Birding

We love to travel to find new birds and participate in a lot of bird counts. We also created a Guide to Birding Field Guides and host a collection of over 300 birding links from all over the globe.

Conservation

While our main focus continues to be birds, we promote other areas of conservation as well. Conserving land not only benefits wildlife, but is hugely beneficial to people as well.

Outdoors

We love all sorts of outdoor activities, especially hiking and spend a lot of time outside with dogs and horses. We are working to produce more articles on all sorts of outdoor fun!

Photography

Every week we bring you Bird Photography Weekly. We periodically talk about our adventures in digiscoping. Feel free to browse our photo lifelist.

2012 Species Goal – 200

January 10, 2012
Article in: Birding

For 2012 I have decided to set a moderate goal of seeing 200 species of birds.

I have been notoriously bad at keeping records so thought this would be a good way to “force” myself to record what birds I see.

Eastern Bluebird
Eastern Bluebird

Why 200? I’m not really sure how many species I see in a “normal” year but this seems like a nice solid number to shoot for. Most of my birding is done locally and I do not chase birds too often so I think it will be challenging enough.

At the end of January we are traveling to Florida and I hope to boost my list greatly and hopefully add a life bird or two (or twenty!).

Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch

Currently I am at 35 species, all sighted in two counties. I plan on updating the list periodically throughout the year.

165 species to go!

No comment

31 Cool Bird Facts #14 – Red-breasted Nuthatch

October 14, 2008
Article in: Birding

The Red-breasted Nuthatch (Sitta canadensis) is a fun, high energy bird we usually see in northern Illinois from late fall through early spring. Rarely, we even find them during the summer months.

The Red-breasted Nuthatch applies sticky conifer resin globules to the entrance of its nest hole. It may carry the resin in its bill or on pieces of bark that it uses as an applicator. The male puts the resin primarily around the outside of the hole while the female puts it around the inside. The resin may help to keep out predators or competitors. The nuthatch avoids the resin by diving directly through the hole. – The Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch

5 comments