Today was Rockford, Illinois’ Christmas Bird Count. We started the day at around 7, hiking through tall grass and rousing up a Ring-necked Pheasant. The weather was in the 30s to start and remained cloudy all day with a bitter wind. We saw a load of American Tree Sparrows and Dark-eyed Juncos. We heard a
My Three Favorite Bird Guides
It is time to choose my three favorite bird guides. Why three? Because one won’t do and I need to narrow down the dozens I have. My favorite is “The Big Sibley”, better known as The National Audubon Society Sibley Guide to Birds. Big and bulky this book has changed the way birders bird much
Whooping Crane and Chick
This Whooping Crane with chick photo was taken at the International Crane Foundation, a great place where you can see all 15 (?) species of cranes from all over the world. The ICF is an awesome place to visit and actually has pretty good birding on their land. We saw all 15 species of cranes
Baxter’s Hollow
Nature Conservancy Site of the Week #2 Located in South Central Wisconsin, Baxter’s Hollow, near Baraboo, provides for excellent birding in a hidden away place. The preserve is just shy of 5,000 acres and has some 40 species of breeding forest birds. The most sought after birds at Baxter’s Hollow are the rare (for Wisconsin)
I and the Bird #38
The latest and greatest I and the Bird (#38) is now available at Ben Cruachan Blog. Enjoy ya’ll!
Cerulean Warbler Conservation
I was a bit hasty at first in my thoughts of the status of Cerulean Warblers. First off, I absolutely LOVE CERULEANS and all wood-warblers. My first impression was that if it was delisted it wasn’t the end of the world for the species. The Cerulean had gotten a load of good press and lots
Christmas Bird Count Only 5 Days Away
Christmas Bird Counts (CBC) are getting close. The Rockford one takes place on Saturday, December 16th. I will also be doing the Kishwaukee count the Saturday after that. I plan on having a full report for both of these as well as try to post information about counts in my area – Northern Illinois /
The Birdvine!
Birdvine [burd-vahyn] n. – A list of web address links that pertain to wild birds, birding, and birders. Let me introduce you to a new concept created by the Birdfreaks known as the Birdvine. Most Internet surfers have seen link lists before – literally just a list of someone’s favorite links to other pages that
