South Texas birding and my 500th species! (and many more)

October Big Day 2022

My quest to find one hundred species of birds in January. What can we notice about ourselves as we play our crazy games?

An unnecessarily deep dive into the origins of the names of imaginary wizards and real birds.

How do you count fifty thousand speeding purple martins?

A few of my favorite images from my recent trip to photograph nesting loons in central Washington state.

A new life bird and the confusing world of sparrows.

Evening grosbeaks are not typically seen south of the Great Lakes in winter. This year, they are here in large numbers, and we were expecting them. Why are they here, and how did we know they were coming?

When I realized one of the owls was coming right at me, my heart rate certainly went up. But now that I have been doing this for a while, I realize that one of things experience teaches you is how to not freak out under pressure (at least not to the extent that you miss the shot - there is always some level of freaking out!). As this owl approached, I knew I would likely only get one chance, and fortunately this time I managed to pull it off.

A purple sandpiper in Indiana?! Certainly that justifies blowing off work for the afternoon, doesn’t it?

The last ten days of birding have been fairly remarkable. Many of the sightings have been distant and fleeting. The resulting photos are unremarkable at best. The remarkable part is that I have photos of these birds at all, because none of them should be anywhere near Kentucky.

A point of clarity in an ambiguous world on this Thanksgiving day.

While the country held (holds) its breath, I sat outside in the crisp November air. I watched the bright moon rise over the trees. I felt the warmth of the glowing embers of a fire. I listened to the yips of coyotes carrying through the clear night. I enjoyed good company and conversation, and I waited for owls.

Just a few images from a spectacular October morning.