Wood ducks
I’d come to take the wood ducks living on the Rio Grande Nature Center pond for granted, until I recently picked up a camera. Really lovely birds:
Archive of posts filed under the birds category.
Egret
A snowy egret showed up this afternoon amid the turtles sunning themselves on the Rio Grande Nature Center’s pond. We took some pictures.
In which your backyard naturalist blames nighthawks and swallows on drought
In the last five years, I’ve somewhat haphazardly accumulated what’s turning into a pretty good time series of data on the ecology of my backyard. Or, more specifically, the birds therein. Since 2008, when I caught the eBird bug, I’ve submitted 483 lists for the yard. Number 484, collected this evening, is a puzzle. Sometimes …
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Great blue heron
Oystercatchers: “evolution, wtf?”
Saw oystercatchers on a Puget Sound beach this week. Their beaks are a freakish orange-red: To which Nora commented, “evolution, wtf?”
Caspian terns
I spent time this afternoon watching Caspian terns fishing off the beach next to the Coupeville-Port Townsend ferry. This guy was successful. Later, when I was wandering the backwater nearby, I apparently got too close to the terns’ nesting area. The sent out the call, and five hovered around squawking while one repeatedly dive-bombed me. …
Sunday at the Albuquerque botanical garden
More on the definition of “drought”: a dry spot
Another episode in my effort to explore the meaning of “drought” by way of example. Up on Albuquerque’s north side is a spot the birders call the “Tramway wetland”*. It’s the spot where the main flood control channel for much of Albuquerque slows before entering the Rio Grande. The local flood control authority has designed …
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the parakeets of London
Lissa first spotted a parakeet last week out by Greenwich, a flash of green knifing into trees above the garden path we were walking. It was just a glimpse followed by a fruitless search through the trees to identify the source of the squawking, followed by a visit to my Pocket Guide to the Birds …
Stranded on an island? The perfect book…
Dave Foreman (pdf): I was once asked in a radio interview what book I would want with me if I were stranded alone on an island. “The bird field guide for the area,” said I.