My birding life list. One bird at a time.
Hey guys welcome back. And Happy Christmas to those out there that celebrate. Today's bird is the cliff swallow. Like other swallows the cliff swallow can be seen flying rapidly over water or freshly cut fields as they gobble up flying insects mid-flight with their bat-like flight patterns. Cliff swallows look similar to bard swallows... Continue Reading →
Hey guys welcome back. Today is my last life bird before moving out of New York and it's also possibly the first life bird I got after moving to New York. Let me explain. For many years, a female wild turkey lived in New York City's Battery Park. Her name was Zelda, and she even... Continue Reading →
Hey guys, welcome back. Shortly before I left NYC for St. Louis, I took a weekend trip to the Hamptons, which for those unfamiliar is all the way out on the eastern end of Long Island. It was an amazing trip, and I managed to get some birding in too. While walking along the beach... Continue Reading →
Hey guys, welcome back. Today's bird is yet another of the lookalike flycatchers from the genus empidonax. It's also the last life bird on my list that I saw in Central Park. Breeding throughout central Canada, and migrating through the eastern US, the alder flycatcher isn't quite as numerous in the states as its nearly... Continue Reading →
Hey guys, welcome back. We've talked about a lot of birds over the course of this blog. Some very common, and others quite rare. Today's bird is the latter. Out of 218 species we've covered so far, this one is quite possibly the rarest. The seaside sparrow is found in salt marshes along the Atlantic... Continue Reading →
Hey guys, welcome back. Today is our second owl species, and one that is fairly well known, but not often seen. The barn owl is widespread, being found in nearly every one of the 48 contiguous US states. Although widespread, they aren't super common, and are declining in population throughout parts of their range due... Continue Reading →
Hey guys, welcome back. Today a streaky little sparrow known as the vesper sparrow. The word vesper comes from the Latin for evening, and these little brown birds love to sing as the day is nearing its end. At first glance, they look very similar to other sparrows we've covered before such as the Lincoln's... Continue Reading →
Hey guys, welcome back! Today we have our first bittern species. What's a bittern? Well, essentially it's just a fancy name for heron. Bitterns, herons, and egrets are all in the same family; ardiedae. The American bittern looks kind of like a large, brown striped green heron. American bitterns are widespread throughout the northern half... Continue Reading →
Hey guys, welcome back. I have never lived in, or birded in the range of today's bird, yet I've seen a number of them. What gives? The black vulture is the slightly smaller cousin to the turkey vulture and is historically found in the southern half of the US. However, due partly to climate change,... Continue Reading →
Hey guys, welcome back. Today is a duck that spends most of its time in the tundra. Abundant in the arctic during summer, long-tailed ducks head south only to the northeast of the US in winter. They typically stay along the coasts, but do occasionally make their way to the Great Lakes. Even then, they... Continue Reading →
Feathered Focus 