There are a few spectacles in the birding community that are high energy, happen quickly, and is worth any effort to experience it. One such experience is a bird grounding event, sometimes called a fallout. A fallout is usually reserved for more significant events, but there is no true gauge as to one versus the […]
Somehow, Steller’s Sea Eagle manages to look both fierce and slightly cartoonish. Maybe the latter is because the bird is so plump, or maybe it is because (at least to me) the head looks like it has been created by a somewhat amateurish wood carver. The species is listed as Vulnerable – the estimated number […]
Most birders are familiar with the Spanish dehesas. They might even have a visit to these Mediterranean steppes on their wish list. The Portuguese equivalent would be the montado – a very similar landscape of wide-open plains and scattered oak trees. The dominant oak in the Spanish steppes is the Holm Oak, the Portuguese have […]
This week, I once again found myself car-challenged. So I went to another nearby site, Las Mesas, which did not offer any unusual narrative. Instead, in this post I will wax philosophical, while sharing a few nice photos from that outing. Clay-colored Sparrows In about a month, I will have my 66th birthday. In between […]
Ruili is a Chinese city right on the border to Myanmar, and a major border crossing. When I last visited the town almost 10 years ago, it had a Wild West feel, and Wikipedia claims that it is “an important location for trade with Myanmar, in both legal and illegal goods and services” but it […]
When waiting it felt like ages, but once I heard them it felt like they had returned way too early: Firecrests singing in our local park in Bonn. On the way to work in the mornings and on weekend walks, I was very glad to hear the songs of all the migrants arriving. In addition […]
Last year I bade farewell to an old friend, or, to be more precise, my much-loved Swarovski scope. Technically, it was an ATS 80 HD spotting scope, together with three eyepieces, a 20x, 30x and a 25×50 wide-angle zoom; the latter was the lens I used most often.(The 20x wide-angle lens was great in poor […]
Of all the gulls that occur in Britain, there’s none that is as pelagic as the Kittiwake. It’s a bird that rarely occurs inland, and outside the breeding season it spends its time far out to sea. British-ringed Kittiwakes have been reported many times from Greenland and Newfoundland, and birds in adult plumage are regularly […]
To be honest, I never cared too much for swans. On the one hand, they are very easy to see in Germany, swimming in public parks or teaching pensioners how to eat bread. On the other hand, their white color and their considerable size made me see them as somewhat arrogant birds – the white […]
It is mid-March and I am back in Colorado for meetings. Of course, excellent opportunity to go birding with my friends Brad and Laura. Before the meetings started we had three glorious days of seeking out what we started calling “red-faced rascals” – the series of finches that look like they have been dipped in […]
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