Trend burung

Caspian Tern: A Good Omen

Caspian tern by Arthur Morris/Birds As Art.Yesterday about 15 of us were sitting around a set of tables in the Hotel Lakeside, discussing details for the upcoming Midwest Birding Symposium, when a Caspian tern flew past the windows along the Lake Eire shore. Of course I couldn't help myself. I grabbed my friend Judy's binoculars and checked out this big, beautiful tern. And I shouted out the ID of the bird, completely stopping the meeting in its......

The massive bovine form of New Salem Sue can be seen from a long distance away.She's called Salem Sue and she lives in—towers over, really—the town of New Salem, North Dakota on the south side of I-94, west of Bismarck. We saw a sign for her shortly before we saw her looming presence, standing tall on top of a hill. She is the world's largest Holstein cow statue. There was no way we were simply going to drive past her without stopping for a hi-dee-ho......

Our mystery duck preening.We finally re-found the weird-looking scaup on an adjoining part of the lake where we'd originally spotted it. And this time the light was a bit better, so we took good long looks in between getting more still and video images. Blowing up one of the digiscoped stills on my camera screen, I noticed something odd. The scaup was preening and this gave me a unique angle on the bill and the bight orange-red color patch.So I blew......

A clear side view of the mystery duck, showing the red-orange spot on the bill.And now back to our mystery duck in North Dakota....We watched the mystery red-billed duck for 20 minutes and during that time it became increasingly wary, it seemed—moving to the far end of the small lake and swimming into the thin vegetation there, as if to hide. We noticed that a female lesser scaup was with this apparently male bird, but we had no explanation for the......

Along North Dakota's State Route 36, headed west from Pingree, ND, the slightly rolling landscape gently lifts itself onto the coteau, where glaciers dropped their heavy load of ice, rock, and sand millions of years ago. The landscape in every direction is dotted with water. This water is in ponds, lakes, prairie potholes, sloughs, wet meadows, streams, and roadside ditches. And in every place where water collects there are ducks. Some of these ducks......

Is this a he or a she?For many bird species, females get the short end of the stick when it comes to bright plumage, singing ability, and, in some cases, offspring rearing duties. Think for a moment about the life of a male ruby-throated hummingbird: He sets up a territory, courts a female (or several), fertilizes as many eggs as he can, then his job is done. He goes and hangs around the feeder, spending the day drinking and fighting, like an unemployed......

Morning sun on barn and meadows near Belt, MT.We've recently returned from a week apiece in North Dakota and Montana. In addition to adjusting to the different landscape, different birds, and earlier time zones (Central and Mountain Time) of the western Great Plains, I've found notable differences in the light. It's more buttery or lemony early and late in the day, but also brighter during the mid-day hours. American white pelicans that at dawn look......

While navigating the busy streets of a fair midwestern town earlier this month, we drove past this sign outside a fast-food restaurant. I had no idea what a biscuit hole might be—there are all sorts of things that occur to one's mind—but two strange urges came over me after reading this sign's message:1. I felt a pang of hunger.2. I really wanted to roll up to the drive through and mumble, in my best Sling Blade voice: Gimme a sack o' them biskit......

One of the lifer sightings for me during the Montana portion of our trip west, was the sight of cliff swallows nesting on actual cliffs. Where I'm from the cliff swallows nest on buildings, bridges, culverts, and dams, but I'd never seen them nesting on the natural features for which they are named.These shots were taken in and around Virgelle, Montana, where we embarked upon our three-day canoe down the Missouri River.The truly amazing thing about......

When you are driving west on I-94 through the heart of North Dakota, it's hard to miss the World's Largest Sandhill Crane which lives in Steele, ND. I've been leading trips, giving talks, and digging the scene at The Potholes and Prairie Birding Festival in ND for the past six years and every June during the festival, I try to make the pilgrimage to this holy birding shrine.You must approach Sandy with a mixture of caution and reverence.It's a bit......

This western kingbird was a part of the landscape at our cabin in North Dakota. It's really great to be in a new place for several days—long enough to compile a yard list. Today we're off to the Badlands and then on to Monta......

If you ever find yourself lost on the prairie, there's one giant clue to tell you that you're in Jamestown, North Dakota (aka Buffalo City): It's the World's Largest Buffalo and it lives at the National Buffalo Museum, right off I-94.No it's not real. If it were, this fine city would never want for fresh fertilizer. And I (standing as I am in the photo above) would have been pulverized into a fine powd......

Among the other things and sites I'm hoping we'll see this coming week in North Dakota are the rails that nest on the potholes, including the sora (above). But we've also seen Virginia rails and heard both black and yellow rails out there where every field seems to have a wet, reedy edge—perfect rail habitat.Black terns nest here and there in the part of North Dakota we'll be visiting. We once found an old farm house on a knoll above twin sloughs......

Trend burung

Caspian Tern: A Good Omen

Giant Things of North Dakota

Mystery Duck in ND: The Final Chapter

Mystery Duck in ND: Part 2

Mystery Duck in North Dakota

Dude Looks Like a Lady

Long Days, Great Light

Speechless, but Hungry

Cliff Swallows on Actual Cliffs

A Pilgrimage to Steele, ND

Yard Bird in Jamestown, ND

My Newest Giant Friend

The Hope-to See List: Part 2

Popular post

Arsip Trendburung

Followers