Pink curtain of nightblue-black waters lapping, hidethings beautiful, strange—Speyside, Tobago7.25......
Asa Wright: Toast For Breakfast
Relaxed tropical birding from the Asa Wright verandah.As dawn arrives in the Arima Valley of Trinidad, the birds are the first ones to stir, followed shortly by the bird watchers. In between these stirrings, there is a very important thing—a ritual you might say—that happens in the gardens that separate the rain forest from the buildings at the Asa Wright Nature Centre: the bird feeders are filled.The well-stocked bird feeders at Asa Wright Nature......
Flying Home from Trini
As you read this I am in the air somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean (or perhaps over the good old USA), flying home from Trinidad and Tobago. It's been a wonderful trip. Many birds, lots of laughs, no major catastrophes, and a decent (but bearable) load of chiggers.Perhaps the second-most numerous tanager we encountered on this trip was the blue-gray tanager. The palm tanager took the crown as the MOST numerous, by the way. We saw this ubiquitous......
The Birthday Chimp Self-Actualizes
Julie Zickefoose with a hatchling leatherback turtleToday, July 24, is Julie Zickefoose's birthday. Last night, in a full-on assault on commemorating her special day, our band of birders went to Matura Beach here in Trinidad, to witness the nesting of the leatherback turtles. Being the Science Chimp that she is, this was a BIG DEAL to Zick.Here are photos to document her night spent communing with these giants of the sea. We started off with a few......
Ooh, I Hear Lapwings in the Rain
Neil Sedaka never sang a song about hearing lapwings in the rain, but he should have. I heard this southern lapwing yesterday afternoon—in the rain—at the TrinCity sewage lagoons, which smelled better than the Waterloo fishing dike we birded this afternoon. I'm sad that we don't have a big, dynamic, and noisy shorebird like the lapwing in North America. The killdeer is noisy, but not as large and in charge as the southern lapwing is.I'm still in......
A Jacobin in Trinidad
White-necked jacobin, male.We spent the day birding around the Asa Wright Nature Centre in Trinidad. One of the very first birds seen well by our group during the early morning birding from the famed veranda was this male white-necked jacobin who was guarding the nectar feeders.I'm using the new digiscoping rig from Leica and I have to say, it's getting some tastyawesome images.More soon. Right now it's time for eyelid movies in anticipation of tomorrow's......
Trouble Focusing
Is this what they mean when they say "You're not seeing the daisies for the trees"? And who IS "they" anyway? And why are they questioning my ability to focus? So many questions, so littleHEY LOOK A CHICK......
Turtles in the Road
June and July are the busiest months of the year for box turtles. Here in SE Ohio any morning following an evening rain I know I'm going to see at least one box turtle crossing the road as I drive into town to work. If it's possible to stop I do, picking up the turtle gently and transporting it across the road in the direction it was heading.I always try to determine the sex of the turtle. Males have a concave plastron on the bottom of their shells—for......
Clawing at the Dirt
This morning I woke up, shook off the night, grabbed my cup of coffee, and went outside to scratch in the dirt. I had an urge to do this, you see.No I am not an avid gardener, though I do enjoy a ripe, homegrown Sungold tomato as often as I can get them. I had another reason for my strange desire. I wanted to turn dirt into dust.Let me explain.Our lawn is so pathetic that it could turn a riding mower down a gravel road—and it often does. We care......
Get Your Duck Stamp On!
The ad above is a public service announcement aimed at encouraging more bird watchers to purchase Federal Duck Stamps. A bunch of conservation-minded bird watchers are behind this campaign and I think it's a great idea.Duck stamp karma must be floating around the cosmos today.Just this morning I went to the Whipple Post Office today and picked up two duck stamps. It cost me $30—they are $15 each.There are three reasons why I buy a duck stamp annually:1.......
Phoebe: My Favorite Bird
This is a tribute to my favorite little bird and the sweetest daughter a Dad could ever have: Phoebe Linnea Thompson. Phoebe turns 13 today—yep, she's a teenager.But I'm not worried. Phoebe is smart, deep, caring, sweet, really funny, and lovely. And every day she gets more so.She can be tough as nails, hanging with her homey, Liam.She's not afraid to take a wild ride.Or to let us know when we've been out birding for WAY too long.She's a truly kind......
Recalling the Green-headed Tanager
What a week this has been! Between the deadlines, headlines, equipment malfunctions, wardrobe malfunctions, poisonous snakes, stepped-on rakes, event planning, e-mail spamming, deal making, wind breaking, close calls with spotty fawns, hissing of summer lawns, I am wondering where the past five days went?That's a question with no answer. Like this one: Where does your lap go when you stand up?To Lappland? Methinks it is so.So I find myself taking......
Midwest Birding Symposium: Now with 100% More Sibley!
Breaking news from The Midwest Birding Symposium! Field guide author/illustrator David Sibley has been added as a speaker on Friday night, September 18. The MBS is being held September 17 to 20, 2009 in beautiful Lakeside, Ohio.David Sibley's newest book is The Sibley Guide to Trees, covering more than 600 North American tree species. His MBS presentation will discuss the creation of the new Trees guide and the connections between trees, birds, and......
Leaving Town for Mr. McCown
The view from the special birding spot. The second half of my family's recent trip out West was spent in Montana, a lifer state for me. Julie spent a summer in northernmost Montana when she was a teenager, living with her sister Barb and family. The other three of us only knew about Montana what we'd heard from friends and absorbed from books and pop culture. We spent three amazing days canoeing down the Missouri river and camping—and there are sure......
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