Sep 09 2008
Blogroll
Here are some blogs and other webthings I visit* often:
10,000 Birds – An amazingly rich site, packed with good information and photos. Mike, Charlie, and Corey do a great job surveying the field in breadth and depth. Originators of the I and the Bird blog carnival and the Nature Blog Network.
600 Birds – Sure, it’s a lot less than 10,000, but Ben Lizdas has lots of good things to say about optics and the birds we see through them.
Aimophila Adventures – featuring the trenchant, erudite writings of Rick Wright. Tucson-based, with frequent travels.
Bill of the Birds – Bill Thompson III’s blog. Bill’s a great friend, the editor of Bird Watcher’s Digest, and a latter-day renaissance man. He’s funny, too.
Blue Lizard Birding – my darling wife’s blog, sadly currently on hiatus. See how my better half lives.
The Birdchaser – my longtime buddy Rob Fergus writes about list lust and conservation with equal conviction.
Birdchick – Birds, bees, rabbits and more, all served up by the vivacious Sharon Stiteler.
Birder’s World Field of View – Chuck Hagner and team always have interesting and entertaining news to share.
BirdFellow – One of the highlights of 2009 for me was getting to know Dave Irons, one of the leading lights of Oregon birding. At first blush, BirdFellow might appear to be Dave’s blog and if it were only that, it would still be very worth your attention. But BirdFellow has bigger plans–Dave and his business partner, Bjorn Hinrichs, along with a growing team of collaborators, are building a site that aims to be both a social network for birders and a source of authoritative, carefully-reviewed birding knowledge. I’m very much looking forward to watching it unfold.
Birding to the EDG – Mike Freiberg of Nikon offers bird pictures and useful identification tips from his nearly-constant travels.
Birdsbykim.com blog – Kim Steininger, the greatest bird photographer you may never have heard of–yet.
Born Again Bird Watcher – I’d have to love him even if he’d never written anything besides this post. But John Riutta has quickly evolved into a pillar of the North American bird blogging community.
BrdPics – Bill Schmoker, a most amiable field companion, shares birds and photographs from Colorado and all over.
Clay’s Digiscoping 1000 – Swarovski’s Clay Taylor displays trophies from his ongoing digiscoping safari.
CVWO News from Kiptopeke – Banding and more from the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula. Lots of nice in-hand bird photos.
George Bristow’s Secret Freezer – Do like to watch Britcoms on PBS? Then you’ll like Martin Collinson, whose humor I don’t always get, but I don’t mind–there’s alway more coming.
The Hawk Owl’s Nest – Birds, bugs, and botany from New Jersey’s Patrick Belardo.
Jeff’s Little Ship of Music – No birds, and infrequent posts, but Jeff Stoodt’s blog is wonderful anyway.
Julie Zickefoose – what might happen if Bonnie Raitt, Jane Goodall, Georgia O’Keefe, Martha Stewart, Annie Dillard and Miss Jean from Hodgepodge Lodge all bought a house in Appalachian Ohio, moved in together and started blogging.
The Leica Birding Blog – Head Leica dude Jeff Bouton’s adventures birding and digiscoping the world.
Matthew Sarver: The Modern Naturalist – a promising new blog from a guy who routinely impresses and inspires me with his seemingly endless, all-encompassing knowledge of natural history.
Mike’s Birding & Digiscoping Blog – Wisconsin’s Mike McDowell is the most amazing digiscoper I know of.
Milk River Blog – cataloging the obsessions of Tony Gallucci: birds, Texas, film, music, theater, sports, and bugs. And obituaries.
OC Birding – If you only check out one blog from this list, make it this one. Neil Gilbert writes with all the freshness and enthusiasm you’d hope for from a 15 year-old wunderkind. The OC refers to Orange County, not frequent hand-washing.
Of a Feather – It’s no accident that Scott Weidensaul’s writing was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.
Sibley Guides Notebook – officially on hiatus, but we can always hope he returns to the blogosphere.
WildBird on the Fly – few birders have their ears to the ground like Amy Hooper, editor of WildBird.
Woodcreeper – David LaPuma reads the Nexrad tea leaves and forecasts bird migration in the Mid-Atlantic. He also throws a political elbow now and again, which I enjoy.
*When I say I visit them, I really mean I subscribe to them via RSS, which is by far the best way to keep track of a blog or web page that is updated frequently or infrequently, regularly or irregularly. I use Google Reader. If you’d like to subscribe to this blog (yeah!) you can find an RSS button in the upper left corner of each page–it’s orange with white curvy lines on it and says, “Subscribe in a reader.”
Thanks for the nod, Jeff. It’s inspiring to be included in such good company!
Great new layout, Jeff! I’ll add this link pronto to my blog. Looking forward to more of your musings, as always. -Willy
Jeff,
Sorry about the very long delay in providing you with pictures of the the pomarine and parasitic jaegers that I photographed during the Rio Grnad Valley Birding Festival Pelagic Trip. You had asked me to e-mail a set of unretouched photos. I have them ready to send to you, but I need an e-mail address. I believe there is a total of 17 photos. If you are still interested in them please let me know. I have been to your website several times, but only today did I find a way of e-mailing you.
By the way, you website is excellent. I have really enjoyed reading the articles and viewing the photographs taken during your travels. I will be returning to your website often. See you on the birding trail somewhere!!
Rick Stelzer
Reynoldsburg, Ohio
(614) 861-8606
rstelzer@insight.rr.com
Dear Jeffrey,
Thanks for a good kingfishing evening at the DVOC meeting. I spoke with you afterward about the pronunciation of Ceyx, the husband of Halcyon. I’ve tracked it down via Wikipedia and the Perseus project which works with the two classical dictionaries of Greek and Latin written by two great linguists, Liddel and Scott, in the 19th century.
The answer is: you have your choice of pronunciation!
The original Greek texts were retold in Latin from which the modern transliteration and pronunciation takes its form.
If you are going to say halcyon, “hal-see-on” (the common English pronunciation) for what in Greek would be halkuon, “hal-koo-on”, then it is probably best to pronounce ceyx as if it were the Latinized pronunciation, “sakes”. In Greek it would be transliterated “keuks” (kooks), which isn’t a great choice for you either.
It is clear that the Greek-now- become-Latin, would have a long “e” sound, because of the “ey” dipththong. But in Greek and Latin, the long “e” is an “a” sound. Thus, “sakes” for Ceyx is your best, and least embarrassing bet.
In any case, it isn’t pronounced “sex”!
Hope this helps. Aristodorus seems to have thought the couple became gannets. Moreover, the word “alcid” has connections with “halcyon” too.
Kingfish On!
The Rev. Dr. Robin Mattison
Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia
Jeff – could you contact me here at the art league about a spring workshop please? 302-227-8408. Thanks!
Jeff, yours is an impressive website. I need to pay more attention to mine, so I’ll have more visitors to my beautiful Hill Country ranchette. Anyhoo, I met you in Oaxaca in January before we boarded a flight to Houston. that was a great trip; wrote about it for Winging It but a guide got in before me. Heck! So, what’s your snailmail address, so I can send you a brochure(s)? Thanks for the list of birding blogs on your site. Great info. Susan Lynch