Mar 08 2010
The second of my photos that appears in the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America is one of the big ones, spanning two pages, a treatment afforded only 3 shots in each book. It appears across pages ii & iii.
But the photograph has to share space–lots of space–with two text boxes and [...]
Mar 04 2010
I’m beginning with the first of my bird photos that appears in the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America, hereafter simply, Eastern. It appears on page i.
Obviously, it’s a male Scarlet Tanager. It was photographed 19 May 2009 near Georgetown, DE. When I accepted the assignment to provide 30 photographs [...]
Mar 02 2010
A few days ago, something besides another foot of snow fetched up against our doorstep. Two big brown heavy boxes, all the way from Indianapolis.
Sure enough, they were the brand-new Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Western North America and the similarly titled but quite distinct, Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central [...]
Sep 14 2009
Congratulations to Andy Urquhart for his astonishing find of a European Golden-Plover (Pluvialis apricaria) just southeast of Smyrna, Delaware. The bird is hanging out in the fields at Wick’s Potato Farm, on the west side of Route 9, just south of the turnoff for Bombay Hook National Wildlife National Wildlife Refuge. Time to write is [...]
Apr 28 2009
I spent much of the last several days leading trips and hanging out at various events associated with the Delmarva Birding Weekend. Though I had a great time, I took virtually no pictures. When you’re leading a big group of people it’s darned near impossible, in my experience, to take any time out even for scenic [...]
Apr 23 2009
Ornate Flycatcher, Milpe, Ecuador
How often do you find the words cute and unmistakable in the same sentence with flycatcher? Bob Ridgeley combined them to capture much of what makes this bird special. My photo, unfortunately, only shows the ventral side of the bird. Add in the glowing yellow rump and rusty-based tail and you’ve got quite [...]
Feb 17 2009
Monday was an odd day. It was very uneven weather-wise, with off and on rain and lots of cloud cover, but also some tentative breaks of semi-sun. We spent most of the day in Weslaco, first visiting Estero Llano Grande State Park, then the Frontera Audubon Thicket. These refuges are newly accessible, having opened to [...]
Feb 09 2009
Few people like to be reminded of the practical aspects of mortality. When we encounter death, we like to do it in a church, funeral home or a similarly sanitized, perfumed setting. It’s easy to understand. So I’ll take no offense if you don’t want to look at this photo series. I promise you, though, [...]
Feb 04 2009
So many birderwatchers can name, without a moment’s hesitation, the bird that turned them into a birder, their encounter with it leaving them forever changed in a kind of ornithological epiphany, or birding conversion experience. Like converts of all sorts, the vast majority of birders delight in telling their personal story–the story of their spark bird.
I have [...]
Dec 20 2008
OK, here is where the American Ornithologist’s Union and I part company. They still officially consider the green, Red-bellied Woodpecker-sized woodpeckers that occur in Northeastern Mexico to be a distinctive subspecies of the Golden-Olive Woodpecker Colaptes rubiginosus, a wide-ranging neotropical species. They designate these birds as Colaptes r. aeruginosus, the “Bronze-winged Woodpecker.” I say–and this is hardly a [...]
