Birding News #2

:: Homeowners in Midwest City, Oklahoma, are not pleased by an egret rookery near their houses, and want the nests and egrets removed!

:: A great article in the New York Times travel section about Minnesota’s Festival of Birds at Sax-Zim Bog coming up February 15th-17th. More festival information is here.

:: Chimney Swift numbers are declining and scientists are looking for answers in a chimney that hasn’t had swifts nesting in it for 21 years

:: The Tufted Puffin has its own 2013 postage stamp

:: The endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers are arriving on their wintering grounds in China, and are being illegally trapped, not good news for one of the world’s rarest species

:: Could the viral video of an eagle grabbing a baby be the cause of an increase in shooting of eagles and hawks? The eagle is fake if you don’t yet know; the video was created by students at a Montreal animation school. If you haven’t seen it yet (more than 4.5 million people have seen it on YouTube), here’s the video,

Great posts in birding blogs this week:

:: From Mia at On the Wing Photography: How to compare Black-crowned and Yellow-crowned Night Herons

:: From Sharon Stiteler, beat writer at 10,000 Birds: How To Choose A Digiscoping Camera. Sharon, aka Birdchick, has her own blog here.

:: From The American Birding Association blog: A discussion about whether Common and Hoary Redpolls are distinguishable in the field

:: From The Into the Air blog: 6 Simple Homemade Bird Suet Recipes

Snow Goose Chase & Young Naturalists’ Corner

This post is a sticky until the end of April 2013, to promote the 2013 Snow Goose Chase organized by the Edmonton Nature Club and the town of Tofield, Alberta.

The 14th annual Snow Goose Chase will be Saturday, April 27, and Sunday, April 28, 2013, in the Tofield/Beaverhill Lake area, east of Edmonton.

New to the Snow Goose Chase will be the Young Naturalists’ Corner, with information for kids and their families. Are you interested in nature, want to explore the great outdoors, and learn more about the environment? Do you want to meet other kids who like nature, animals, rocks, and planets? Come visit us at the Young Naturalists’ Corner at the Snow Goose Chase on Saturday, April 27!

14th Annual Snow Goose Chase, Tofield Alberta, April 27, 2013

For more information, visit the Snow Goose Chase page at the top of my blog. See you there!

Birding News #1

There is a lot of recent birding news, and I thought I would post some. And also make it a weekly feature, if possible.

:: The American Birding Association has launched “Listing Central“, a site for ABA members to enter “Big Day” as well as county, province, or state lists.

:: From a Citrine Wagtail in Vancouver to the Bramblings sightings in Victoria/Vancouver/BC interior, British Columbia is the place to be now for rare birds. The latest sighting is a Red-flanked Bluetail in southeast Vancouver. The Red-flanked Bluetail is an Old World Flycatcher, and if the sighting is accepted, it would be the first Bluetail record for Canada.

:: The Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Black Swamp Bird Observatory in Ohio have co-ordinated to create the new Young Birders Network, to help young birders connect in person and through social media, to learn about birding opportunities, and help start young birders clubs around the country. There’s a Facebook page too which should become  a great place  for young birders to get and stay connected.

:: The oldest known Northern Shrike in North America has been spotted on her winter territory near Ashland, Wisconsin. She is believed to be at least eight-and-a-half years old, and was first banded on March 16, 2006.

:: The winners of the Great Backyard Bird Count photo contest have just been announced, and the first place photo is by Ben Thomas of Georgia. The beautiful photo is of a Cedar Waxwing and it’s a well-deserved first place; you can see the photo at the previous link.

:: More on the young birder front: the American Birding Association has announced its 2013 Young Birder Summer Camps. On a side note, I’m going to have a post up shortly at the ABA’s Eyrie blog on camp and workshop plans for young naturalists. I’ll post a link when it’s up.

Feathers on Friday

A male Hairy Woodpecker in our woods,

Bird Canada is Now a Multi-Author Blog

I’m very excited to be writing for the new Canadian multi-author bird blog, Bird Canada! My monthly post is up today about Canadian art legend, Kenojuak Ashevak, who died earlier this week.

I’ll be posting every month on or around the 10th. Thanks to Pat Bumstead for asking me to participate. See you there!

Kenojuak Ashevak’s artwork, the “Enchanted Owl”,

And the 2013 ABA Bird of The Year Is…

The Common Nighthawk!

Yesterday morning, the 2013 Bird of the Year was announced by Robert Mortensen for the American Birding Association. To read more about the Common Nighthawk visit the ABA Bird of the Year page.

The Common Nighthawk artwork is by Andrew Guttenberg and will be featured on the January cover of Birding magazine.

Show your support of the Common Nighthawk by putting the badge on your blog or website. You can get the badge on the Bird of the Year page here,

Here is a very fun video of the big reveal of the Common Nighthawk,