Every birder should visit Machias Seal Island at least once. (The author has been eight times.). This is one of the very few breeding colonies where visitors are allowed to land on the island and get close to the birds. What Do You See? You can observe at very close range breeding: Atlantic Puffin, Razorbill, … Read more
All of the names in this list may be used by birders who wish to display their knowledge, although it is probably linguistically inaccurate (and it is bad manners) to interrupt someone who refers to “a flock of swans” by saying, “Surely you mean a whiteness of swans.” The names are still fun to know … Read more
The Challenge Wind power has the ability to be a green, bird-friendly form of power generation, but it can also adversely affect birds. In 2009, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service estimated that 440,000 birds per year were killed by U.S. wind turbines, and included this figure in the agency’s 2013 budget request to Congress. … Read more
Welcome to our article about North American migration flyways! We’ll get into specific routes a bit further below, but first, an introduction. North American Migration Flyways – Introduction There are many routes that migratory birds follow, and although some of them are pretty simple, some of them are extremely complicated and hard to trace. Many … Read more
What was that noise? There it goes again! Is someone beating on a plastic trash can lid? I am often asked, “Do you know what makes this sound?”. Then the person asking the question starts to hoot, cluck, chirp, or squeak. I try to pick up the cadence of the sounds and run through the … Read more