Another year has elapsed at the usual rate, and now it draws to a close. Time for me to tally up the year’s sightings. My goals for the year were to be in the Top Ten eBird users in my county, and to attempt to take a good photo of each species. I ended up … Read more
Callan is currently at sea aboard the research vessel Thomas G. Thompson, crossing the North Pacific Ocean from Seattle to Honolulu. In this post, he explores a fascinating aspect of life on the high seas: there is shockingly little life! Explore the scant copepods and albatrosses and reflect on life in the oligotrophic open ocean.
Oops – July slipped by without a monthly bird update! Maybe that’s not the end of the world – I spent much of the month in Montana, and only tacked a few new species onto my county list – a Swallow-tailed kite, a Northern bobwhite, and a Great egret (photo above, 2nd column in the … Read more
Click to enlarge A brief update here, since it’s getting close to the end of the month. I’ve added a half dozen species to my county list since I last reported out to you all. I’m up to 151 for the county for the year. This means that I’m still ranked in the top ten, … Read more
Click to enlarge Greetings friends … It’s been slow around the blog for some time now, and partly that’s due to being very busy with the spring semester, and partly due to a lack of inspiration. But I have been inspired to keep birding, and now that the books are closed on the semester, I … Read more
Click to enlarge Another month gone by… and spring migration is cranking along! I’m up to a 111 species in my county for the year so far. Migration is cranking right now, and there are lots of new species arriving each day (or just passing through en route to higher latitudes). I haven’t been making … Read more
Click to enlarge February has zipped by, but then again it’s a short month. I’ve continued birding intensively this month, so I’ll provide another update like I did last month. I’ve racked up 71 species this month, and pushed my 2023 total up to 77 (from January’s ending total of 66). The past few days … Read more
Click to enlarge Well, we are two-thirds of the way through January now, and I thought I might give an update about my birding. Usually I only do this once annually, but I’ve been diving deeper into the practice this year, and so I thought I would share a few thoughts. Maybe I’ll do this … Read more
Click to enlarge It’s an annual tradition here on New Year’s Day to share my “yard list” for the previous year. This is a list of all the birds I’ve seen in my yard over the course of one calendar year, in chronological order. Last year’s list had 87 species. This year, I spent a … Read more
Reader Nancy Weidman (who supplied the Wind River boudinaged basaltic dike images from earlier in the week) sent me this interesting note: Your ichnoanalogue post reminds me of the insect or pillbug tracks I found in Mt. St. Helens ash deposited in Missoula, Montana. At least some of the tracks, if I recall correctly, ended … Read more