Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

Short second entry this week. I'm always up for a challenge when it comes to birding. Species identification, habitat recognition, and song memorization are all tools of the trade in the science and challenge of birding. This coming year, I'm going for the big 4-0-0. That's right! I made it to 300 in October and with some luck, a lot more of them warblers, and a few good rarities. I spent much of this afternoon compiling a list the likely species I would need to see in order to reach the goal. Thanks to many of the winter finches that have arrived in recent months have helped to pad my life list a little further. I'm now up to 313 and can't wait to get started on this new challenge! I'm also planning a year list starting on the 1st with the first species I see in the new year and throughout. It'll be interesting if I can find many of the new species that I was able to find for my goal this past year. That's all I really wanted to say. Have a fantastic

Merry Christmas to all and I have a piece of holiday cheer that's in the form of the next match up of the Babe Ruth of Ornithology! This weeks challengers are the father of Indian ornithology, Salim Ali and the king of imprinting Konrad Lorenz. Let's get ready to RUMBLE!! Rocking the thick rims since 20th century began. Salim Ali (1896-1987) is widely regarded as the father of modern Indian ornithology and is well respected in the the scientific communities of Asia and most the Old World. While less well known in the Americas, his work identifying species throughout his native India made him well known for rediscovering rare species. Most famous for his bird surveys, the man also saved and vouched for two national parks and the Bombay Natural History Society so that they could continue with conservation efforts for the whole country to enjoy. Ali started collecting birds as a child after being encouraged to start a collection by W.S. Millard, an English naturalist based i

It's been another long year here on planet Earth. I've seen and heard a lot of things, but today this post is dedicated to the birds that made it all possible. After starting this blog midway through the summer, I really didn't know where I was going with it or what would become of it several months down the road. However, I think it's because of my blogs that I'm able to share my thoughts and feelings  on what matters to me most. So without further adieu, I would like to list those birds that made it possible for me to reach my goal of 300 species (and beyond) on my life list this year. For brevity I'll list the top ten birds of the year, where I saw them, and what that sighting meant to me. 1. Painted Bunting ( Passerina ciris ): Seen on the 16th of March at the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples, FL. I saw a male at a feeder along one of the main trails. A crowd of people gathered around this rainbow bird and took pictures quietly as it fed on the seed a

It's time for the next round in the Babe Ruth of Ornithology. For those of you who are wondering, this will carry over into the new year because what use would a tournament be if it stopped at the end of December?! Anyway, this weeks challengers are, the Messiah of birding himself, Roger Tory Peterson and one of the most successful women naturalists in American history, Florence Augusta Merriam Bailey! Let the battle commence! "Feed the birds. Tuppence a bag. Tuppence, tuppence, tuppence a bag..." Roger Tory Peterson (1908-1996) is regarded by many in the American birding community as being the greatest birder that ever lived. People can try to imitate him, but the man staked his claim on the work of other greats in the field of ornithology to provide an easily understood platform with which beginners, experts, and everyone in between could utilize in order to properly identify birds in the field. He got his inspiration to create his own field guide after repeated

You've probably heard about them and thought one of two things. More likely you thought the former and assumed that all those new species that have become established in America in the past few decades could feasibly fill niches left open by others, but it seems doubtful or you can think like me and see the spread of a particular species as a second coming if you will. I'm referring to the spread of the Monk Parakeet ( Myiopsitta monachus ) throughout the eastern United States and becoming the replacement species for the Carolina Parakeet ( Conuropsis carolinensis ). While I'm certain it probably won't fill the same niche eating the cockleburs that the Carolinas consumed, it certainly has the potential to spread far and wide. The extinction of the Passenger Pigeon ( Ectopistes migratorius ) certainly has left a gap in the American ecological histories of the country, but could another introduced species like the Eurasian Collared-Dove ( Streptopelia decaocto ) replace i

This weeks edition of Babe Ruth of Ornithology is the wild card of Charles Darwin and William Brewster. Lets get this started! This isn't even my final form... Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is considered a saint in science history. It can easily be argued that the man has the most recognized name in science and is idolized by lovers of geekery and biology the world over. His theory of evolution has stood the test of time (and attacks from creationists who we really just wish would go away) and is still the basis for how sexual selection plays the most vital role in determining the ultimate survivor in the constantly shifting environs of the world. His work with birds is almost universal as "Darwin's finches" are the most recognizable pieces of evidence when it comes to support for the theory of evolution. The finches that were examined were later determined to be members of the Geospizinae subfamily and it's still unclear even to this day, as to which group of

They're hard to miss at this time of year. They stream in like blackened snowflakes from the skies above, their forms resembling the sleekest of fighter jets, while remaining in a tight, undulating flock with a flight path about as predictable as the course of water over new ground. I am, of course, referring to the European Starling ( Sturnus vulgaris ) that flock together when the winter months beckon and swear to freeze every single bird to their perch! I see them a lot these days when I'm sitting at work and on the way to and from many a town nearby, but their ubiquitous nature and presence in our modern America doesn't mean they were always here or should have been in the first place. Thanks to a man named Eugene Schieffelin and several other members of a band of European Shakespeare aficionados, the dream of bringing a bird mentioned once in King Henry IV, Pt. 1 as well as all the other birds associated with his exemplary works. As such we, the people, have to suffe

Round three of the Babe Ruth of Ornithology starts off this week with Alexander Wilson vs. Edward Howe Forbush. I hesitate to guess who'll win this round (but not really) Lets do this!! More birds named after him than Audubon could shake a boom stick at! Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) can easily be called the father of American Ornithology. After moving to America with his nephew in 1794, legend has it that the first bird he saw when he was in the New World was a Red-headed Woodpecker ( Melanerpes erythrocephalus ). While he always had a touch of intrigue towards the natural world, it was a famous naturalist named William Bartram, that gave him a passion for ornithology. It is Wilson that, more so than Audubon himself, has had more associated with him with regards to birds than any other American ornithological figure. As the aforementioned father of ornithology in America, his name is remembered with such species as Wilson's Storm-Petrel ( Oceanites oceanicus ), Wilson'

While on a stroll the other day, I came upon one of nature's crime scenes that one glimpses every once in a while. It was absolute carnage with the only visible signs of what the prey originally was, were by its ragged and forlorn wings and a single, severed leg. I knew instantly that I'd come across several carcasses of feral pigeons* which were strewn and shredded all over the grass near where I work. While I was examining the carcasses, a guy in a pickup pulled up and shouted, "Boy! Someone was hungry!" *I don't called them "Rock Pigeons" because they have become mutts after interbreeding with domestic birds and don't carry the traditional colors of their species any more. The only "true" ones of their kind can be found in the more wild areas of the world where their stock hasn't been corrupted by the influence of other breeds "Yeah, I guess so." I was a bit startled and hadn't noticed the truck pul

It's time for round 2 in the search for the Babe Ruth of Ornithology! This weeks contestants are Charles Lucien Bonaparte and Elliott Coues! The format will be the same as last weeks with a brief blurb about each contestants background and achievements and a summary of each of the positive and negative contributions they gave to ornithology. So without further adieu, here are this weeks contestants: As the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte, he conquered the birds of the North American continent, not for glory, but instead for science! Charles Lucien Bonaparte (1803-1857) was the nephew of the Corsican-born ruler of France that everyone knows from history class, but this isn't his story. This Bonaparte was one of the most gifted, foreign-born ornithologists that ever graced America's shores and his work helped to cement him into the annals of ornithological history. Even before arriving the U.S., he discovered a new species of Old World warbler and upon arrival in the New Wo

In what would normally be another life bird for me, I felt not only the usual bubbling of excitement followed by the normalizing of the experience into the sure feeling that I knew what it was I was identifying. Last weekend when I saw my first Harlequin Ducks ( Histrionicus histrionicus ), Red Crossbills ( Loxia curvirostra ), and Horned Grebes ( Podiceps auritus ) I felt these very emotions, but they've faded slightly as I remember them now. Today was different though. As the title suggests I saw a bird that I've held in high esteem since I was a boy of ten. As I gleaned through a copy of "Duck Hunting" by Dick Sternberg and Jeff Simpson, I looked over the species accounts and absorbed much of the information I know today from them. One bird always stood out to me however because it looked like the most exquisite dandy of the whole lot. The Long-tailed Duck ( Clangula hyemalis ), or Oldsquaw, as it was formerly know, with the male's large white crown and nape,

As promised last week, I will start the competition known as the Babe Ruth of Ornithology, the tournament designed to weed out the best contributor to ornithological history and practice in the modern era. The first round competitors this week are John James Audubon and Sir Peter Scott. Both greats in within their own time, they pioneered completely different campaigns for bird awareness with Scott focusing solely on waterfowl (and by extension wetlands as well) and Audubon being known for painting a good majority of the bird species found in North America. Below are two brief bios on both contestants which I will tabulate into which has more good points than the other. Any undesirable features that might be looked down upon by today's birding public will garner negative pointage. Thus, those with more good points (worth one point each) will win the round and move on. If however, there is a tie, I will institute a random sudden death challenge which will vary dependent on circums

I know most people see them as walking, swimming, and flying terrors out to steal your chips and ice cream, but I like gulls for two reasons. One reason is that their almost ubiquitous presence along our shores seems almost miraculous today because of the ways they were nearly eradicated up to 150 years ago. The adults were hunted for their feathers and wings to adorn the hats of fashionable society ladies in the mid to late 1800s, while the eggs were collected from their offshore colonies for fine diners in New York, Boston, and Pittsburgh. Thankfully the slaughter was stopped by the Audubon Society and other concerned citizens and today they are one of our most ubiquitous citizens along our shores, lakes, and beaches. The second reason I have taken a shine to them is that because of their common presence around the parking lot where I now sit (and wait for hunters to hopefully come in and allow me to survey them on their success at hunting Oldsquaws. Yeah birding community, I just we

In the summer of 2010, I came up with a list of ornithologists (mostly American with a few Brits and other folk) and pitted them together in a March Madness style birding bracket that would determine who is the greatest ornithologist of all time. To keep with consistency this time around, my rules are as follows: 1. They have to be deceased. Clears up a lot of space including living people today like Kaufmann and Sibley that have still the rest of their lives to contribute further. So yeah, you have to be dead. 2. Any country is good, but mostly Americans will be listed as they are the most well know to me. 3. Has to have made a significant contribution to ornithology (revolutionized field birding, improved bird identification, improved methods etc.) Short rules indeed. So here's the list of candidates: 1. Salim Ali 2. Elliot Coues 3. Alexander Wilson 4. Charles Lucien Bonaparte 5. John James Audubon 6. John Gould 7. Charles Darwin 8. William Brewster 9. Ludlow Gris

There are those books that some of us have in our bookshelves that are from times gone by. For myself, one such book is a volume called "Bird-World" by J.H. Stickney with contributions by Ralph Hoffman written in 1898 (did I mention I love old books?) as a children's book for learning the very basics of bird identification and ornithology. The first story illustrates the core of 19th century romantic nature stories. The animals have humanistic characteristics and feelings that are conveyed through mannerisms, voice, color, size, or just about any other feature that the bird may possess. While I concede that being a children's book, some of the work is dumbed down in order to promote interest and understanding, but it would be equally valid to provide a platform that is educational, fun, and scientifically accurate towards the subject at hand. But that's just my opinion. Overall it's a cute summary of the life cycle of the American Goldfinch ( Spinus tr