Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

I'm back in Ohio this weekend and I'm so pleased to announce that my girlfriend, myself, and her colleagues have spotted the Bell's Vireo ( Vireo belli ) that have been frequenting Heritage Trail Metro Park in Hilliard. We called this male in using a playback call on our smartphones. It responded more or less immediately and posed for these photos. 332 down and 18 to go on my way to the 350 I want to have by the end of the year! Let's see what I can find this week ^_^.

This weekend was one of the most successful and amazing birding experiences I've had in ages. I saw seven life birds, spend an inspiring and adoring, yet inappropriately limited amount of time with my love (it'll be longer in July, I promise!), and met one of America's best birders, Kenn Kaufman. The warblers alone were amazing, but what touched me the most was the variety of birders present. Young and old, big and small. Beginners with Peterson's and Sibley Guides and enthusiasts with enormous telephoto lenses! Huge crowds gathered to see feathered migratory miracles like Blackburnian ( Setophaga fusca ), Wilson's ( Cardellina pusilla ), and Chestnut-sided Warblers ( S. pensylvanica ) (all life birds for me by the way) and there was an overall appreciation of the wonders of bird life in the spring time. What a marvelous weekend indeed and I only hope that I can get back there as fast as possible to experience it all again.  Rose-breasted Grosbeak ( Pheucticus lu...

While my parent's were visiting me this weekend, the subject turned to the sickle-winged birds that skate over the pond on thin air, twittering as they go. I am of course referring to Tree Swallows ( Tachycineta bicolor ), one of the earliest swallows to return to the Eastern Seaboard come March and April. This came up again after I pointed out some Chimney Swifts ( Chaetura pelagica ) shooting around in the skies above Labertville, NJ. I remember my dad asking, "What is the difference between swifts, swallows, and martins then?" It was an appropriate question. They look fairly similar and can be mistaken for one another if the viewer is inexperienced. Swallows and martins are a diversely colored family of 83 species that range over much of the globe. The most common is the circumpolar Barn Swallow ( Hirundo rustica ) that nests over much of the Northern Hemisphere and likewise winters over much of the Southern Hemisphere. Generally the name "swallow" is ...

The Ringed Gimpy ( Pisa towerii ) is a pigeon like bird whose only movement involves wandering aimlessly in circles on both sides of the continent.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the work of John Sill, he is the author of a trilogy of humorous bird books with the first being titled "Seldom Seen and Little Known Birds of North America". As the title suggests, I am experiencing the same annoyance as one of the fictionalized birds faces in the book. The Ringed Gimpy is a pigeon-like bird with a ring around its neck and one leg that's shorter than the other. As a result it very subtly lists to one direction or another depending on sex (males have a different short leg to the females). The reason I'm bringing this up is because of my own leg problems. For the past month, I've been limping with varying severity due to a stiff knee with an unknown cause. As a result, I've become crippled during the worst time possible. I've been hyped about the p...