Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

Before I go any further, I should clarify the title. When I say, "a beginner's guide", I'm not implying that I came upon some ancient knowledge in a dusty attic or buried chest somewhere. Instead, I'm writing this post from the point of view of a beginner who only just recently got a chance to try digiscoping. And from what I experienced this past weekend, it was marvelous. For those not familiar with the activity, digiscoping is the combination of the words "digital" and "scope" and involves photographing or filming something through a scope or other high powered optical device that is farther away and allows for easier observation than a conventional camera could normally be able to take. This is especially useful for birders and other wildlife watchers as it gives them a chance to observe an animal from a distance and to avoid disturbing it in its natural habitat. I started practicing this new wildlife observation trick this weekend at m...

Memorial Day weekend has come and gone and I thought I'd share a quick update about some of my findings over the past week. I wanted to talk about plovers in particular. Why you might ask?  One reason is that they are ridiculously adorable. Another is that they are wonderfully talkative with their piping voices. Despite their notoriety and popularity with birders, shorebirds in particular are vulnerable to declines in population due to sharp declines in suitable migration stopover sites, food depletion, and in some cases, illegal hunting on their wintering grounds. Fortunately for us, many shorebirds species are still very common and the two birds I want to talk about in this posting are probably some of the more recognizable of the shorebirds (depending on where you live). They are the Killdeer ( Charadrius vociferus ) and the Piping Plover ( C. melodus ). I've talked about Piping Plovers on here before, but I don't think I've ever specifically focused on either my o...