Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

There are a lot of interesting things people have chosen to write about in this world. Some focus on the politics and problems of the world at large, while others write about their pet hobbies and ideas. I have chosen to write about an obsession of mine which is as large and varied as the world it encompasses. Those of you that visit regularly (despite the slow updates) know that the subject this blog covers is all things nature.  But why nature?  It seems like a simple question, but really it can be answered in so many ways. I will never know what precisely perked my interest in nature to start with. Maybe it was the day I watched a blackbird play over the garden hedge in Wales as a young boy, or the first time I ran terrified from my fishing rod when I caught my first ever Bluegill ( Lepomis macrochirus ). Perhaps it was the first time I canoed with my family down the Sudbury River taking in the smell of the water, the Red-winged Blackbirds ( Agelaius phoenicus ...

Over the past few weeks, I've been keeping track of new birds arriving on the property where I work and was delighted when the Wood Thrushes ( Hylocichla mustelina ) had returned early this month. As I walked through the woods, along a boardwalk that straddled the wet woods near my accommodations, I heard the rapid "pit-pit" calls of an alarmed bird and looked up to find a male Wood Thrush in full song. As I write this, I wanted to create another basic guide to recognizing similar looking birds after seeing the popularity and success of " On the Wing #69: Swallow, Swift, or Martin? ". After birding in the Sourlands near Hopewell, NJ today and seeing several species of thrushes, I think I've come upon the ideal topic. At this time of year, you are most likely to come across three species of thrush: the ubiquitous American Robin ( Turdus migratorius ), the aforementioned Wood Thrush, and the migrant Swainson's Thrush ( Catharus ustulatus ). The shyer Vee...