Nature Note: A Naturalist's Travels Through Nature

As with Friday, the weekend would prove to be some of the most productive time we spent both birding and networking within our rich community of birders, naturalists, and other lovers of nature observation and appreciation. Saturday was a whirlwind of warbler watching with several wonderful life birds thrown in for good measure. We started as we had the day before, rolling up in the car and into Magee Marsh. Before arriving on the boardwalk, Alison and I watched the optics tent slide past our windows. "I think it's time I bought a scope", I said as I gazed longingly at the rows and rows of tripods. "Well, we could do that now or come back later", Alison replied, smiling. "Later. I want to see if we can find more birds", I answered. "Ok", she said. After parking up, we noticed a huge exodus of cars from the parking lot. We are, in a sense, not the most timely of birders. Most birders are "larks", arriving at dawn or in th...

Something has been lurking in North Jersey this winter. An unfamiliar species with dark plumage, silver wings, and pink feet! For two days in a row, I got to see this European species in all its rare, code 4 glory. In case you're confused, a Pink-footed Goose ( Anser brachyrhynchus ) (of Big Year movie fame) has been spotted wintering in the fields and marshes of North Jersey. This ABA code 4 (the American Birding Association code 4 designation indicates a casual visitor to a given region meaning that while they've occurred in the general area before, but the likelihood of it occurring year after year is extremely unlikely) was an excellent addition to my life list. The inclusion of a quality zoom on a good camera made documenting this species a delight! After reading reports from a day earlier (March 21st), I decided to check out Assiscong Marsh in Flemington, New Jersey where it had been spotted most recently. It's always a rush to see such rarities in the wild, bu...

Uh dude....? A little to your left... So as I've mentioned before, I will be year listing this year. I have no set region or state for this so it's more a challenge for me to see how many species I can compile. I must correct people though. It isn't a big year. Unlike the immensely popular film of yesteryear (based on the much better book, as usual), I won't be jet setting around the country to see as many species as humanly possible. I'm not that crazy, nor am I rich. But what's that I hear you say? Kenn Kaufman did his big year for around $1000 and saw just over 660 species! That's true, but he also hitchhiked most of the way and ate cat food at some point. And if eating cat food is a selling point to a birding trip, you're barking up the wrong tree. Besides, I only wanted to announce that I'd recently seen my 100th bird of the year and it isn't even the end of the month either! It was a small group of Common Goldeneye ( Bucephala clangul...

I've made a goal for myself. A birding goal of course. I've made it my business for the last few months to reach 300 bird species on my life list. What I've learned so far is that: 1. Birding by how many you've seen and how many you've yet to see can be maddening, time-consuming, and yet extraordinarily good fun. 2. Rare birds are often more trouble than they're worth. And 3. While the pursuit of the goal is often the main driver, just the shear enjoyment of the task makes it all worthwhile. This isn't one of those projects started in the new year as a resolution and slowly forgotten over the ensuing months. This was a journey born from the books I brought on vacation to Florida this March. One was based on the musings of an English teacher from Chapel Hill, North Carolina entitled "The Verb "To Bird"" I'm not sure where I got this book, but I go back to it from time to time to read a certain section (the anecdote about the Turkey V...