Hybrid Couch’s/Tropical Kingbird x Scissor-tailed Flycatcher plus a bonus Bullock’s Oriole!
Since we are up in New Hampshire for Thanksgiving Lauren diBiccari, Janel diBiccari, and I had the opportunity to chase after the stunning Couch’s/Tropical Kingbird x Scissor-tailed Flycatcher hybrid which has been very cooperatively hanging out at a WMA near the New Hampshire coast for 10 days now. The only other eBird record of this…
World Tourism Day
World Tourism Day celebrated every September 27, was established to create awareness of the impact of tourism within the international community. For many countries tourism plays a huge role in the economy, and it is no different in Africa where I have just returned from safaris to Uganda and Zambia. For the last 18 months…
Great White Heron Out-of-Bounds
Most birders love surprises, especially the kind that involve a rare bird in an unusual location! The Philadelphia birding community was certainly excited when a Great White Heron was found in the Manayunk Canal, on the western side of the city. This is actually a white morph of the ubiquitous Great Blue Heron, widespread throughout…
Flashing Mockingbird
One of my favorite local birding spots is a stretch of the Delaware River behind the Philadelphia Airport. From a clearing on the vegetated shoreline, I scan through an assortment of gulls, terns and shorebirds over the water. Upland birds enjoy the space, too. One day I was absorbed in watching a Northern Mockingbird that…
When a Gray Catbird isn’t Gray
A friend notified me that he had seen an odd looking bird in our neighborhood. I quickly drove the short distance to the location and soon found a partially leucistic, or more correctly pied (gray and white) Gray Catbird hanging about with a regular looking catbird – all gray with rusty undertail. It was certainly…
The Strange Shoebill
Rare and elusive, the inconceivable Shoebill is a bird to behold. The only member of it’s family, and found only in a handful of African wetlands, this giant-sized wader looks prehistoric. On our recent tour in Uganda, we found this odd-looking target bird with a humongous bill shaped like a clog, at Mabamba Swamp –…
Tracking Mountain Gorillas in Uganda
Tracking Mountains Gorillas in the mountains of southwest Uganda, in Bwindi Impenetrable Forest at Buhoma, was a major highlight of our recent tour. It was not an easy trek bushwacking through undergrowth in hilly terrain to reach the gorilla family, but spending time watching a silverback sitting down to eat leaves, then walking past within…
IN THE BACKYARD : Philadelphia – May
May is migration month in the Philadelphia area, and it was a pleasure to host a variety of warblers and other passerines in the backyard during their migratory journey. The month started with Black-and-white, Yellow-rumped, Black-throated Blue, Yellow, Blackpoll, and Black-throated Green Warblers, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat, and Ovenbird. On May 7th, I found 12…
eBird Tips & Tricks: Have checklists shared automatically!
Our birding tours are thoroughly documented through eBird checklists by our guides. It is our preference that guides share the official tour checklists with our guests, and eBird makes it super easy for checklists to be automatically added to your personal account by following the instructions below! Go to your My eBird page: https://ebird.org/myebird Find…
Red Knots on the Delaware Bayshore
May is a month when millions of shorebirds undertake a tremendous migratory journey, flying thousands of miles to breeding grounds in the Canadian tundra. Species like Semipalmated Sandpiper, Ruddy Turnstone, Sanderling, Short-billed Dowitcher, Dunlin, and Red Knot overwinter in South America, and wing their way north, stopping infrequently to rest and refuel along the Atlantic…
Marsh Magic at Dixon Meadow Preserve
Build it and they will come. This rings true at Dixon Meadow Preserve, Montgomery county PA, where 14 acres of lush fields and marshland habitat hosts a great variety of birds year-round. An elevated boardwalk loops through reeds, waterways and native-plant vegetation, providing interesting views all day long. On April 27, I received word of…
IN THE BACKYARD : Philadelphia late-April
The last two weeks of April highlight how spring has sprung in Philadelphia! Birds are on the move, with daily changes in occurrence and distribution. Winter migrants are moving out, while spring ones arrive, and breeders stake-out nesting spots. April 18 was our last sighting of Dark-eyed Junco in the backyard, though White-throated Sparrows linger,…