Yesterday was a special day of banding at Rushton Farm.  The mist nets have been closed for a while, but instead, we got to witness the tagging of two juvenile Turkey Vultures! The adventure began in early May during the spring passerine banding sessions, when Turkey Vultures were consistently seen perched not far from the…

Thistle Today I had the field trip with my Main Line School Night Nature Photography class. I had planned to shoot only with my new Sigma 150/2.8 macro lens… which I guess, technically, I did. However, I only took a couple of photos as the rest of the time was spent helping students. If you have…

This morning I explored the Unami Creek near Green Lane, PA. It was a beautiful morning with sun and clouds and a light breeze. The temperature was perfect and the setting wonderful. I took the opportunity to play with more HDR images. HDR is fun, and the more I practice with the art, the more I…

Late morning does not offer the best light, but we certainly got some great puffins! They were all out and getting ready to set off for feeding! We found a few rafts of Atlantic Puffins mixed with Razorbills. Large rafts of Black Guillemots drifted by, feeding silently for the most par, until we moved the…

Chestnut-sided Warbler The weather for our trip began with a bit of fog that burned off early revealing a beautiful day. We spent it on land, or at least some of us did. One couple in our group were pilots… both helicopter and fixed-wing. They decided to hire a helicopter (a vintage Bell with the…

Atlantic Puffins Our Puffin Journey is now half over, sadly, but we have seen many great puffins, eiders, terns and razorbills! The weather began as sunny and calm and we had a couple wonderful days at Seal Island. However, then the wind kicked up and we moved back toward the mainland. After a stormy night…

Canon 7D w/Sigma 18-250 • ISO 100 • 4 seconds @ f/16 HDR photography is a fun tool for nature photographers. The image above was a combination of three images at 1-stop exposure intervals. The greens were incredibly vivid in real life and did not need any other ‘enhancement’ so the HDR was used to…

As we walked through the forest during our Waterfall Photo Workshop we came across some wonderful fungus growing on a moss-covered fallen hemlock tree. As we photographed I noticed movement on one of the orange-colored masses.  Two large (over an inch long), black and orange beetles appeared to be munching away on the fungus. I…

I love my iPhone and all its great Apps. I use iBird Explorer and the Audubon guides, among others, on a regular basis. Birding guides of the paper variety will not be disappearing anytime soon, and they are the best tool for doing comparisons of species, as most of the current apps show only one…

We will be in our new house two weeks as of tomorrow and it is exciting to watch our yard as new surprises are revealed. My yard bird list now stands at 43! I added Blackpoll Warblers today and the Gray Catbirds arrived a few days ago, just after seeing my first Brown Thrasher in…

Scarlet Tanager We have now had 27 species from our new yard! On Monday Lisa and I bought a new house in Yardley, PA, and on two short mornings (about 15 minutes of ‘birding’ each) I totaled 26 species from our yard. Monday morning, when we arrived for our final walk-through before closing, I got…

PA Young Birders guided 15 kids this morning in a successful introduction to birding program at Rushton Farms in Chester County. Kiera, who is working towards achieving her Eagle Scout, taught an outstanding lesson on bird migration to the enthusiastic group. Employing a “connect the dots” strategy on maps, the kids plotted migration routes of various…