Ann Hannon, from San Diego Audubon Society, and I are on the shores of Lake Erie in the Northwestern region of Ohio, for The Biggest Week in American Birding.This is an event hosted by Black Swamp Bird Observatory, from May 7-16, that is centered around Magee Marsh, Crane Creek and Ottawa NWR, in what is billed as the Warbler…

A few Southern Fulmars offered good views as we crossed the Drake Passage Crossing the Drake Passage takes about two days, depending on the weather. ‘The Drake’ has a wide-spread reputation… and not a good one for those who get seasick. However, its reputation for great birding far outweighs anything else and is well worth…

Happy Mother’s Day…….and to the raptors as well! I thought you would be interested in seeing a new (busy) mother and her demanding offspring, as well as getting updates to several others we have been following in the world of raptors. On the Rachel Carson State Office Building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, following about 5 weeks…

View from the ship looking back toward Ushuaia. If you remember from my previous Antarctica post in April, we had some difficulty getting Ushuaia, the city at the end of the world and our jumping-off point for Antarctica. We arrived a day late and with no luggage. So instead of our planned birding excursions we…

This morning I was awakened by the plaintive tse-tse-tse-tse-tse of a Blackpoll warbler high in the maple trees in my front yard — after a clear night, on which migrants most likely moved in large numbers. Last year was the first time I had heard or seen a Blackpoll in my suburban yard, so I…

Our last morning was spent looking for any Caribbean strays that could have around the Miami area. We began at Matheson Hammock Park (above) in the beautiful Coral Gables section with a walk though the West Indian hardwood trail, which was eerily quiet. Other than a Cardinal there was not one migrant! Once the trail…

In the early hours of the morning the winds picked up and what had begun as a calm night slowly became more rocky. There was another wonderful orange glow over the tern colony as the sun rose. Shortly after daybreak we took the zodiac into Garden Key for a final check of the fort. Art…

Following breakfast we ventured to Loggerhead Key as the sun rose over Fort Jefferson (above). Dropping anchor on the lee side of this elongated coral island we took the zodiac (above) onto the island dodging the coral reefs along the way. A Ghost Crab (above) was the first to greet us followed by a bathing…

It certainly was an interesting start to our journey out of Key West to the Dry Tortugas. We had hardly gotten out of the harbor, aboard the 63 foot “Tiburon” (above), when we had to change course as the seas were too rough. The winds had picked up from the south and for the first…

As a complete contrast to the days that we have been having today was overcast with lower temperatures yet slightly more humid. By day’s end we had driven the “Overseas Highway” for 106 miles down the Keys and were hearing and watching an Antillean Nighthawk at dusk in Key West in a light drizzle. We…

It was the conservationist Marjory Stoneman Douglas in the 1940’s that coined the phrase “River of Grass” to describe the unique Everglades ecosystem. The dominant visible feature is certainly the endless golden sawgrass that blankets this National Park, yet it is rain water that is critical to the survival of the Everglades. For 38 miles…

First up this morning as we headed south towards the Keys, was a stop for Cuban Golden Warbler (above), the resident race of Yellow Warbler that lives amongst the mangroves in the Upper Keys. One was soon heard and found flitting about the mangrove lined roadside. Set between the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park…