The signs at the Black Rock Sanctuary in Chester County, PA are fun and informative. This sign discusses bird beaks on one side and bird feet on the other. It is surrounded by a replica bird nest and overlooks a wetland area.Lisa and I have been exploring locally, something I have not done much of…

The humble beginnings of the PA YOUNG BIRDERS CLUB on March 21, 2009   It finally happened! Our first official meeting of the PA Young Birders Club! We had 12 total in attendance, 6 adults (including me) and six kids ages 7 – 14. This first meeting was an introduction to the club and the…

I was reminded this morning of how important it is to share nature with everyone you meet. There has been an ongoing discussion on the Birdchat Listserv community about the number of birders/birdwatchers in the USA. My opinion? Nearly everyone enjoys birds. From the old man in the park feeding the pigeons, to the backyard…

We spent a few hours this morning in the shadow of Tanzania’s two highest peaks Kilimanjaro and Meru, at about an elevation of 5 to 6000 feet. Juts outside our lodge we found a huge Hamerkop nest in a Yellow-barked Acacia and had Maasai Giraffes wandering about near the road. The tall dense forest is…

Before heading out the park to the Tanzanian border we worked our way along the Enkongo Narok Swamp (above) passed the Observation Hill to the Sinet Causeway. In the drier areas we came across Fischer’s Sparrow Lark’s and Red-capped Larks and a perfectly camouflaged Spotted Thick-knee (right) under a bush. We finally found a couple…

Birds are everywhere. From the frozen environs of Antarctica to the boiling Sahara Desert, birds can be found all over the world. The highest diversity of species are found in places like Colombia and Peru, places with mountains and coast, desert and forest. Pennsylvania has recorded over 300 species within its borders. Though 300 seems…

Dry as a bone is the only way to describe Amboseli Nature Park at the moment. We took the better of the two roads across the dry lake bed seeing a wonderful wide mirage that gave the impression it actually held water in it. Equally impressive were silhouettes of Maasai Giraffe, Elephants, Common Zebra and…

Today we made a loop through the southern Central Highlands to find 3 Kenyan endemics. beginning at the Wajee Nature Reserve (see early blog) we had good views of our first endemic, the Hinde’s Babbler as they moved through the lower section of the sanctuary. Walking up a narrow trail in the woods to look…

25,000 is a large number. However, it was less than one third the number of Snow Geese that were at the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area in Kleinfeltersville, PA the previous week. Over 80,000 Snow Geese covered the fields before our winter storm dropped around 5 inches of snow. Hiding the food from the geese,…

It was a beautiful morning for Brian and I to spend a wonderful 3 hours walking around the gently sloping thorn scrub hills of Siana Springs. There is a very small population of Magpie Shrikes that inhabit this area but with the vegetation being well grown it makes it very hard to scan to great…

Brian Finch and I headed down the road to the Mara in search of Karamoja Apalis, a species which he found here in Kenya 6 years ago. They are fond of low Whistling Thorn Acacia’s (left) and we spent the better part of 5 hours walking numerous tracts of habitat that had previously been seen…

At Lake Magadi there are only a handful of birds that one is likely to see in the salt ponds. Lesser Flamingos of course that feed on the algae and a few shorebirds along the fringes. The sought after species here is the small Chestnut-banded Plover (above) which only found here in East Africa from…