Some ‘southern’ species have naturally expanded their range northwards. The increase in backyard feeding stations surely has something to do with this expansion as it has made it easier for some species to survive the winters, but on the other hand could global warming be the primary reason?Though there were rare reports of Red-bellied Woodpeckers…

Today I got to watch a wonderful encounter between an immature Cooper’s Hawk and a Gray Squirrel. There were two squirrels, doing what squirrels do, rummaging about on the grass when I caught sight of a Cooper’s Hawk flying into a nearby tree. The squirrels saw the same thing and froze. Sitting on a branch…

It may still be the dead of winter, but when today’s temperatures crawled into the 50’s and the snow began to melt, a warbler I came across got me thinking several months ahead. It will not be long before spring is here and we get to see our spectacular wood warblers once again in bright…

With a solid covering of snow on the ground it is not surprising that so many birds coming to backyard feeding stations at the moment. White-throated Sparrows are a common sight in winter hopping about the ground below our feeders helping themselves to small round pale millet seeds. Some of them are very striking with…

Collared Aracari -photographed from the breakfast table at Black Rock Lodge. Today I had the opportunity to go Birding with Elvis. We hiked forested trails around Black Rock Lodge in the Cayo District of western Belize. The lodge sits on a mountain side overlooking the scenic Macal River, where from the veranda as we ate…

Yet another irruptive boreal species has shown up this winter, the Pine Siskin. It is a small seed eating boreal finch that breeds mainly in coniferous forests across southern Canada and throughout the upper elevations of the Rocky Mountains and Pacific Northwest. Undoubtedly this southward movement along with White-winged Crossbills this winter is related to…

While out walking this morning I came across a puddle of feathers (right) laying near a large pine tree in someone’s front yard. A pile of off white breast feathers mixed with long outer tail feathers with large white tips identified the victim as a Mourning Dove, a rather common suburban species. The perpetrator was…

Since I mentioned in an earlier blog that the European Starling was introduced I thought I would go a step further and talk about a few others that are commonly found. While there are many exotic avian species that have made their way one way or another to our shores, I am limiting this to…

I spent this morning back at Roosevelt Park looking at the waterfowl on the largest of their lakes. While this is freshwater it does attract its fair share of sea ducks which is why we often find a nice mix of both dabbling and diving ducks here. Ducks are sexually dimorphic meaning that there is…

We have all seen ducks in ponds with their butts in the air. The chances are that they were Mallards, easily identified by their curly-q tails, whom along with Black Ducks, Pintails, American Wigeon, Shoveler and teal are surface feeders. This group of ducks are known as dabbling ducks, feeding on aquatic plants and insects…

The new Crooked Tree Lodge — photo taken from the dock on the lagoon. A cold front is moving through northern Belize right now. The high is 75° F today. I am enjoying a day off before the group arrives on Sunday, relaxing on the deck. A little bit of birding this morning turned up…

The much maligned European Starling was introduced to Central Park, New York City in 1890, as part of The American Acclimatization Societies goal of establishing in the United States every species mentioned in Shakespeare’s works! This may not come as a complete shock, but by the mid-1920’s it was one of our most abundant birds!…