I was sitting in the back of the conference room with my laptop plugged into the wall, when a young woman put her camera down next to me and sat down. We exchanged smiles and idle conversation. I asked her how she was enjoying BlogHer and she told me about her project. When she asked [...]
Out of the corner of my eye, I happened to see the flash of white on wings. Tracking the bird to a tree, I saw it stash an acorn in a tiny acorn-sized hole. I walked around the tree looking it up and down. The whole tree was a pantry full of carefully stored food. Acorn Woodpeckers [...]
What the? I slammed on the brakes and swerved onto the shoulder of the road. I had seen the oddest hawk on a wire. It had a huge eye and gray head. We watched it as it watched us. We couldn’t figure it out. Big eye, no huge eye, gray head, look at the crest blowing [...]
Currently in between business conferences, I am loafing in Napa Valley. Unable to find a bird guide (Grrrr), I randomly drove around this morning looking for birds. With the countryside being so dry, I thought it would make the most sense to find water. Looking at the map, I headed off to Hennessey Lake. As soon as [...]
In order to get out onto the bay, I plunked down my $32 and took one of those land-to-water crafts. In some cities they are called Ducks but here in San Diego they are called Seals. It is a, well, I guess I would call it a bus that can go in the water. After [...]
Licking a banana ice cream cone and strolling the embarcadero, I stopped to watch an immature pied-billed grebe swimming close-by. A young man sitting on the wall watched me snap a picture.
“Why are you taking a picture of a duck?”
It’s not a duck, it’s a grebe.”
“Greed?”
“No, greb-b-b-bah.”
“Gredah?”
No, grebe, [...]
You know how once you have been to a place several times birding on your own and have seen most of the easy/common birds how frustrating it becomes, right? Where are the other harder-to-find birds? Are there local hot spots? This trip I gave up and hired a guide. I was looking for 4 life [...]
I am leaving for a 10 day, mostly business but hopefully some pleasure, trip to California. The bins are packed, as well as my well-thumbed Peterson’s guide to Western Birds. I hope to meet up with a fellow birder in San Diego to get a peek at those Elegant Terns. At the very least I [...]
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