Clik here to view.
Butterflies, on temporary hiatus
A recent project had me dipping into the archives for butterfly photos. I found this exercise brought back memories of warmer times and places. The weather here has dipped into the 20's at night, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Lesser Black-backed Gull
A pair of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Larus fuscus, rests on the beach at Cape May, New Jersey. Horning in, lower right, is a first-cycle Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis. I was pleased to see the...
View ArticleMammalian hummingbats swarm feeder!
Video by David and Laura HughesIt isn't just hummingbirds that visit hummingbird feeders! If you live in the southwestern U.S. or points south, you might have some mighty strange after-hours visitors....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Spanish Moss is not a moss
A beautiful early spring landscape, indeed, and it ain't Ohio. A project had me dipping back into the photo files, and I ran across this image from my trip to South Carolina last April. While down...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Kittiwakes: A long, cold journey, including Cleveland
Photo: Chuck SlusarczykThey've been finding great birds galore of late along Cleveland's Lake Erie coast, many of them practically in the shadow of the Cleveland Browns stadium. Chuck Slusarczyk, ace...
View ArticleClik here to view.
"Naming of birds proves baffling at times"
A "murder of crows" settles in to roostColumbus DispatchNATUREDecember 1st, 2013Jim McCormacMay 13, 1851, was a big day for Charles Pease.But the date turned out to be more momentous for his...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Snowy Owls invade Ohio (and elsewhere)!
Photo: John HowardJohn Howard snapped the image above, of a big beautiful immature female Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, near twilight, tonight! This sighting is especially significant as the bird is in...
View ArticleThe Million Dollar Duck
I wrote about the "Duck Stamp" not long ago, HERE. The $800 million raised by the sale of stamps since its inception in 1934 has resulted in a LOT of on the ground conservation. Here in Ohio, about 89%...
View ArticleClik here to view.
An interesting (and rare) hybrid duck
Photo: Larry JeanblancOn December 1st, Doug Overacker made an interesting report to the Ohio Birds Listserv. He, Julie Karlson, and Larry Jeanblanc had discovered what appears to be a very noteworthy...
View ArticleMotorboating raccoon
I really like raccoons, and that, I know, is not a universal sentiment. Get a couple of the masked bandits in the attic, and chaos can ensue. The wily beasts discover your garbage in the garage, and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Horned Larks are tough as nails
A wintertime country road in rural Ohio. Frigid temperatures, a landscape blanketed in snow, and brutal winds conspire to make this a habitat unfit for man or beast. But even such a seemingly stark...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Snowy Owl update (with regular updates)
UPDATE NOTICE: I first created this article last night, summarizing all of the Snowy Owl reports that I was aware of in Ohio. I then shared this with the 2,200+ member Birding Ohio Facebook page (Kudos...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Cool Altocumulus Clouds
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of getting afield with Joe Faulkner and Vicki Derr. They gave me a tour of the Rehoboth Reclamation Grasslands in Perry County. This massive strip mine complex is an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The origin of all these Snowy Owls?
As about everyone who is into birds in eastern North America knows, this is the winter of the Snowy Owl (I wrote about them HERE, and am keeping an updated map and numbers of the owls in Ohio). Even...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sumac creates biological hotspots!
Your narrator's car, perched along the verge of a Jackson County, Ohio lane, deep in the boondocks. I was down there yesterday to participate in the Beaver Christmas Bird Count - about the 20th year...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Nettie Bay, Michigan: May 2014!
For the past four years, I've been leading natural history tours in Presque Isle County, Michigan in conjunction with Mark and Jackie Schuler, the owners of NettieBay Lodge. I've written about past...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Theft of images. A real problem!
A while back, the inimitable myrmecologist Alex Wild made a post about Google's reverse image search capabilities. Alex captures absolutely stunning macro images of ants and other small things at his...
View ArticleSnowy Owl numbers grow
We're up to 68 owls in 30 counties in Ohio, by my reckoning. CLICK HERE for the latest distribution map, which is regularly updated.
View ArticleClik here to view.
Birding (and mammaling) at the Wilds
Yesterday was the Chandlersville Chistmas Bird Count, ably orchestrated by compiler Scott Albaugh. Scott's been running the count for the past five years or so, and I've been along for all or most of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
ANOTHER Snowy Owl update
The reports of Bubo scandiacus, our large white visitors from the far north, keep tumbling in. When I last updated the Snowy Owl tote board on December 19, I had heard of a total of 68 owls in 30...
View Article