Posted in fauna, reseña, tagged birding, fauna, reseña on December 21, 2008| Leave a Comment »
With the size and appearance of a slimmed-down Reader’s Digest, the less famous Bird Watcher’s Digest is a chirpy little optimist of a magazine not so very different from, say, a black-capped chickadee.
Short and moderate-sized articles cover specific species, how-to/techniques, choosing the right birding equipment, and joy-of-birding anecdotes.
Advertisements abound but do not overwhelm. Some are quite helpful.
BWD is a perky standard for birders both casual and serious.
Posted in fauna, reseña, tagged birding, fauna on June 7, 2008| Leave a Comment »
The Stokes bird books major in the sheer delight of discovering the bird in question. The 1991 Stokes Bluebird Book carries this tradition forward without missing a step.
The book’s three sections explore ‘The Birds’, ‘Attracting Bluebirds’, and ‘Bluebird Behavior’. The first section introduces this captivating bird by way of poetry and observations made about it, mostly when the species was more plentiful than it is today. The Stokes then present the ‘Eastern’, ‘Mountain’, and ‘Western Bluebird’ varieties. (more…)
Posted in fauna, my hometown, tagged birding, fauna on May 26, 2008| 2 Comments »
This Memorial Day weekend has provided the time and energy for a major restock of my bird supplies.
The result has been some new visitors:
A Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker has made brief, resplendent visits for seed and peanuts. He’s stayed long enough for this novice birdwatcher to mark the distinction between him and his suspected alternative identity, the Redheaded Woodpecker. (more…)
Posted in fauna, my hometown, tagged birding, fauna on March 29, 2008| Leave a Comment »
In the lingering twilight of Springtime in Indianapolis, I notice that the Robins have returned. One young fellow told me so by crashing into the window of a basement entry, then fussing about how clumsy that must have looked and flying off. Another, a large one in dire need of a haircut, perched just now on the railing that overlooks that same entranceway. (more…)
Posted in my hometown, tagged birding, fauna on December 11, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Something has changed.
We used to have a few Blue Jays around here and from time to time they’d stop by to cherry-pick the peanuts in the shell that I put out in a feeder made for just that.
Now, the Jay Tribe seems to have posted a sentry. Within seconds or minutes of refilling the feeder, I hear the signature piercing call of a Jay and soon a bevy of them has showed up in their blue suits for a feeding frenzy that easily clears out the feeder in thirty minutes.
It’s pretty spectacular.
Posted in my hometown, tagged birding, fauna on November 29, 2007| Leave a Comment »
The water in the bird bath is well frozen this morning in our Indianapolis back yard, this in spite the battery-powered ‘bubbler’ I installed as a vacation task this week. Somewhere in the house there lurks a birdbath heater that I bought in the summer in ant-like preparation for winter and then inserted into some perfect space with squirrel-like absence of a record. It’ll turn up. (more…)
Posted in fauna, my hometown, tagged birding, fauna on November 24, 2007| Leave a Comment »
After a season of travel, it’s beautiful to be back home where a holiday morning can be spent in my easy chair with some good books and a pair of binoculars to oversee my backyard, where my birds are enjoying the overdue filling of their feeders. (more…)
Posted in fauna, reseña, tagged birding, Craig Robson, fauna, Princeton Field Guides, reseña on August 27, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Birds of Thailand is the reason the prestige university press and its zero-tolerance approach to schlock products exists. Princeton University Press has done itself proud with this condensed and focused version of author Robson’s Birds of Southeast Asia. (more…)
Canter Bridge 