tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-176892542009-12-02T13:18:55.588-08:00tidbits about birds, birders and birding from WildBird's editorAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.comBlogger1113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-29926963491705603322009-11-30T11:39:00.000-08:002009-11-30T11:58:11.000-08:00

Last year, the photo contest during the Great Backyard Bird Count -- organized by Cornell Lab of Ornithology -- generated more than 6,000 entries. Now we can enjoy the winning images.The contest encompasses winners in six categories: overall, behavior, composition, group, habitat and people. Each category has a first-, second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-place winners as well as nine to 26

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-67600118648029327632009-11-18T20:35:00.001-08:002009-11-18T20:50:10.033-08:00

National Audubon Society recently announced that it will open Maine's Hog Island camp in 2010 for four adult sessions and one teen session. First opened in 1936, the camp on Muscongus Bay closed in 2009 but will offer a late-May 2010 session for adult birders.In the first "Maine Seabird Biology and Conservation" session, adults can work with Dr. Stephen Kress and Project Puffin biologists for

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-80920270620320491162009-11-13T12:05:00.000-08:002009-11-13T12:13:06.890-08:00

Like The New York Times' ArtsBeat blog says in Monday's post: Who knew??In honor of the 40th anniversary of "Sesame Street," puppeter Caroll Spinney and a colleague responded to NYT readers' questions about the tall, yellow-feathered character. Guess what Big Bird's favorite book is? (Tip: It's about wild birds.)

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-61277402154231199592009-11-12T17:59:00.000-08:002009-11-12T18:01:46.160-08:00

In Northern California two years ago, Sonoma Birding created a half-day Christmas Bird Count program for children ages 8 to 14. The Audubon CBC for Kids runs from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., not from midnight to midnight as in the traditional CBC, and the suggested count dates fall between Dec. 10 and Jan. 15.Sonomabirding.com provides many helpful details in the link above, and the framework sounds

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-958983944322556222009-11-11T12:39:00.000-08:002009-11-11T12:41:01.490-08:00

From the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service:Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks Tom Strickland and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Sam Hamilton today announced that the brown pelican, a species once decimated by the pesticide DDT, has recovered and is being removed from the list of threatened and endangered species under the Endangered

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-11731111406959344892009-11-06T19:03:00.000-08:002009-11-06T19:21:53.068-08:00

Congratulations to Clare Kines! He earned top honors in this month's First Friday fiction contest.By crafting an intriguing 500-word tale, Clare earned the chance to receive a recently published birding book of his choice. No doubt the book will provide good reading fodder during the dark arctic winter.Please participate in the December contest! Mark Dec. 3 as the deadline for your fictional

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-26269571817583326182009-11-02T09:36:00.000-08:002009-11-02T09:46:38.192-08:00

With a nudge from Bev Robertson (@BirdingBev) and Behind the Bins/Murmuring Trees, WildBird on the Fly welcomes the return of First Friday, a fiction contest for birders! Bev earned top honors twice -- and you can see why here and here -- as did Clare Kines of The House and Other Arctic Musings (his winning stories appear here and here).Here's how First Friday works:* You write a 500-word piece

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-70976751300096543312009-10-27T09:15:00.000-07:002009-10-27T09:34:12.727-07:00

Bird bloggers! Have you sent a submission to Thomas for this week's I and the Bird? Today's the deadline for your chance to share your most recent and masterful post with birders around the world. Make Thomas' job as the carnival host as easy as possible, and send an e-mail with a detailed description of the post and its hyperlink now. If your blog has appeared in previous versions of I and the

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-32678239568334911142009-10-26T12:16:00.001-07:002009-10-26T12:26:57.704-07:00

Almost 150 seabirds -- including grebes, murres, loons and scoters -- began receiving help from International Bird Rescue Research Center this weekend after being covered with an "unusual sea slime." The birds traveled by van from Portland, Ore., to San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center in Cordelia, Calif.According to IBRRC:In this case, a particular species of phytoplankton,

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-26956994882711200022009-10-23T10:12:00.000-07:002009-10-23T10:26:33.265-07:00

Kingfishers -- those aquatic birds that favor rivers, streams and ponds -- get the royal treatment in the November issue of National Geographic Society's magazine. The great folks at the society ensured that birders gets to savor the birds in detail via the article by Hannah Holmes and the photo gallery of dazzling six images by Charlie Hamilton James. You'll relish the incredible images, some

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-25085510421190448902009-10-22T15:21:00.000-07:002009-10-22T15:26:11.258-07:00

Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of the Year Competition 2009 revealed its winners in London yesterday, and three American photographers earned honors in the 46th annual contest. This year's competition drew more than 43,000 entries.Rob Palmer from Colorado won the Behaviour: Birds category with an image of a juvenile Bald Eagle chasing a Red-winged Blackbird. In January 2009, something

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-43559347515378378712009-10-16T09:04:00.000-07:002009-10-16T09:06:27.196-07:00

Via eBay, American Bird Conservancy is accepting bids on original artwork by Paul J. Greenfield. With Robert S. Ridgely, Greenfield created "The Birds of Ecuador" and now provides 11 bird paintings to raise funds for ABC.The unframed acrylic paintings measure approximately 22 inches by 14 inches, and the starting bids range from $5,000 to $8,500. Close to 100% of the final sale price will go to

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-2742367025266501292009-10-15T14:54:00.000-07:002009-10-15T14:56:47.098-07:00

Can wetlands -- often rich in birdlife and valued by birders -- play a role in allowing businesses to purchase pollution credits? From Houston Chronicle, "Companies eye wetlands to offset carbon emissions":For the past few years, people have planted trees in the effort to stop global warming. But now some scientists think they've found another solution: restoring wetlands.These marshy areas

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-71285646997902603522009-10-14T18:03:00.000-07:002009-10-14T18:31:48.129-07:00

Researchers recently found that Harpy Eagles -- big birds that weigh up to 20 pounds and range from southeastern Mexico to northern Argentina -- have sufficient genetic diversity to bolster efforts to prevent extinction. Tests on 66 of the predatory birds in 12 countries revealed "high levels of mitochondrial genetic diversity," according to a press release from The Peregrine Fund. Scientists

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-1798209499827099922009-10-12T17:29:00.000-07:002009-10-12T17:39:19.689-07:00

Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Celebrate Urban Birds project invites you to participate in its contest this month. "A Murder of Crows and Other Spooky Bird Tales" accepts entries until Oct. 31, and entries can be photos, stories and videos sent via e-mail.Birds can be downright spooky sometimes. A European Starling flies at your head, thousands of crows roost in a downtown park, a pigeon takes over

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-30851040536934749602009-10-09T17:47:00.000-07:002009-10-09T17:55:14.581-07:00

Want to share your backyard birds with a nationwide project? Then Cornell Lab of Ornithology wants to hear from you! Project FeederWatch runs from November through April, and during those months, backyard birders count and report the birds visiting their feeders. The citizen science project provides training and materials, so new birders can join the fun, too.Many details appear here, including

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-60907787988105499592009-10-07T18:50:00.000-07:002009-10-07T19:08:35.204-07:00

Did you see the article, "Birds of a Feather, Together" last week in The Wall Street Journal about Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum's "Birds in Art" event? The nine-week annual program celebrates numerous bird species in various mediums. The range of species would set John James Audubon's heart aflutter. There are tiny graceful hummingbirds, barn and burrowing owls, white peacocks, secretary birds

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-66170919316817946232009-10-05T09:45:00.000-07:002009-10-05T09:45:00.746-07:00

Have you joined us on Facebook as a WildBird fan? If so, you already know that we like to chat about birding and the magazine. We ask for fans' input for the magazine's content; we create photo albums of our readers' bird photos (Wandering Eye), our readers (On The Fly) and our sponsored teams (Great Texas Birding Classic, shown) -- and we give away bird books!Sometimes our shelves become too

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-38743975146069181212009-10-02T09:25:00.000-07:002009-10-02T09:25:00.629-07:00

We want to see where you read WildBird when not at home! Send a 300dpi JPG with a detailed caption to wildbird@bowtieinc.com with the subject line "On The Fly." We've received some creative images from unexpected locations, and we look forward to seeing more! Double-check that the file's resolution is 300dpi, not 72dpi. The file's print size needs to be 4x5 inches or larger. Also remember to

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-77677819442388855832009-09-30T09:03:00.000-07:002009-10-07T13:21:51.585-07:00

The November/December issue is on its way to mailboxes now, and it includes a ballot for each subscriber to cast a deciding vote in WildBird' annual Birder of the Year contest. Who will you choose? Could your name be on the ballot next year?In each issue of WildBird, we pose a question in the Lister's Forum and Birder's Back Yard departments. Readers who provide timely responses might see their

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-56241059140527815452009-09-28T17:24:00.000-07:002009-09-28T17:24:00.172-07:00

Did you do it already? Did you send a summary of and the hyperlink for your best recent blog post to Summer? Your carnival host depends on participants to send submissions in a timely manner, so hop to it if you want to see your post appear in Thursday's carnival!

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-88768589289755252812009-09-28T09:39:00.000-07:002009-09-28T09:39:00.405-07:00

Want to show off your top-quality bird photos to WildBird's 80,000-plus subscribers? We've got the department for you: Wandering Eye.Submit a 300dpi JPG with a 4x5-inch print size and a detailed caption to wildbird@bowtieinc.com. The e-mail's subject line should read Wandering Eye. Also provide your full name and mailing address so we can send a complimentary copy of the magazine and a

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-12331613504086202012009-09-22T09:07:00.000-07:002009-09-22T09:07:00.074-07:00

Do you have a favorite national park or national wildlife refuge? Maybe you'll see on the tail side of a quarter after April 2010. That's when the America the Beautiful Quarters Program will begin producing 56 coins with a national park, refuge or forest on the reverse sides.“The new quarter program recognizes that public places of inspiration and recreation have always been important to

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-56030447064556569422009-09-21T08:55:00.000-07:002009-09-21T08:55:00.050-07:00

How many birders know about AOU -- American Ornithologists' Union -- and its work? Are you a member? Do you know about its annual meeting in August? This year's meeting took place in August in Philadelphia, considered by some as the birthplace of birding due to the work of ornithologist Alexander Wilson (right).In case AOU and its meeting flew below your radar last month, the scientists with

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17689254.post-68068301575782255442009-09-20T09:51:00.000-07:002009-09-20T09:51:00.297-07:00

Birders in and around Orange County, California, might want to reserve some time on Saturday, Sept. 26, to visit Huntington Beach's Shipley Nature Center between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The annual native plant sale will include more than 100 species, advice from master gardeners, composting exhibits, literature and books, and refreshments.At 10 a.m., a program called "Bee Wise" will discuss the

Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13301129176775790365noreply@blogger.com0