Bryan's Posts About Being Outside
Off Into the Earth’s History
I’m off into this – the Grand Canyon after a snowstorm. From here in the snow and ice at 7000 feet above sea level on the South Rim, we’ll descend a mile in elevation, into the Precambrian and into warmth at the Colorado River.
Gratitude
It is with some irony that Ruth Einstein and I use my blog to thank everyone who attended our “Naked in Norway” talk last night in Montpelier. I’m told you were 120 strong — a fine turnout to support North Branch Nature Center. (Everyone stayed fully clothed.)
We Hope To See You (Fully Clothed) Friday in Montpelier
Ruth and I look forward to seeing folks in Montpelier this Friday night for our contribution to the North Branch Nature Center’s Naturalist Journeys lecture series.
Going Wild: Point-and-Shoot Cameras for Wildlife Photography – 2018
Sorry, your iPhone isn’t good enough for wildlife photography. I don’t care what the besotted tech writers at The New York Times say about the cameras on our gadgets. If you want wildlife photos, get a real camera. And if you don’t want to mess with big cameras and serious lenses, I’ll now solve your digital dilemma.
Wing Prints
With all the early snow in the U.S. this winter, birds have been making impressions – literally. We’re seeing various wing prints in the snow. It makes me wonder about the reliability of identifying these prints.
Your New Way to Wildlife
Here’s one more reason to go online before going outside. My pals at the Vermont Center for Ecostudies (VCE) today launched a new web site that features breaking news about birds, insects, amphibians and other wildlife here in Vermont and…
Bob Spear (1920-2014)
CONSIDER EVERYTHING YOU KNOW about the past half-century of birdwatching in Vermont. Long before your field guides and checklists, before bird apps and atlases, before nature centers and eBird, before VINS and VCE, there was Bob Spear. On the long, green path of…
The Second Sunrise: A Final Monhegan Migration Report
He flashed yellow like an autumn sugar maple. When he launched from the meadow, the sun rose a second time over Monhegan Island. And as we left the island Monday for a wild boat ride, this star of fall migration – a young male Yellow-headed Blackbird – was still flying sorties and issuing his kuh-duck flight calls to the departing birdwatchers.
Hello, Yellow
A Yellow-headed Blackbird has been traversing the skies over Monhegan Island, Maine, for the past couple of days. This westerner heads east now and then, more commonly reaching the Midwest. Occasionally one or two will land here on this small rock off Maine’s midcoast.
Dawn and Rare Birds
SUNRISE THIS MORNING is better than any warbler on Monhegan Island. Well, except for yesterday, when I found a Connecticut Warbler on the Burnt Head trail. Other big news from a flight of birds on Wednesday was one or more Yellow-headed Blackbirds, first discovered by Steve and Jane Mirick.
The Fog of Birding
In the rain, wind and fog on Monhegan Island today, we studied the finer points of common birds. When the winds blow strong from the south, as they have the past two days, migrating songbirds do not come to Monhegan. No worries among the group of amiable birders I am now guiding here. We’re enjoying whatever flies across our path.
A Monhegan Fallout
Today on Monhegan Island the winds blew fair with birds. Peregrine Falcons gave chase and took life. In the lilacs near the Rope Shed a Nashville Warbler cavorted with a Tennessee Warbler. A flock of a dozen Baltimore Orioles paraded around the village.
