Bryan's Posts About Birds
Desperately Seeking Rusty Blackbirds
By Bryan on April 9, 2014 It is basic black with an inelegant voice. It nests in places we rarely visit. And in relative obscurity, the Rusty Blackbird has suffered one of the most dramatic population declines ever recorded among…
Montpelier Wild No. 3: Spring Birds
By Bryan on April 7, 2014 Spring migration is picking in the Capital City. On our rivers, through the woods and in our backyards, I’m encountering new arrivals nearly every day. Along our five-mile walking loop through the city on…
Montpelier Wild No. 2: The Beavers of Spring Street
A hint of spring drifted on broad wings with a bald head over Montpelier Sunday afternoon. Only days after the Vernal Equinox came our first Turkey Vulture. This vulture counts as an actual spring migrant, unlike those American Robins you’ve…
What’s This? No. 18
What’s This? No. 18 should be self-evident. The winner of this challenge, however, will name the species that left its mark on this rock (which I suspect is Shinumo quartzite). I photographed this on Phantom Creek in Grand Canyon National…
What’s This? No. 17
On Darwin’s Birthday today, which is Darwin Day, my What’s This? challenge returns from a long vacation. This one I photographed in northern Vermont on 1 February 2014. Name it and win fame, recognition here on the blog and $5…
Icy Romance
In icy waters, ducks are getting hot.
Snowy Owls and Us
My essay on finding opportunity and humility in this winter’s irruption of Snowy Owls. For Aeon magazine.
A Winter Warbler
My essay on Yellow-rumped Warblers in winter is today’s feature (and my debut) on BirdNote, a daily meditation on birds airing online and on public radio stations across the country. I’ll be writing for BirdNote from time to time. Listen here…
The Year in Flight
They dwell on northern bogs and at ponds, and do what damselflies do: fly around, kill things and have sex. To casual observers, this pair of Subarctic Bluets (Coenagrion interrogatum) may appear no different than many other little blue damselflies…
What’s This? No. 15
My What’s This? challenge returns from a long vacation. Hint: It’s neither a turkey nor a football. Use the comments section below to name it and win little more than respect and $5 off any of my outings or workshops….
One Day, Two Ross’s
AT DAWN in in the ornate village of Chambly, Quebec, at a bulge in the Richelieu River, restless gulls began to take flight. And five restless birdwatchers (many more would come later) began their search, scanning the river for an arctic ghost,…
Monhegan Report No. 7: The Fallout II
At daybreak Saturday, a gentle rain of warblers and kinglets fell on Monhegan Island. From the sea they came, most making their first migration south, blown off course and over the Atlantic, and then finding port on this tiny island to rest, feed and reorient. Another Monhegan fallout.
