The Birdcouple

ABC: Save the Golden-Winged Warbler

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sun, 25 May 2014 19:16:00 +0000

This beautiful illustration in Bird Conservation, the journal of the American Bird Conservancy, jumped out at us over this lovely, slow Memorial Day weekend Birdcouple is spending at home, after successive weekends of crazy birding and hiking. (As we have mentioned before, BC loves the ABC!!)

While the campaign to save the Golden-Wing was tied in with the Biggest Week in American Birding, it is not too late to donate. Birdcouple just did.

Golden-Winged Warblers are among the fastest declining birds in the Americas, according to the ABC. To see one in migration here in Maryland, or at a handful of nesting spots out in far Western maryland, is a very very special experience. The money ABC raises will advance reforestation work in the El Jaguar Private Reserve, an important wintering grounds.

As the rush of spring migration 2014 in North America starts to slow, it's time to put down the bins (for just a few moments) and think of conservation.

As, ABC says, a little GREEN can save the GOLD!

You can donate here.

Tennessee!

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Wed, 21 May 2014 13:58:00 +0000

You don't have to walk across the state of Virginia to find this sign on the Appalachian Trail. But, Cute Husband and I did... well it took a couple of years to make that happen, but we walked into Tennessee last week!

More on the big adventure soon on our AT site...

Gone hikin'

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Tue, 13 May 2014 12:24:00 +0000

BC has gone hikin'....

Meanwhile, this from the New York Times on "gadgets vs eyeballs." And here's there guide to birding resources in NY City.

BIRD WEEK

It’s Gadgets vs. Eyeballs as Two Species of Bird-Watchers Clash

By COREY KILGANNON and EMILY S. RUEB

MAY 10, 2014, 12:13 AM

Michael Nagle for The New York TimesBird-watchers, like these in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park, will compete on Saturday in the World Series of Birding in New Jersey.

Pete Dunne and Benjamin Van Doren are devout birders who share a passion for identifying rare species, recording their sightings and competing in birding events known as Big Days.

But as they prepared for the biggest Big Day of all, Saturday’s World Series of Birding in New Jersey, their technological approaches could hardly be more disparate.

Bird Week

A weeklong series about avian life in New York City. See All »

Mr. Van Doren, 20, a sophomore at Cornell, has a $2,500 camera setup, and an iPhone stocked with digital field guides, apps that play recordings of bird songs and help him, with GPS, home in on where he might find certain species.

Mr. Dunne, 62, has been preparing a bit differently. He refuses to bring a camera and keeps his cellphone turned off. He eschews birding apps and digital libraries in favor of the handwritten journal that he has kept since he was 7. The proliferation of digital photography and other technology changes the whole dynamic of birding, he said, “getting away from the art of field identification.”

It was all leading to a regrettable mind-set, he added, of “Shoot first and identify later.”

Not long after professional baseball came around to instant replay, the booming world of competitive birding, once seen as a refuge from the clatter of the modern world, is now debating how much it should embrace technology. It is as close as birding, long proud of its honor system, has ever come to an identity crisis, particularly over the issue of whether photography should be required to prove a spotting. In debates among birders, the encroachment of smartphones and digital cameras has become inseparable from another touchy issue, the matter of questionable sightings, known as stringing.

Ryan Collerd for The New York TimesPete Dunne founded the World Series of Birding, which limits the use of technology.

The World Series is held every May throughout New Jersey, a major migration stop for birds heading north, and the event routinely attracts roughly 1,000 of the world’s top birders, who will race around the state from midnight to midnight, often in four-member teams, trying to identify as many species as they can by sight or sound. Their reward will be bragging rights and the Urner-Stone Cup, which resembles a miniature version of hockey’s Stanley Cup, though there are no cash prizes.

The competition, which also raises money for conservation, does not require photo evidence, and scoring remains on the honor system, though contestants who claim to have seen or heard rare birds can expect to be questioned by other teams about details. The rules do not allow the use of digital gadgets in the spotting or hearing of birds. Recorded calls cannot be played in the open, where they could inadvertently — or intentionally — induce birds to respond, for example. But birders are permitted to refresh themselves — in their cars, only — with recorded bird calls.

The pro-tech camp argues that it is silly to prohibit tools that educate birders, make birding more welcoming for novices, and build popular support for saving bird habitats.

“It is bringing a new breath of air into the competitions,” said Scott Whittle, a commercial photographer from Cape May, N.J., who has a $10,000 photo setup. He is also helping develop an app called Bird Genie that recognizes and identifies bird calls in the field.

He said he began birding six years ago and photographed his sightings “because I knew I wasn’t a good enough birder for people to trust me.”

The verification of sightings and combating stringing — arguable sightings by inexperienced, overeager or simply cheating birders — is one of birding’s most pressing issues and is the main argument for the use of photos.

Birding’s popularity, fueled in part by the recent films, “The Big Year,” and “A Birder’s Guide to Everything,” is approaching an extreme-sport level, with adrenaline-pumped teams putting in sleepless days.

The American Birding Association has begun discussions to revise portions of its code of ethics, said Jeffrey Gordon, the association’s president. The code serves as a guideline for birders, though competition organizers are free to make their own rules. Mr. Gordon said that what little there was in the code regarding technology — there is a mention, for example, of curbing the use of “tape recorders” — has likely gone unchanged since being established a decade ago, “before people were walking around with libraries of bird songs in their pocket.”

While the honor system remains paramount, Mr. Gordon said, photographs, provided they have not been altered, can offer “a higher standard of evidence,” especially for rare sightings, and for newer birders who have yet to establish reputations of being rock-solid in their identifications.

“I hear young birders joking around saying, ‘Photos or it didn’t happen,’ ” he said. “The expectation is that if you report something rare, you’re going to need a photograph. And I only see that increasing.”

The association created a new category of competition: Photo Big Days. Last month, Mr. Whittle and Tom Stephenson, a Brooklyn-based birder who leads tours in Prospect Park, organized a Photo Big Day in Texas, and competed as well, photographing 209 birds in 24 hours, which the birding association has recognized as a record for North America.

Even purists like Mr. Dunne, a New Jersey Audubon Society official who founded the World Series, said any tool that made birding more accessible was welcome. But introducing them to competitions goes against the trust implicit in birding, the purists said, and turns what should be a contest of devotion and skill into a free-for-all where tech wizardry and expensive cameras become the de facto entry requirements.

Kathy Willens/Associated PressA participant in the World Series of Birding in 2009.

“We’re at a pivotal time,” Mr. Dunne said, acknowledging that birding technology was “going to change birding dramatically and probably permanently.”

Drew Weber, who writes a blog about birding and technology at NemesisBird.com and helps develop birding apps, said he has heard some resentment among old guard birders toward tech-savvy ones who have gained vast birding knowledge with comparably little time spent in the field.

“A lot of traditional birders, honing their skills for decades, had to put all this time in, and they might see technology as a shortcut,” he said.

Teams in the World Series recruit members who can identify bird calls and can scout where targeted species are likely to be seen. To prepare for the event, Mr. Van Doren’s Cornell team has spent a week driving around New Jersey using apps to log where specific birds had been spotted. They are not allowed to use apps to acquire new information during the event, but they can use them to refer to previously gathered information.

Mr. Van Doren acknowledged that technology should have its limits. The day will come, he predicted, when binoculars themselves will be able to identify birds. “That would be lame from a birding perspective,” he said, “because it would take the skill out of it.”

Birdcouple's May Big Day

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sun, 11 May 2014 14:08:00 +0000

After three or four just-shy attempts over the years to see 100 species of birds in Maryland in one day, Birdcouple set out this morning determined not to fail again. Big Days, Lisa and Warren agreed, are like the ultimate fun treasure hunt, racing against the clock from place to place (and all the places were beautiful), never knowing what you will find and what you will miss.

We'll get straight to the lead, as they say in the news business: we did it. Almost 12 hours, 5 stops, more than 7 miles walked, probably 100 miles driven and .... 101 species!!!!

Sorry there are no pictures of all the warblers, vireos, sandpipers, sparrows, rails, terns and more that we saw. We decided to travel light - no camera, and not even a scope. Just a determined Birdcouple with bins, Lisa's iPod Sibley app and a notebook.

Bird #100 was a Yellow-Billed Cuckoo at Warren's favorite "patch," Davidsonville Park in our home Anne Arundel County.

Boy, were we happy! And ready for shower, food and a glass of wine. Our route took us from amazing Susquehanna State Park, to Conowingo Dam (bad call - great birding spot. In winter), to Swan Harbor Farm for field birds and sandpipers, and then to Swan Creek/Cox Creek, a dredge fill and reclamation area that may not be the prettiest spot in the world, but has been host to some amazing birds. And finally to Davidsonville Park.

News alert: We just heard a Common Nighthawk calling over the house. Make that 102 species for the day. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog......

Here's our species list for May 10, 2014, in order seen/heard:

1. Northern Cardinal
2. Carolina Wren
3. Tufted Titmouse
4. House Sparrow
5. Northern Mockingbird
6. Canada Goose
7. Song Sparrow
8. Chipping Sparrow
9. Carolina Chickadee
10. Blue Jay
11. Eastern Towhee
12. Eastern Phoebe
13. Tree Swallow
14. Blue-Grey Gnatcatcher
15. Gray Catbird
16. Common Yellowthroat
17. American Crow
18. Ovenbird
19. Wood Thrush
20. Acadian Flycatcher
21. Eastern Wood-Peewee
22. Louisiana Waterthrush
23. Scarlet Tanager
24. Yellow Warbler
25. Great Blue Heron
26. Great-Crested Flycatcher
27. Belted Kingfisher
28. Red-Bellied Woodpecker
29. Mallard
30. Mourning Dove
31. American Redstart
32. Brown-Headed Cowbird
33. Wilson's Warbler
34. Northern Parula
35. Cerulean Warbler
36. Magnolia Warbler
37. Black and White Warbler
38. Red-Eyed Vireo
39. Blackburnian Warbler
40. Barn Swallow
41. Warbling Vireo
42. Black-throated Blue Warbler
43. Kentucky Warbler
44. Hooded Warbler
45. Fish Crow
46. Prothonotary Warbler
47. Bald Eagle
48. Canada Warbler
49. Eastern Bluebird
50. Wood Duck
51. Osprey
52. Indigo Bunting
53. Blackpoll Warbler
54. White-Breasted Nuthatch
55. Red-Shouldered Hawk
56. Pileated Woodpecker
57. Eastern Kingbird
58. Orchard Oriole
59. Turkey Vulture
60. Field Sparrow
61. Double-Crested Cormorant
62. Worm-Eating Warbler
63. American Goldfinch
64. Yellow-Rumped Warbler
65. Spotted Sandpiper
66. Northern Rough-Winged Swallow
67. Black Vulture
68. Baltimore Oriole
69. Common Grackle
70. Rock Pigeon
71. Herring Gull
72. Chimney Swift
73. Purple Martin
74. European Starling
75. Red-Winged Blackbird
76. Semiplamated Plover
77. Least Sandpiper
78. Marsh Wren
79. Great Egret
80. Savannah Sparrow
81. American Coot
82. Greater Yellowlegs
83. Green Heron
84. Swamp Sparrow
85. House Finch
86. Sora
87. Solitary Sandpiper
88. Killdeer
89. Downy Woodpecker
90. Little Blue Heron
91. Ruddy Duck
92. Greater Black-Backed Gull
93. Ring-Billed Gull
94. Snowy Egret
95. Wilson's Snipe
96. Least Tern
97. White-Eyed Vireo
98. Lesser Scaup
99. Gadwall
100. Yellow-Billed Cuckoo
101. Red-Tailed Hawk
102. Common Nighthawk

Maryland Photographed Birds List

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sun, 04 May 2014 18:51:00 +0000

Among the many lists Warren keeps - it's an affliction, he knows - is a list of birds photographed within the borders of our fair state of Maryland.

That list stands at 240 species now, thanks to this Ovenbird seen on a recent Birdcouple walk at the American Chestnut Land Trust trails in Calvert County. Ovenbirds are easily heard in dense forest as they call out their Teacher!, Teacher!, TEACHER! song. But they can be hard to spot for such loud little fellows. This one posed for his photo.

Wood Thrush wasn't on Warren's photo list until recently, which is crazy - we have them in our back woods every spring and summer. In fact, they arrived on Sunday, April 27 - a few days later than normal. They had us scared, but spring migration has been running a bit late this year, perhaps due to the long winter and cool spring.

Speaking of the Lovenest, we have a new hummingbird feeder, which seems to be doing the trick:

And also a new, uninvited house guest:

Who knew Carolina Wrens ate spiders????

The feeling of photographing birds, especially a new species: Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Birds and BEES!

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Mon, 28 Apr 2014 17:28:00 +0000

I have pictures of a ginormous swarm thrown off from my Russian bees, Hive Hera. But, alas, I can't figure out how to get them off my phone in a vertical position.

Cute Hubby will figure out this technological problem! In the meantime, enjoy the sight of 30,000 plus bees dangling from a holly bush, in a sideways picture.

The sound when they started to swarm was simply amazing. The humming was almost alien like. And, before they settled on this branch (which was luckily only about 7 feet off the ground), the bee activity in the yard even freaked me out a bit.   The air smelled like lemons as they emitted a scent that tells 1/2 the hive... hey! we are swarming, come with us!

Also, lucky that I had my buddy to help me gather these escapees and put them in a new hive.   Cute Hubby asked, "Have you done this before?" I replied "No, but we can look it up online!" And, he still agreed to help!   (I swear it was not my intention to have FOUR hives this year, Warren!)

It took a few passes and some good limb shakes into a large box and a big dumping of thousands of bees in the new hive.   Then we watched as hundreds more calmly marched into their new home.

My only regret is that I didn't try to make a bee beard!

Then as we went out later in the evening to see if they were still happy, we heard the first Wood Thrushes of the year in the woods of the LoveNest.

Finally!   They were a day or two late and we were growing concerned.

Now, if only I can find Alvin, the chipmunk, it will really feel like spring!

Photo Big Day

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 18:01:00 +0000

.. and other news from our friends at Princeton University Press.

www.photobigday.org

The folks who brought us The Warbler Guide (which is sitting next to us as we type), Tom Stephenson and Scott Whittle, are collaborating again, along with the American Birding Association and the NYC Audubon, on a race to see and photograph as many species as possible within a 24-hour period. It's called the Photo Big Day, and you can learn more about it - and how to start your own team - at that link above.

Sounds like fun - and a bit of a challenge for nocturnal species or fly-by birds!

Just as cool, Princeton University Press will be releasing later this spring a new app, called BirdGenie, that they say will identify bird song with 90 percent or greater accuracy.

Love that logo. The app will work with Apple and Android devices. Here's the links for the app for Eastern and Western birds.

Finally, here's the Press' homepage.

PS - Before signing off, we have to also mention their title, Bumble Bees of North America. A must-get for Princess Lisa.

Junior Duck Stamp winners for 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 11:40:00 +0000

Very quick post this morning .... BC wants to congratulate the winners of the 2014 National Junior Duck Stamp Contest. (Full information about the program from the US Fish and Wildlife Service here).

This winning painting, an acrylic rendering of a King Eider, was done by Si youn Kim, 16, of Tenafly, New Jersey.

We also like the winning conservation message, by Max Cheng, 15, of Freemont, California: Conserving a habitat is like painting a background. Without it the picture is not complete.

Here are the runner-up paintings:

Trumpeter Swan and cygnets, Andrew Kneeland, Rock Springs, Wyoming

Hooded Merganser, Jiahe Qu

Happy Earth Day, 2014

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Tue, 22 Apr 2014 00:58:00 +0000

Caspian Tern

Northern Rough-Winged Swallow

Enjoy, Conserve, Teach!

Postcard from Afghanistan, Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Fri, 18 Apr 2014 22:15:00 +0000

As we have posted before here and here, dear friend and super-birder Peter Kaestner is in Afghanistan these days. He is of course already the top birder in that country, according to eBird's standings, with 164 species at last count.

Peter has seen a great variety of ducks, raptors, owls, finches, sparrows and other birdies. From time to time, he shares shots of what he's seen. And we, of course, have been tardy in posting them.

So here goes.

This a stunning Eurasian Eagle Owl, with crazy cool eyes:

And a tree full of Wagtails. (We'd settle for one Wagtail in a tree here in Annapolis):

A Green-Winged Teal (looks like the Common Teal subspecies from Eurasia to us):

A pair of Ferruginous Ducks:

And finally some Northern Pintails. Who knew this common waterfowl from North America is also present in Afghanistan?:

Keep 'em coming, Peter!

Spring migrants, and spring surprises

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sun, 13 Apr 2014 14:27:00 +0000

Pine Warbler

Birdcouple gets a little bird crazy this time of year, when spring finally hits and the migrants arrive in wave after wave. So, as soon as Saturday morning struck, we headed down to one of our favorite mid-April birding spots, Flag Ponds Nature Park in Maryland's Calvert County. Flag Ponds park adjoins the Chesapeake Bay, but has a lot of woodland habitat, and so is a great stop-off point for warblers and other north-bound travelers.

Ruby-Crowned Kinglets were also on the move.

After the migrants, came a major surprise. Someone had gotten a bit lost. That someone was a Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher, a denizen of Texas and Oklahoma, that a sharp, 12-year-old birder had found in our own Anne Arundel County at Fort Smallwood Park.

This may be the first record of this species in our home county, and was Warren's 258th species for the county. More importantly, it was buddy Dan Haas' 300th!!!

This picture didn't turn out so great, but it gives you some idea of what this bird's amazing tail looks like in flight.

New Songbird Stamps from the Postal Service!

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sun, 06 Apr 2014 00:23:00 +0000

These beauties were just issued today. Warren, who used to collect stamps many, many years ago, would love to have a first day of issue copy of them.

If you're using snail mail, please buy them, use them and spread the word about protecting America's birds.

Here's a link to the USPS webpage.

And here's the Postal Service's description of the stamps:

The U.S. Postal Service celebrates ten melodic voices with the Songbirds stamps: the western meadowlark (Sturnella neglecta), the mountain bluebird (Sialia currucoides), the western tanager (Piranga ludoviciana), the painted bunting (Passerina ciris), the Baltimore oriole (Icterus galbula), the evening grosbeak (Coccothraustes vespertinus), the scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea), the rose-breasted grosbeak (Pheucticus ludovicianus), the American goldfinch (Spinus tristis), and the white-throated sparrow (Zonotrichia albicollis).

Each colorful bird is shown perching on a fence post or branch embellished with vines, pinecones, leaves, or flowers. The artwork appears against a plain, white background.

Why do songbirds make such a glorious racket every morning? In a word, love. Males sing to attract females, and to warn rivals to keep out of their territory. Between 4,000 and 4,500 different types of songbirds can be found around the planet, accounting for nearly half of all bird species. Songbirds are identified by their highly developed vocal organs, although some, like the crow, have harsh voices, and others sing rarely, or not at all. All songbirds are classified as perching birds. With three toes that point forward and one that points backward, they can grip branches, grasses, or telephone wires with ease.

Illustrator Robert Giusti painted the portraits, based on photographs. Art director Derry Noyes designed the stamps.

Songbirds will be issued as Forever® stamps in booklets of 20. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current First-Class Mail® one-ounce rate.

A Birder's Guide to Everything... Review

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 13:40:00 +0000

Well... movie night was not actually a night out as I predicted here. Because, we couldn't find A Birder's Guide to Everything playing at any local movie theater. And, by local, I basically mean the East Coast, because I would have used this excuse to drag Cute Husband through a couple of states for date night.

So, we ended up renting it from Amazon, which you can do as well!   This may have been bonus, since date night included drinking a bottle of wine with a movie.

Anyway, A Birder's Guide to Everything is a sweet coming of age movie that at times felt like an overused theme that you have seen before... except there were birds in it! And, birders who were somewhat normal.   Yes, the birding club the boys belong to is nerdy, but the sport/hobby of birding was treated with respect and nobody gets mocked for being a birder.

Of course the movie includes some birds, some bird song and some lovely shots of birding in a beautiful forest.   This is not The Big Year, but it does give a sense of the chase to find a bird and the lengths birders will go to tick one.

One of my favorite scenes is when Ben Kingsley's character encourages the boys to search for the bird, even though it may have flown a couple of states away. It captures the adventure of birding and makes a nod to the fact that even amateur birders can find and (possibly) correctly ID rare birds.

Toward the end of the movie, the main character is describing the differences between people who enjoy birds ..."feeders" "listers" and "watchers", which, I think, does a nice job of characterizing bird obsession.

If you are looking for the next The Big Year in terms of crazed birding adventures, this is not it. But, if you are looking for a gentle movie that nicely explores birding, you will enjoy A Birder's Guide to Everything.

Two thumbs up for date night!

Happy April 1

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Tue, 01 Apr 2014 18:19:00 +0000

Important reading from Paul Baicich at Great Birding Projects:

The snake and ... the raccoon?

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sat, 29 Mar 2014 14:30:00 +0000

Lisa and I don't actually encourage wild creatures to come inside and share our Lovenest, but ... hey, we live on 1.8 acres of woods, with trees as close as 8 feet to the house, and we refuse to use poison (except to stop the termites from actually EATING the house).

So Warren wasn't much surprised one recent evening when he went downstairs to turn on the TV - the only one we own - and the electric heater, and he encountered a two-foot Eastern Garter Snake just inside the back door:

Now we know why mice haven't been in the pantry this winter! But the snake was cold, barely moving. Warren would have taken it for dead except it's little snake-tongue was flicking in and out.

There was only one thing to do, sadly - put it outside, and let nature take its course.

Well nature did, but not in the way we expected. An hour later, Warren checked back, and the snake had disappeared!

Then, we heard a small mammal running off in the dark, through the leaves and snow. Warren thought it was one of the foxes that hang about (they are most easily seen on evenings when people put out their trash for collection next day).

But Lisa knew it was a Raccoon.

Ah, living in the woods!

Paul Baicich - a well-deserved award

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sat, 22 Mar 2014 16:14:00 +0000

Paul Baicich was the winner of the 2014 Wetland Conservation Achievement Awards in the Communication Category, awards that are given by Duck Unlimited.

As the citation says:

Baicich has been an active birder since his early teens in New York City. A former employee of the American Birding Association, he edited 14 of their ABA Birdfinding Guides, as well as their bi-monthly magazine, and served as Director of Conservation and Public Policy. Today, Baicich directs the on-line Great Birding Projects and co-edits the popular monthly Birding Community E-bulletin. He writes regularly for birding magazines, including Bird Watcher's Digest. He has also been instrumental in starting and running Friends of the Migratory Bird/Duck Stamp-a nonprofit dedicated to the promotion, preservation, sales, and better understanding of the Duck Stamp.

We would add that Paul is a great friend, ace birder and one of this generation's great conservationists. We wish every birder did just 10 percent of the conservation work that he undertakes, with little thought of recompense.

Kudos, and thanks, Paul.

Here are links to Paul's Great Birding Projects site, and the Birding Community E-Bulletin.

Birds of the late winter snow

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Wed, 19 Mar 2014 01:29:00 +0000

Eastern Bluebird

Warren worked at home on Monday, during what WE HOPE will be the last snowstorm of a very long winter. In between reading serious documents and emailing colleagues, he took a few minutes out to take some photos of the Lovenest birds that were going crazy at the feeders.

Dark-Eyed Junco

A lot of these customers have been hanging around for months. And while we have enjoyed their company, there are a few winter birds, like this Junco, that we wish would push off north and let Spring arrive!

American Goldfinch (and a feeder torn up by rampaging squirrels)

Tufted Titmouse

Carolina Wren

Why do Wrens always seem so angry and fussy? Are they? Or is that just our perception of them? Hmmmmmmmmm.....

Blue Jay, the neighborhood bully

We have been blessed to be visited by two Hermit Thrushes all winter...

Food ... and water

HEY, who put that there? Ah, the Lovenest.....

Guess who turns 80 on Sunday?!

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Thu, 13 Mar 2014 20:19:00 +0000

The Federal Duck Stamp!

Guess who has provided more than $850 million to the National Wildlife Refuge System?

The Federal Duck Stamp!

How can you celebrate the work of the conservationists who put the program together and managed to keep it in place for 80 years?

Buy the Federal Duck Stamp!

A Birder's Guide to EVERYTHING!

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Fri, 07 Mar 2014 17:50:00 +0000

A new movie about birding!... she said jumping up and down with excitement! Cute Husband and I have run into so many new young birders who got turned onto birds from the movie The Big Year, so it really is exciting to know another movie is coming out that highlights our quirky obsession to count birds.

Plus, it has Sir Ben Kingsley in it, so you know it will rock! And, first kisses and all that great young love sort of loveliness.

Here's the story:

In theaters March 21st, A Birder's Guide to Everything follows the story of David Portnoy, a 15-year-old birding fanatic. He thinks that he's made the discovery of a lifetime, so, on the eve of his father's remarriage, he escapes on an epic road trip with his best friends to solidify their place in birding history. The film stars Kodi Smit-McPhee, Alex Wolff, Ben Kingsley, Katie Chang and more!

March 21, date night?

Birds of Southern California

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Fri, 21 Feb 2014 01:51:00 +0000

Birdcouple LOVES to go birding on the West Coast - it's a wonderful mix of familiar birds (like this Pied-Billed Grebe), other species we rarely see, and new friends that we meet for the first time. We spent the last week of January - when our mid-Atlantic home was locked in Arctic-like temperatures - in sunny Southern California, where the birds were singing and the temps were in the 70s.

One of our first birds was an Anna's Hummingbird in Balboa Park.

Other treats were Marbled Godwit, Cinnamon Teal (they always look so angry!) and White-Shouldered Kite, a natty looking bird.

If you ever in your life get a chance to go to Ojai, GO. We scanned the skies each day for a California Condor. Next time!

Ojai has a lovely meadows that made for wonderful birding, including Black Phoebe, Western Bluebird, Say's Phoebe and Cassin's Kingbird.

One day, we drove out to Skinner Lake in Riverside County, about 100 miles away, to see the rare Blue-Footed Boobies there. We saw one - for about 30 seconds. Which is why it's not pictured here. The lake was also chock-full of waterfowl, heron and gulls, including this Western Grebe.

And we scored 10 life birds, including the stunning Heerman's Gull. Can't wait to go back!!

Love Day is also Great Backyard Bird Count Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Fri, 14 Feb 2014 00:02:00 +0000

A friendly reminder: in between smooching on your sweetie tomorrow, get started

on the Great Backyard Bird Count!!!

In fact, the GBBC - citizen science at its best - is already underway, with the first checklists submitted.

Birdcouple's two favorite things: each other and birds.

Friends in the news

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sat, 08 Feb 2014 17:43:00 +0000

Birdcouple recently returned from a great vacation in Southern California - more on that and the great birds we saw in our next post - and have been neglectful of birdcouple.com.

We want to get back into the swing of things by giving a huge shoutout to two of our favorite birders who have gotten special recognition recently.

Peter Kaestner was hailed in an Audubon magazine article aptly titled "Diplomat by Day, Birding Fanatic Around the Clock." Peter, currently on assignment on Afghanistan, did the FIRST-EVER Christmas Bird Count in that country, counting 26 species and more than 2,142 individuals.

The article needs an update, however. In it, Peter (life list 8400+) is quoted as saying, "I haven't added anything new to my life list, but I'm yearning for a glimpse of the Afghan Snow Finch." He scored that lifer last week. Congrats Peter on the bird count and the snow finch!

We're also very happy (and honestly a bit jealous) that friend and Maryland birder Dan Haas was quoted on the FRONT PAGE of the New York Times in its recent article on the Snowy Owl invasion. That's something Warren hasn't achieved in a 30-year journalism career!! Honestly, we are proud for Dan, who does so much for birding and birders in Maryland and Anne Arundel County.

Proud to know you, guys!

Urban Snowy Owls, French Chocolate and a Holy Lifer

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sat, 25 Jan 2014 02:56:00 +0000

A quick update on Birdingcouple's doings ... and the doings of birds....

We KNOW that the winter of 2013-2014 has been a historic irruptive season for Snowy Owls. But who would have thought one would have shown up in downtown DC, right near the Washington Post building at 15th and L streets? It is apparently feeding on rats - of the rodent, not human, kind. There are a lot of both in the nation's capital.

We apologize for the quality of this pic and those to follow. A BlackBerry camera is better than nothing sometimes!

Warren travels once in a while with Secretary of State Kerry - and misses Lisa terribly when he does! It's mostly work, work, travel, travel, sleep, but there are fleeting moments to look around:

This is an amazing chocolate shop in Paris - W didn't even take a pic of the ginormous choco gorilla - not far from La Madeleine. Yes, that is a chocolate Christmas tree - with marzipan ornaments. Yum!

The next day, during a brief stop in Rome (well, actually, the Holy See), I spotted a bird that looked very much like a Herring Gull, but with a different mantle and bright yellow legs. Thank you, Lord - a life Yellow-Legged Gull:

And then home to the Princess.

Spring is in the Air!

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Wed, 15 Jan 2014 14:43:00 +0000

Well... it doesn't really feel very spring like in Maryland yet, but an Eagle at Blackwater Refuge in Cambridge, Maryland laid the first egg of the season yesterday!

So... warmer days can't be that far off... right?

Check the live nest cam here.

Makes you a little happy, right?

Project SNOWSTORM

noreply@blogger.com (Warren and Lisa Strobel) — Sat, 11 Jan 2014 19:29:00 +0000

We know, we know, that's not a Snowy Owl up there. It's a Eurasian Eagle Owl photographed by our friend Peter Kaestner, who is currently in Afghanistan. Those eyes are incredible, right?

Back to the topic de jour - in case you hadn't heard, there is a great project underway to track Snowy Owls and take advantage of their historic southward irruption and learn more about their habits and movements.

It's called Project Snowstorm. They write on their website that "almost nothing is known about the local and landscape-level movements of snowy owls on the wintering grounds, nor about their nocturnal hunting activity and range size."

Several owls have been tagged with radio transmitters and the results are amazing. Check out the cool maps of SNOW movements.

We leave you with another awesome bird. We photographed this Greater White-Fronted Goose, found by Tom and Rob Ostrowski, at Greenbelt Lake: