It was such a soft note, a faint lisping sound from nearby, I wasn’t sure I’d heard it at first. It called again. I scanned the wet leaves of the […]
BIRDWATCHING
The Happiness of the Other Blue Bird
Thanks to fieldwork abroad, a naturalist comes to admire our local tree swallows
It wasn’t yet light out. This was the best time to get hands on the bird. This expert flier certainly wouldn’t allow capture if she could see me coming. My […]
BIRDWATCHING
Drink-Your-Tea, the Towhee Sings, and Don’t Clean Up the Understory
Berries and brambles provide food and shelter for birds and other animals
I wasn’t sure I’d heard it at first. The rustling might just have been a pine cone dropping into the leaf litter. But another rustling sound made me stop in […]
BIRDWATCHING
Allowing a Chipping Sparrow to Stop Time
The wonder of communion on watching a conspicuous and social bird
I am always startled by its appearance. Streaked and mottled brown like sandy soil or like the dried blades of last year’s grasses, it rises up: a leaf? A bird. […]
SOCIAL SPECIES
A Footprint Foretells the Recovery of Our Would-Be National Bird
In the wild, turkeys are more fascinating than that drawing on the bourbon bottle suggests
The frantic sprint of the large-but-lithe bird got my youngest daughter’s attention first: “Turkey! Turkey! I see a turkey!” My eldest scanned the road in front of us. “Where? I […]
WATCHING BIRDS
In Arizona, a Familiar Face
Hoping for verdins, a birdwatcher meets a robin and ponders the wonders of migration
I was lucky enough to be able to get away last month. My friend Bob, who lives in Tucson, always offers his warm hospitality during these cold months. But it […]
