Male Japanese Paradise Flycatchers pass through Shanghai in mid-May – they do so in autumn as well, but then without the long tail feathers that are their main attraction for birdwatchers.     eBird talks about the “Stunning breeding male … with a short crest, neon-blue eyerings, and long black tail streamers.”     There are some studies on the species, but not that many, resulting in a post with a rather skewed ratio of photos to words, as you will see below.     The scientific species name atrocaudata simply means “black-tailed”, a name that does not w ..read more

I had just been to Wahner Heide (heath) a few weeks ago and covered that visit in my last post, but I found myself back in the same area with my parents for a short Sunday visit. The heath is actually quite extensive and there are some other areas that I would like to explore, but we went to the same spot we were at last time because it is easiest to reach. More forested areas apparently hold good numbers of Woodcock, and Eurasian Nightjars are also around (although rare), so this site warrants several future visits. On this visit, the sky was grey and it was windy all the time, which did not ..read more

A couple of years ago my friend Martin Tickler called me late on a grey Sunday afternoon. “You won’t believe this, David, but there’s a flock of nine Bee-eaters sitting on the wires in the field behind my house.” Bee-eaters are one of the most colourful, and beautiful, of all European birds, but they are very scarce visitors to Britain. The prospect of seeing nine in my home county of Suffolk was irresistible. “I’m coming!” I told Martin, grabbing my binoculars and camera as I spoke. Martin lives in the quaintly named village of Pixey Green: it took me 30 minutes to arrive at his house. He gr ..read more

Those who read my posts regularly — and some recent comments have assured me that you are, in fact, out there — will know that in the past couple of weeks I have travelled between the two places in the world that I know best. Last week, I returned to Morelia, Mexico, my home for the past 30 years, from twelve days in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I spent my childhood and teenage years. This is a four-hour flight, traveling some 3,400 km/2,100 miles, and also one fifth of the distance from the Equator to the North Pole. This considerable distance is why I am always surprised to see so many ..read more

By Susan Wroble Susan Wroble is a Denver-based children’s author with a focus on science-based stories. When she is not writing, you can find Susan trying to transform her yard into a native plant habitat or working at Colorado Children’s Hospital with the family’s therapy dog. She has a lifelong love of birds, perhaps instilled at birth with her middle name—Burd. If you are searching for a book to draw kids into a love of birding, ornithologist Donald Kroodsma’s Listen to the Birds might be the perfect fit. Kroodsma, a birdsong specialist, is best known for his books for adults: The Singing ..read more

Frankly, Ho Chi Minh City is not a place you would go to specifically for birding. But if you are there anyway (at the start of a longer birding trip) and have an afternoon to spare, then why not? Specifically, a place named Sala Township looked interesting based on a few recent eBird lists. Sala Township is a slightly weird place in that it is very close to the city center (just on the other side of the river) and partly poshly built up, partly consisting of scrubland. The kind of place that will be completely uninhabitable for birds in about 5 years, if Vietnam continues developing and if m ..read more

My aunt Greet gave me a book in 1975 that featured the 60 most endangered birds in Europe. Amazingly and quite contrary to what you would believe from the gloomy news most of these birds have since recovered and are doing well. Europe lost the Buttonquail (but abundant in Africa) but the Griffon, Cinereous Vulture (José Leal’s picture below) and several eagles are making a spectacular comeback. Barnacle Geese even made it to “agricultural pest” status. In the book, one picture stood out in particular: the White-headed Duck. The picture was not even in focus, like a UFO sighting! There were o ..read more

There are 154 species of cuckoos in the world, and they’re all a fascinating bunch. I reckon I’ve seen around 60 or them, which still leaves a lot to go. I’d really like to see a Coral-billed Ground Cuckoo (South-East Asia), while to see any of the Madagascan couas would be pretty cool (there’s 11 of them). I have encountered a few of the more quirky members of the family, including the brilliant and aptly-named African Emerald Cuckoo, India’s ultra-shy Sirkeer Malkoha, and the fascinating Lesser Ground Cuckoo in Costa Rica. However, my current favourite member of the family Cucilidae is the ..read more

Back when I was a kid growing up in California’s San Mateo County in the 60s and 70s, my family would occasionally drive 45 minutes west and south to Bean Hollow State Beach. Even now, I remember my mother commenting how that goofy English name sounded so much more romantic in its original language: Arroyo de los Frijoles. Little did I imagine that someday I would live much of my life in that same Spanish language. There are many beautiful beaches along the San Mateo County coast. What makes Bean Hollow stand out is that along with a rather pebbly beach, it also has some wonderful tide pools ..read more

Although many think of the Pacific Northwest as a rainy with lush green forests, the region east of the Cascade mountains is characterized by dry sagebrush rangelands (shrub steppe). Much of that original habitat has now been lost to agriculture. However, the region’s dominant river — the Columbia River — which serves as the border for much of Oregon and Washington, also flows through these rangelands. The river has been dammed for hydroelectric power in several places and those dams caused enormous changes along the Columbia River Basin, turning dynamic rivers into slow-moving lakes. To redu ..read more