Why birding is better than Pokemon Go.

This past summer there was a big craze in smart phone

gaming called Pokemon Go. I never played the game myself and perhaps it has seen it's 15 minutes of fame and faded into gaming obscurity. If so, it would render this comparison fairly obsolete. Even so, I am reminded of an incident last fall while birding in a popular local park. I was peering through my binoculars at a Raven high in a spruce tree when a small group of pre-teens accompanied by a couple of adults walked by. They paused as they walked up to me, and curiously asked what I was looking at. I simply said "bird watching."  They looked puzzled for a second as I'm sure they mulled over in their minds why anyone would be standing there just watching a bird. As their confused looks turned to acceptance, they replied "oh, ok" and turned to continue walking. As they departed, I took the opportunity to quip "It's better than Pokemon!" which got a few muffled chuckles from the adults.

Creepy Bird of the Month #5: Marabou Stork

Ah, the stork.  The universal symbol of new life.  If you’re anything like me, the mention of a stork brings up memories of Mr. Stork delivering a sweet baby “Jumbo Jr” to his mother, Mrs. Jumbo in the classic Disney cartoon, Dumbo.  Precious.

Not so much with the Marabou Stork.  I don’t think we need to do much to convince you that this ungainly bird is prime candidate for “Creepy Bird of the Month.” 

Brrrrr...baby it's cold outside.

Temperatures have dropped severely in the last few weeks, making it painful to get outside and do any photography for more than about 15-20 minutes.  We don't have that much good light these days, so on clear, cold days when the sun shines for a few hours, us die-hards embrace the frigid weather and make the most of the opportunity.

When I got into birding last year (read about it here), one of my obsessions became putting up bird feeders around my house. I wanted my house and yard to be a bustle of feathered activity and I tried several different varieties of bird feeders, both handmade and store bought. It didn't take long for the Black-capped Chickadees and the Red-breasted Nuthatches to find my suet cages and little plastic bird feeders. I bought the generic "wild bird seed" and watched as a few birds here and there came to enjoy the feast. I noticed that the Nuthatches would sift through the seeds and pick out tasty morsels,