A student in Maine was conducting research for his class and shared the links from our page in his "show and tell" project as he and his father are avid birders. He was then assigned the task of sharing another page with us. This is the one he picked: Design 55 Bird Watching.

It's based out of the UK and has some interesting links for beginning birders. It may be something you'd like to share with people you're trying to attract to birding or it may provide you with lists of birds present in the location of your next travel destination. Whatever the case, we'd like to acknowledge this student's hard work and continue his interest in birding.

Thanks for thinking of us, buddy!

This is an interesting site to follow with great articles and amazing photographs by enthusiasts in the field. Just thought we'd share.

Here's the link: Focusing on Wildlife News Link

Whether you're a bird person or not, this is stunning!!! Not to detract from the sheer magic of it, but in practical terms, how M A N Y trips would a bird have to make with that tiny little quantity of mud/clay it could carry? If you take the construction of a circular bowl in your stride as instinctive, consider how the bird comes up with the windbreak/entrance design that shields the eggs/chicks from the elements and at what point in fashioning the bowl do they start to construct it?


Watch the slideshow here: Youtube Slideshow of Birds Building Mud Nest

Photos by: Daniel Carbajal Solsona.
Video by: fabianno de Lucca.
Text by: Daniel Carbajal Solsona

Birders Update July 14 2012:
Stillwater NWR: no White-tailed Kite (as seen by refuge biologist in July);
I did see 3 Western Sandpipers,
at least 6 Loggerhead Shrikes,
also several Northern Mockingbirds,
a couple of Swainson's Hawks flying overhead,
lots of White-faced Ibis,
Great Egrets,
Great Blue Herons,
and Snowy Egrets;
a fair number of Eared Grebes,
Gadwall,
Mallard,
and Ruddy Duck, several with young;
a couple of Greater Yellowlegs,
Soras,
Virginia Rails,
Pied-billed Grebes,
Clark's Grebe (with young)
and Black-crowned Night Herons;
several American White Pelicans;
and one very charming Short-eared Owl who posed not far from the road.

Shared by Meg Andrews of Reno, NV

Check out this fascinating video of Great Blue Herons hatching in the wild:
Great Blue Herons Hatching

Below is some additional background information provided from the website www.allaboutbirds.org

About the Herons

This Great Blue Heron nest is in a large, dead white oak in the middle of Sapsucker Woods pond, right outside the Cornell Lab's Johnson Center for Birds and Biodiversity. Herons have nested here since summer 2009, hatching and fledging four young each year and raising them on a steady diet of fish and frogs. Though neither bird is banded, you can identify the male by the absence of a hallux (the rear-facing toe) on his right foot. Adult herons can be up to 4.5 feet tall, with a wingspan up to 6 feet. Despite their large size, they typically only weigh around 5 pounds.
Herons usually lay 2-6 eggs and share incubation duties for 25-30 days. Incubation begins with the first egg, and the young hatch asynchronously (not at the same time) over 2-5 days. After hatching, it'll take 7-8 weeks before they fly from the nest for the first time.

About the Nest

In 2009, the herons brought in the first few twigs that would become the first known Great Blue Heron nest in the history of Sapsucker Woods. Early in the spring of 2012 we installed two cameras to bring the hidden world of their nesting habits into full view. The nest itself is nearly four feet across and a foot deep, and wraps almost entirely around the trunk of the tree. The birds have slowly built up the nest over the last three years.

The following tours present a fun way to learn about the birds in and around Churchill County. Whether you're visiting, just getting into birding, or having a hard time identifying the abundant amount of birds in this area, these are the tours for you. And the great news is, not only do they run at just $10 per seat, there are 6 spots left on each. This means you can bring along a few friends or family members with a budding interest in birding.

Country Birding – Mike Goddard, local birding expert and former manager of Stillwater NWR and Dr. Will Richardson of the Tahoe Institute for Natural Science will lead you on this local 'hot spot' tour to the local hangouts for raptors and songbirds. Saturday, May 19, 7am – 11am. 9 seats. Cost = $10.


Sign up today at www.springwings.org!

Just came across this site: http://twofistedbirdwatcher.com

There are all kinds of fun resources on the site for birders--photos, stories, and more.

So if you get a chance, go check it out!

To learn more about these beautiful birds and how to attract them to your home, click on the following link:

http://www.herbco.com/t-hummingbird-gardens.aspx

We came across a video we thought you might enjoy--like them or not, this is an impressive display of nature at its finest. Take a look!

A mystery of nature:

No one knows why they do it. Yet each fall, thousands of starlings dance in the twilight above England and Scotland. The birds gather in shape-shifting flocks called murmurations, having migrated in the millions from Russia and Scandinavia to escape winter’s frigid bite.
Scientists aren’t sure how they do it, either. The starlings' murmurations are manifestations of swarm intelligence, which in
different contexts is practised by schools of fish, swarms of bees and colonies of ants. As far as I am aware, even complex algorithmic models haven’t yet explained the starlings’ aerobatics, which rely on the tiny birds' quicksilver reaction time of under 100 milliseconds to avoid aerial collisions—and predators—in the giant flock.

Two young ladies were out for a late afternoon canoe ride and fortunately one of them remembered to bring her video camera. What they saw was a wonderful murmuration display, caught in the short video whose URL is below. Watch the variation of colour and intensity of the patterns that the birds make in close proximity to one other.


http://vimeo.com/31158841