Redstart painted at Cave Springs Campground, Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona, by Gary Botello. In 2002, to celebrate the 15th anniversary of The world of bird watchers magazine (now known as Bird watching), we asked our readers to share their favorite birding hotspots. We’ve been profiling birding hot spots since our first issue in 1987 (Washington’s…
We have Sabine Gulls and Arctic Terns, more Sabine Gulls and more Arctic Terns. We travel up the Ningikfak River in Alaska in an 18-foot speedboat, 120 Yamaha horsepower pushing us at breakneck speed. We just left Hooper Bay, an indentation in the Bering Sea west of the Yukon Delta National Wildlife Refuge, one of…
“I have a kettle!” On a hawk watch, few phrases have such an electrifying and immediate effect. Before the echo of the scream passes the hill, the counters are in position, their binoculars up and ready, and their clickers wrapped around eager fingers. As the sky fills with falcons and other observers and visitors point…
As a kid on the coast of Maine, I loved islands, especially ones that were little visited. I never knew what I might find along the shore – perhaps a delicate glass float from an offshore Portuguese fishing boat or the skeletonized remains of an unlucky porpoise. As an adult, I continue to be fascinated…
Watching migrating hawks, eagles, hawks and other raptors in the fall is a pleasure and a tradition, and the places where fall birds can be easily spotted are as revered as they are famous. Cape May. Hawk Ridge. Corpus Christi. Golden door. Veracruz. At each, geography and weather work together to make watching the annual…
Martine Violette ©2013 Ed Mattis Birdwatchers the world over know the springtime spectacle of hundreds of thousands of sandhill cranes on Nebraska’s Platte River, but do you know about Cornhusker State’s other migratory bird spectacle? Tens of thousands of purple swallows congregate each evening from late June to early October as they begin their fall…
Swallow-tailed Kite in southern Georgia by gman79. Good news! The annual Space Coast Birding and Wildlife Festival kicks off today in Titusville, Florida, east of Orlando. Read about Space Coast and see it on a map. Editor Laura Erickson. Now in its 17th year, the festival has become a highlight of every winter, and this…
The distance was great, but the light was perfect and the view through my spyglass was clear. I watched gulls strolling through a wetland along the Churchill River, south of Manitoba’s still snow-capped Hudson Bay, on a cool but beautiful day in early June. I was hoping to find a needle in a haystack, a…
Delta Naturalists’ Society casual birders at Drayton Harbor, Blaine, Washington, January 6, 2014. Photo by Ken Borrie. In “Hotspots Near You” in our December 2012 issue, author and naturalist Anne Murray described a wonderful place in the Pacific Northwest: Drayton Harbor in Blaine, Washington. As Anne wrote, Drayton Harbor is a great place for birdwatching,…
Ring-necked Duck in St. George, Utah, Jan. 27, 2014, by Redfish. Hatfield Lakes is a wastewater treatment facility located about 9 miles east of Bend in central Oregon and one of the places we named Hotspot Near You. In our February 2013 issue, Oregon-based natural history writer and freelance nature photographer Damian Fagan called it…
Great Egret with nesting material, High Island, Texas. Photo of John Phillips Jr. Smith Oaks is a treasure. It’s one of four Houston Audubon-maintained sanctuaries on High Island, Texas, and the perfect place if you want to see large numbers of songbirds, hummingbirds, and other northbound neotropical migrants that just crossed the Gulf of Mexico…
American Wigeon, Fruit Bat, Ringnecked Duck and Greater Duck at Presqu’ile Provincial Park, Brighton, Ontario in April 2014. Photo by David Bree. Ontario’s Presqu’ile Provincial Park, on the north shore of Lake Ontario, is an important stopover for migratory birds, including waterfowl. In fact, thousands of birds of up to 20 species – redheads, ducks,…
Protonotary Warbler at Magee Marsh Wildlife Area, Ohio, May 18, 2014, by Joan Tisdale. Just in time for spring migration and a host of upcoming birding festivals (see below), we learned of a new trail that will help you find and enjoy more birds this year. Called Canada’s South Coast Birding Trail, the new network…
Bird feeding stations in Peru help protect the habitat of the wonderful Spatuletail hummingbird. Photo by westcoastbirder. Virtually all of our backyard birds would survive without our feeders. Yet bird feeding stations can be crucial for the continued survival of some species, and some feeders even play an important role in protecting against climate change….
The great bustard is a specialty of southern Portugal. This one was photographed on March 30, 2008 by Andrej Chudý (Wikimedia Commons). If you’ve ever thought it might be fun to see a Spanish imperial eagle, one of the rarest birds of prey in the world, or if you want to witness the extravagant courtship…
Cuban endemic gnatcatcher, December 2016. Photo by Floyd Downs. The spectacular birds above and below were photographed by birdwatchers who traveled to Cuba with Bird watching magazine in early December 2016. Guided by biologist Luis Diaz, curator of the National Museum of Natural History in Havana, and Bird watching editor Chuck Hagner, the group has…
Chestnut-mouthed Toucan in Costa Rica. Photo by Ray Robles Spectacular colors, strange names, dramatic shapes! North American birders looking to broaden their horizons invariably find a guide to the birds of Costa Rica in their hands. Field guides to the country’s birds are impossible to put down, the stuff of birdwatcher travel dreams, and the…
Georgia’s barrier islands feature a mix of sand, mud and salt marshes, ideal habitats for shorebirds. Photo by Brad Winn The Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) recently designated nearly 80,000 acres along the Georgia coast as its 100th significant site for shorebirds. The site, known as the Georgia Barrier Islands, was considered a landscape…
David Sibley Wildlife Acoustics, creator of the Song Sleuth bird identification app, is running a contest where the winner will go birdwatching with David Sibley in May 2018. The “Song Sleuth with Sibley” competition presented with LLBean gives birdwatchers the unique opportunity to bird-watch with Sibley, the renowned artist and author of The Sibley Guide…
Kentucky Warbler, one of the species that can be seen along Maryland’s Indian Head Rail Trail. Photo by Hans Spiecker Subscribe today to BirdWatching magazine for tips, birding hotspots and more! This Saturday, April 7 marks the sixth annual Rails-to-Trails Conservancy Trail Open Day. It’s a day when people kick off the spring trail season…
Rock Point Provincial Park in southeastern Ontario. Photo by JamesJongPhotography/Shutterstock Stretching along the north shore of Lake Erie for more than 350 miles is Canada’s most temperate region, aptly dubbed “the Riviera of Canada.” The region’s similarities with the Mediterranean coastline are surprising. Both lie along a latitude of around 42 degrees and enjoy a…
Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this article Share by email I’m happy to announce that our website has a new directory of birding tour providers! These are businesses and non-profit organizations that offer bird watching tours to the public. Several of them conduct tours around the world while many others focus…
Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this article Share by email As the coronavirus pandemic has devastated the birdwatching and ecotourism travel industry worldwide, a number of tour guide providers are offering virtual tours of birdwatching sites for free or for a small fee. These events provide a glimpse of the wildlife…
Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this article Share by email At the beginning of August, our friends from Panama Day Trips, based in Panama City, offered us Bird watching readers a free virtual birding experience: attendees were able to watch via Zoom for a few hours as tour guide Jerin Tate…
A Spanish imperial eagle with its next meal. Photo by Shutterstock For wildlife travelers from the United States, Spain offers a range of interesting habitats and an equally fascinating array of species, all carefully contained in an area only slightly smaller than Texas. Due to its position, connecting North Africa and Southern Europe, Spain encompasses…
Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this article Share by email At New Jersey Audubon, we care about the welfare of birds just as much as we appreciate their beauty, amazing life stories, and inquisitive behaviors that are both playful and territorial. Our festivals have always been designed for maximum fun on…
Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this article Share by email Spotted the raptors before seeing the Jackson Lake sinkhole. Ospreys and red-headed vultures circled in tight circles above a small pool of water, surrounded by the sloping sides of what had been the bottom of the lake. I walked to the…
Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this article Share by email The cover story of our May/June 2022 issue looks at the Prothonotary Warbler and the work of the Jackson Audubon Society in Jackson, Mississippi, as it annually monitors the local Prothonotary Warbler population. The striking species of warbler breeds in the…
Share this: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Print this article Share by email March 2013. It was a foggy morning in Gamboa, along the Panama Canal. The sun hadn’t risen yet, but I stumbled out of bed to the rhythm of palm tanagers and clay thrushes. Red-legged Honeycreepers hopped frantically through a tangle of…
Take a relaxing journey through the rainforest on board one of our gondolas, and spot rare animals such as the Kuranda tree frog (Litoria myola). From above, marvel at this tropical paradise from an elevated perspective! Bird‘s-eye views are photographs taken from above a subject, typically by using an aerial drone or aircraft, though you…
The Bird in Hand (the “Bird”) is an iconic community pub in Fforest that has hosted wedding receptions, wakes and christening parties as well as New Year’s Day parties for years. Additionally, they host fundraising events for Latch and Cancer Research UK that bring in local patrons for drinks or fundraising events. Legend holds that…
Birds that hunt or migrate at night require special adaptations in order to survive. Torpor, which involves lowering core body temperatures in order to save energy, and having camouflaging or freezing up plumage may all aid their efforts and allow them to remain unseen by predators. Even with its dull coloration, the mockingbird is a…
Birds are among the most remarkable creatures on Earth, boasting an astonishing variety of colors and patterns that span from minute hummingbirds to massive ostriches. Over millions of years, birds have evolved over millions to fill ecological niches once occupied by large dinosaurs. Some became large enough to fly while others remained on land. 1….
The Amazon rainforest is home to over 1,300 bird species, many of them unique to this area. Take a look at these gorgeous birds and learn their fascinating characteristics! New research shows that many Amazonian bird populations are declining as a result of climate change, particularly insect-eating species. 1. Macaw Macaws are one of the…
Learn how to take action and boost bird conservation efforts in 10 easy ways. Help preserve our feathered friends and create a better environment for all. Introduction Birds are an essential part of our ecosystem, providing numerous benefits such as pest control and pollination. Unfortunately, bird populations are declining worldwide due to habitat loss, climate…
