Natural History Journal

This past summer, Eric and I spent the month of June traveling in England and Scotland.  And while the primary focus of the trip wasn't necessarily birds, I did manage to fit quite a bit of birding into the trip, seeing a grand total of 111 species, 71 of which were lifers!  Check out the other places we visited after our initial stop in London! Rainham Marshes Wetland Birds Cotswolds Villages & British Countryside Yorkshire Dales & Moorlands European Robin While England and Scotland boast a wealth of beautiful natural habitats to explore, all of which are simply brimming with wonderful wildlife, its towns and cities are probably the best places to start when birding in the UK for the first time.  Here, lush landscapes dotted with expansive parks and idyllic gardens are home to a long list of European bird species that are exciting for any visiting American birder!  And so it was that my first European Robin hopped down right in front of me on a picnic bench ...

One of my favorite groups of birds, and certainly one of the most entertaining to watch, is the woodpecker family.  The Picidae family is represented in North America by twenty-two extant species, and as of last year, I have managed to see them all!  (Although, I have not successfully photographed them all yet!) Acorn Woodpeckers on a granary tree, Pinnacles National Park Sixteen of these twenty-two species are found in California, though some are fairly rare or have a limited range within the state.  Really, twelve species can be expected with a reasonable degree of confidence in the right habitat within California.   ( *California's twelve most common species of woodpeckers are marked with an asterisk below .) *Lewis's Woodpecker (California and the western U.S.) One of our most unique-looking woodpeckers, the rosy pink and dark, oily green Lewis's Woodpecker is regularly spotted in California's blue oak woodlands around the edges of the Central Valley....

It would not be difficult to convince me that there is something beautiful about every bird, but in my opinion, a handful of species that arrive in or pass through California's Great Central Valley during spring migration are particularly gorgeous.   May is the magical month in the calendar of every North American birder, when spring migration reaches its peak and brilliantly colored migratory birds return from a winter spent in the neotropics of Central and South America. Male Lazuli Bunting These "neotropical migrants," as they are known to birders and ornithologists, span a wide range of songbird families, but some of the most colorful (and thereby most beloved by birders) are members of the cardinal family, Cardinalidae, which includes New World buntings, grosbeaks and tanagers.    Male Lazuli Buntings are a brilliant, almost turquoise blue, with rusty-red chests and prominent white wingbars.  Females are more drab in color, but still easily recognizable by ...