Kevin J. Cook -- May 25, 2008
The Coloradoan (Fort Collins)
To learn. To see. To hear. To smell. To experience. To know.
This sequence brings life from the darkness of anonymity into the lightness of understanding. It is a sequence that draws you into the richness of life and living.
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Added by Gary Lefko on May 30, 2008 at 1:29pm —
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This edition of Bird Banter, "How to get energy and save our sage grouse," appeared Apr. 2, 2008 in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle's Outdoors section. Please contact the author, bgorges4@msn.com, for permission to reprint it in hard copy or virtual copy for commercial or nonprofit purposes. Thanks.
Sage-grouse geology: find grouse, find oil. By Barb Gorges
Is geology destiny? Geology is rocks. A particular weathered rock makes a particular kind of soil which, with water, grows particular vegetation…
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Added by Gary Lefko on April 12, 2008 at 8:08am —
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April 4, 2008
By Dan England, dengland@greeleytribune.com
Gary Lefko doesn't rely on a radio station, books on tape or trying to find a license plate from all 50 states to keep him entertained during his morning commute.
He just watches for birds.
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The web article doesn't include the great color and phots as does the print article. I've asked Dan about getting PDF of the color story so I can post…
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Added by Gary Lefko on April 6, 2008 at 10:00am —
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by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
How many of you are thinking about a dance instead of a bird? Almost makes you wonder if the namers were being witty when they named it. Even more so when you find the name is not a good one. It turns out that Virginia is one of the more difficult spots to find this bird.
What you are thinking of is the "Virginia Reel," one of the oldest dances in the New World, the details of which were first published in England in 1685 by Sir Roger De Coverly. Okay, that's sorted…
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 29, 2008 at 7:04am —
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by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
Well, they should be, at least if they find themselves near any large body of water. You can't be outside on Nantucket more than a moment or two during daylight hours without having a gull in your life. Beginning bird watchers learn to look at every one, just to be sure it's 'just' a gull.
When birders come to the island for the first time their eyes are forever aloft. If you see a soaring bird on the mainland it is most likely a hawk and something special to be obse…
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 29, 2008 at 7:02am —
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by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
As I write this I'm hearing a whinnying at the window. Stepping outside I realize the sound is coming from all around me. These are avian whinnies rather than equine ones. Our American Robins are now sparring for territory.
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 29, 2008 at 7:01am —
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by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
Birders are continually flummoxed by "LBJ's" - Little Brown Jobs. These include a lot of the sparrows and the ubiquitous Yellowrumped Warbler, whose winter plumage is so nondescript.
But this week's bird doesn't hide in the grass or bushes around our island. No, it inhabits our winter beaches. Finding one is a real prize during Nantucket's cold seasons.
Most of our winter sandpipers are Sanderlings and this bird shares several interesting characteristics with them.…
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 29, 2008 at 7:00am —
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by Kenneth Turner Blackshaw
This is one of those subtle, somewhat nondescript birds toward the back of your bird book. New birders are usually looking for the colorful or the dramatic. So a Pine Siskin is not the first bird they look for. When you first see one your thought might be, "What is wrong with that goldfinch that won't tolerate anyone else near it on the bird feeder?"
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 29, 2008 at 6:58am —
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By Kevin Cook
The winter morning begins whistle cold and clear. So clear the sky looks more like an artist’s conception. So cold it takes two tries to fetch the morning paper. And somewhere out there somebody’s whistling.
It’s a single-note whistle clear as the winter morning itself. Over and over again the whistle rings like the purest note ever blown on a flute. Loud, bold, and monotonous, the note brings cheer to a deep-frozen morning.…
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 28, 2008 at 9:25am —
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By Rachel Carter
Longmont Times-Call
LONGMONT — Lou Hegedus scanned the sky, waiting for them to arrive.
He spotted a bald eagle on the eastern horizon and followed the massive bird with his binoculars.
“Watch this,” he said. “Watch him come in — and turn — and flare.”
And land in a tree on the banks of the St. Vrain River, where several other bald eagles already had settled for the night.
The spray of cottonwoods in east Longmont is one of the largest — if not the largest — known bald e…
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 26, 2008 at 10:20pm —
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Kevin J. Cook
Treasure waits where three melon-sized rocks form a little arena opening to the south and where snow wets the arena soil and sunshine warms it.
The treasure has a bright yellow disk surrounded by a frill too white to be lavender but too lavender to be white. No bigger than a quarter, it hugs the ground below reach of the wind and beyond sight of most trail walkers.
It is a daisy, called "Easter daisy" by some because it blooms in spring. A serious treasure hunter can almost alwa…
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 26, 2008 at 10:05pm —
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Recurring events:
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High Plains Environmental Center and Fort Collins Audubon Monthly Walk (Every 4th Thursday)
8-9AM Monthly bird walk led by Fort Collins Audubon at the High Plains Environmental Center in Loveland. Call Sarah 970-622-9676 or visit http://www.suburbitat.org/ for info.
Cooley Lake Nature Walks (South Surburban Parks and Recreation)
Adults, children 5 and over. (5-14 must be accompanied by an adult). Explore Cooley Lake wildlife area with a naturali…
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 26, 2008 at 8:27pm —
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Taking a field trip to the creek
By Karen Gleason (Del Rio News-Herald)
Published March 2, 2008
Early Saturday afternoon, I took advantage of the balmy spring-like weather to take a walk along the creek.
I started off at the city property at the end of Magnolia Street. A pair of Great Kiskadees chased each other through the cane thickets along the creek there, but otherwise things were relatively quiet.
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 9, 2008 at 10:50am —
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This edition of Bird Banter, "On tail of secretive goshawk," appeared Mar. 5, 2008 in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle's Outdoors section (Cheyenne, WY). Please contact the author, bgorges4@msn.com, for permission to reprint it in hard copy or virtual copy for commercial or nonprofit purposes. Thanks.
WTE headline: On tail of secretive goshawk - By Barb Gorges
Original headline: Statistics help find secretive northern goshawk
The northern goshawk is not a bird on my life list despite my having li…
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Added by Gary Lefko on March 5, 2008 at 7:04pm —
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This edition of Bird Banter, "Doves continue territory expansion," appeared Feb. 6, 2008 in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle's Outdoors section. Please contact the author, bgorges4@msn.com, for permission to reprint it in hard copy or virtual copy for commercial or nonprofit purposes. Thanks.
Published headline: "Doves continue territory expansion, including here"
My headline: "Avian gang continues take-over of world"
By Barb Gorges
I don't know about your neighborhood, but mine has a gang of doves…
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Added by Gary Lefko on February 18, 2008 at 11:14pm —
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This edition of Bird Banter, "Birds stay warm despite cold," appeared Jan. 2, 2008 in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle's Outdoors section. Please contact the author, bgorges4@msn.com, to reprint it in hard copy or virtual copy for commercial or nonprofit purposes. Thanks.
P.S. Sorry to post this after the date of the Cheyenne Christmas Bird Count mentioned. The results will be posted by mid-January at http://org.lonestree.com/audubon. Also, Fred Lebsack pointed out that people feeding geese is only pa…
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Added by Gary Lefko on February 18, 2008 at 11:12pm —
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Added by Gary Lefko on January 6, 2008 at 7:08pm —
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This edition of Bird Banter, "Birds stay warm despite cold," appeared Jan. 2, 2008 in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle's Outdoors section. Please contact the author, bgorges4@msn.com…
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Added by Gary Lefko on January 6, 2008 at 3:58pm —
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This bird could use TomTom.
But if the bird native to Siberia had used this Global Positioning System, Pennsylvania wouldn’t have scored one for the birding record books this weekend.
The long-billed murrelet, a seabird from eastern Russia that should be wintering somewhere near Japan right now, was spotted on Lake Nockamixon on Friday, sending a buzz through the local, and not-so-local, birding community.
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Added by Gary Lefko on December 19, 2007 at 11:14pm —
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This edition of Bird Banter appeared Oct. 31, 2007 in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle. Please contact the author at bgorges4@msn.com for permission to reprint it in hard or
…
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Added by Gary Lefko on December 19, 2007 at 6:18pm —
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