Birding with Kenn and Kimberly

Unlike the bird in the viral video, this actually is a Golden Eagle. From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes:   I have spent my whole life trying to teach people about nature.  When I see someone intentionally misleading the public with dangerously false ideas, and others repeating the misinformation without even attempting to fact-check it, I can’t help but be angry.  Late at night on December 18, a video showed up on YouTube that purported to show a Golden Eagle swooping in to snatch a small child in a park in Montreal.  After a few labored wingbeats, gaining several feet off the ground, the eagle drops the child and flies away, while the videographer (screen name “MrNuclearCat”) rushes over for a closeup of the scene.  After a few shares on Facebook, the video went viral, exploding all over the Internet.  By the morning of the 19th, the clip was being played on television news shows, and millions of people had seen it.  But it’s faked.  To determine that, you don’t

Rich Stallcup, as he appeared about the time I first met him in the 1970s. Photo by Van Remsen. From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: This past Saturday, December 15, was the annual Christmas Bird Count at Point Reyes, California. One of the largest CBCs in North America, Point Reyes regularly fields around 200 observers and records around 200 species, a testament to the fabulous birding culture of Marin County.  This year, for the first time in many years, one observer was conspicuously absent: the legendary Rich Stallcup, beloved leader of the Marin birding community for the last half-century. Rich had been battling illness for many months.  As the bird counters gathered for their compilation Saturday evening, he slipped away across the horizon.   To say that Rich Stallcup had a massive influence on birding and natural history in the great state of California would be a huge understatement.  Everyone knew him, everyone had learned from him.  But his influence spread far, far bey

From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes: Two days from now, tens of millions of people will be storming the stores and decking the malls for the annual shopping explosion of Black Friday.  Perhaps you'll be among them, and if so, we wish you the best of success.  Perhaps, like us, you'll stay far away from stores on Friday, and take part in Shop Local Saturday at small businesses the next day. But if you're gearing up to shop for holiday gifts, I'd like to make a couple of modest suggestions.   Of course, buying gifts is already challenging enough. It can be tough to find just the right item for that special person. But buying a gift is an act that can have an impact in both directions: not only for the person receiving it, but back along the line for everyone involved in selling and producing that gift. So with some careful thought, not only can we thrill the recipient, we can also make a positive difference in the world in other ways. We can give a gift that will, in ef

Kirtland's Warbler: North America's rarest songbird species. The only known consistent stopover area  for this bird during its migration is in northwestern Ohio - the area now being threatened by wind power development. From Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes:  Our book tour of New England was wonderful, but it was cut short by the approach of Superstorm Sandy.  We had to cancel our last appearances on October 29 and 30, and since all flights were cancelled as well, we drove our rental car back to Ohio through the rain and high winds, arriving safely at home on the 30th.  Once there, however, we were dealing with an ill wind of another kind.  As many of you will know already, Black Swamp Bird Observatory (BSBO) has been leading an attempt to stop construction of a large wind turbine at the Camp Perry Air National Guard Station, on the Lake Erie shore in the heart of Ohio's premier bird migration hotspot of Magee Marsh / Crane Creek / Ottawa NWR. This is the area popu

What We Did On Our Book Tour Today  by kimberly kaufman  We began our day in Portland, Maine, where we did a radio show by phone with Jack Holcomb from Jack's Backyard on WEEU in Reading, PA. We then headed northwest towards North Conway, New Hampshire, where we led a nature walk at 3:00 PM sponsored by Tin Mountain Conservation Center.   Following the walk, we gave a program and book signing at White Birch Books .  ---And it was AWESOME!   The radio show was great, the walk at Whittaker Woods was incredible, and the program tonight at White Birch Books was really fun. It was such a pleasure to meet Laura Lucy, owner of this lovely store.  Our walk today was a real highlight of the trip for us, for a number of reasons.   When we arrived for our walk, we were at 339 species, having picked up British Soldier Lichen and an Ichneumon Wasp at an information center just south of North Conway.  We hadn't set any high hopes for finding lots of things on the walk

From Portland, Maine, Kenn writes:    So here we are in Maine, and suddenly Moose are cavorting everywhere. Or, at least, representations of them are everywhere. This guy greeted us at the first service area on the Maine turnpike. In case you can't tell from this small photo, Kimberly is signalling two thumbs up, not some other kind of gesture that might be inspired by an elusive moose. Aside from the silent moose, everyone we meet right now is talking about the approaching late-season hurricane, Sandy, and its possible effects on the region.  Of course we're keeping an eye on that as well.  But the theme yesterday (Friday the 26th) was of surprisingly mild weather.  The temperature reached the low 60s again, and even a few insects were active, adding to our trip tally. We had been surprised, a week ago, to see a few Monarchs on Cape Cod and in Rhode Island. Yesterday, later and farther north, we were even more surprised to see a few Monarchs winging their way south on t

From Portland, Maine, Kimberly Writes:  We've been blogging every night during our book tour through New England, updating readers on how we're doing with our 350 Species Challenge.  But after a very long, wonderful and emotional day on Thursday, we were just too darn tired, so we promised ourselves that we'd catch up soon. Highlights from Thursday, October 25th.   We started our day in Concord, New Hampshire and headed off for Exeter, New Hampshire.  We made a slight detour so we could spend some time on the coast, both to add species to our list and because we both love the ocean and the beach.   We stopped for lunch at a great little place and splurged by ordering big bowls of Clam Chowder!  It was a little chilly on the beach, so we were both happy to have something warm and wonderful like delicious local Chowder.  J ust outside the restaurant was a small butterfly garden that still had some blooming flowers.  They were looking a little

From Concord, New Hampshire, Kim Writes: Well, we made it to New Hampshire where we gave a presentation and did a book signing tonight at Gibson's Bookstore .  Established in 1898, Gibson's is the oldest bookstore in New Hampshire, and might even be the oldest in all of New England. It was a wonderful night, and the nicest people came to our talk and stayed well after chatting about the book and nature in general. It's encouraging to see so many independent bookstores, like Gibson's!, that appear to be thriving and considered important parts of the community.  Before leaving South Hadley this morning to head north, we took advantage of some precious free time to get outside and explore with friends who live in the area. Jamie Bishop and her son Galen joined us, along with Josh Rose, and we spent a wonderful couple of hours at one of their favorite spots in the area.  It's one of those birding spots with a really distinctive name that you don't forget.  The

From a cozy B and B in South Hadley, Massachusetts, Kimberly Writes:  It was with a bit of reluctance that we left our lovely room at the Roger Sherman Inn in New Canaan, Connecticut, and headed for South Hadley.  We had such a fabulous time during our two night stay in New Canaan and we both wished we could stay a little longer.  We gave a presentation at the New Canaan Public Library yesterday and it was just wonderful.  A great turn-out, a diverse audience, and the local book store sold out every copy of the New England field guide they had and took several orders!  Almost directly across from the Inn was a wonderful nature preserve and we walked some of the trails there a few times during our stay. We found several new things to add to our 350 species list, but even if we hadn't, the wooded trails were incredibly beautiful and we really enjoyed our time there.  The species list keeps growing, but now that we've sort of knocked off the "low hanging fruit"

From New Canaan, Connecticut, Kenn writes:   Last night we reported that our big book tour list had soared to 260 species.  Today our pace slowed way down, but we added a few things. Today we were dealing with people, mostly, not nature.  Kimberly and I both had to attend to correspondence related to a big conservation effort back in Ohio; we gave an afternoon program to a wonderful audience at the New Canaan Public Library; then we got together with our great friend Fred Baumgarten, with whom I had worked at National Audubon Society back in the late 1980s.  But when we got back to the hotel room, well after dark, we got a new species for the trip literally IN our room. Velvetbean Caterpillar Moth: a southern species that wanders northward in fall, but hardly something that we'd expected to find in Connecticut. We mentioned on the blog a couple of days ago that we had slogged through a marsh in Rhode Island to see a rare Wood Sandpiper.  Our shoes had gotten pretty skanky du

From New Canaan, Connecticut, Kenn writes: If you've been following our story so far, you know that we're several days into the book tour for the Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of New England, officially published last Tuesday.  We are speaking and signing books every day for 15 days, traveling through all 6 New England states.  To make the trip more fun and more interesting, our friends at the publisher (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) suggested that we should take on a challenge: identify at least 350 species of living things in the wild in New England before the tour ends.  Kimberly and I always like a challenge, so we've been working on this as time permits, dashing out to areas of good habitat to look for more plants and animals for the list.   Fall colors seem to be near their peak in southern Connecticut right now. The maples are ablaze with red, with the oaks adding darker reds and browns and the birches adding yellow to the mix. Traveling around New England at th

From Greenwich, Connecticut, Kenn writes:   It has been a long day and our eyes are barely open, but we wanted to at least mention a couple of highlights from today. After last night's presentation to the Audubon Society of Rhode Island, we couldn't bear to leave the Ocean State without at least trying for the Wood Sandpiper that had been present at Marsh Meadows Preserve near Jamestown, RI, for the last several days.  This Old World shorebird has been found only a handful of times ever in the Lower 48 States.  So we set the alarm for 6 and drove down to meet our friend Drew Wheelan at Jamestown.  Drew and Kimberly and I spent quite a while slogging around in the marsh on the west side of the road, in areas where the sandpiper had been seen on other days, and finally got the word that the bird had just been relocated on the east side of the road.  It took a soggy hike of half a mile to get to the right spot, but once we arrived, we had long, satisying looks at this elegant

From Providence, Rhode Island, Kimberly Writes:   We began our day with a visit to the Cape Cod National Seashore.  In order to try and add some species to our list for the Book Tour Big 350 Species Challenge, we first hit one of the wooded walking trails and had great success, adding many plants, trees, and even some insects.   From the woods we headed for the beach.  Both of us love the ocean, and with the winds really whipping out of the East/Southeast, we both hoped to catch a glimpse of a few seabirds.  We weren't disappointed.   There were squadrons of Northern Gannets everywhere, numbering in at least the hundreds.  There was never a point during our watch that we couldn't see multiple Gannets in the air. Interesting to both of us was the fact that they were nearly all adults. Northern Gannets against a rolling surf In addition to the gannets, we also had huge rafts of Common Eiders, three Scoter species (Black, Surf, and White-winged),  and we even had nice looks

From Boston, Mass., Kenn writes:   So far we've had very little time to walk around outside; so after 2 days, the species list from our book tour is still under 100.  But we've had some good sightings even in urban Boston.  Red Admirals had a very good flight in 2012 - here's a photo of one from Ohio from last April. On October 17th, we saw a lingering individual in downtown Boston. With our book tour happening so late in the season, we figured we wouldn't be seeing many butterflies or other insects, but Kimberly spotted a Red Admiral flying right past the car as we crossed a bridge on our way into downtown Boston. With temperatures predicted to reach the mid 60s on Thursday, we might see a few other butterflies down on Cape Cod. This morning (Wednesday the 17th) we got to visit with classes at Pierce Middle School in Milton.  Science teacher Jeff Stoodt invited us to come speak to an assembly of 6th and 7th grade classes, and later in the morning we went out o

From Cambridge, Mass., Kenn writes:   Our book tour for KFG to Nature of New England will take us through all 6 New England states, October 16-30, with public programs, book signings, media interviews, store visits, etc., so we're going to be somewhat busy for the next two weeks.  Our friends Taryn, Lisa, and Katrina at the publishing company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, decided that we weren't going to be quite busy enough, so they suggested a challenge: "Why don't you try to identify 350 species of living things while you're traveling through New England?"  As evidence of how crazy we are, Kim and I immediately said Yes to the idea.  Why not, indeed?  New England is loaded with natural wonders; and even in late October, past the main season for butterflies and flowers, after many birds have flown south, we are still going to see a lot of nature over the course of 15 days.  So that's our listing challenge: the Book Tour Big 350! We arrived in Boston l

From on the way out the door in Oak Harbor, Ohio, Kenn writes:   We're heading to Boston to start our trip to introduce the brand-new Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of New England!   The official publication date is Tuesday, Oct. 16, and we will kick things off at the New England Wild Flower Society and Massachusetts Audubon Society before going on to events in all six New England states.  We are looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting lots of new friends as we travel through one of our favorite regions in the world! Here's a preliminary schedule; we will try to update this with more information as we get more details.  We are immensely grateful to Taryn Roeder and her staff at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for making arrangements for this whole tour. Here's our new "baby" - its official "birthday" is October 16th! October 16 at Framingham, Massachusetts : 12:30 p.m. program and book signing at New England Wild Flower Society. More inform