Category: Birds
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Why Birders Flock to the Lower Rio Grande Valley – Lists and Photographs
Post #2 of The Great South Texas Birding Adventure SeriesLink to Post #1 The Great South Texas Birding Adventure Begins Why would the three amigos from The Great South Texas Birding Adventure choose South Texas as their destination for this grand escapade? Two things, Lists and Photographs! Astronomical Growth of…
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The Undiscovered Country
2021 Merced County Species-to-Date (as of last checklist)Life List = 186Year List = 140 Whereas this title may bring to mind either Shakespeare’s Hamlet or Gene Roddenberry’s Start Trek VI, it is merely a reference to the Eastern Merced County grasslands that I had never ventured into before. I again…
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Birding Between the Storms
2021 Merced County Species-to-Date (as of last checklist)Life List = 183Year List = 122 Seeing a break between storms, I reached out to Rich Brown and Dale Swanberg to see if they wanted to explore the San Luis Reservoir State Recreation areas. I was hoping that something unusual would show…
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BIRDING THE MERCED RIVER
2021 Merced County Species-to-Date (as of last checklist)Life List = 179Year List = 99 HENDERSON PARK Nestled next to the Merced River, surrounded by riparian trees and home to a myriad of ornamental evergreen and deciduous trees in an open setting, Henderson Park was our target for the morning. COLLEGE…
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COVID-19 Birding – A Therapeutic Walk in Nature
Contact with nature benefits our mood, our psychological well-being, our mental health, and our cognitive functioning. For centuries outdoor enthusiasts have given testimony to the joy one can derive from a simple walk in nature. “One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” ― William Shakespeare “Look deep into nature, and then…
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I Tried to Catch the Fog, but I Mist
Merced County 2021 Checklists 3, 4 and 5 2021 Merced County Species-to-Date (as of last checklist)Life List = 178Year List = 89 San Luis NWR–West Bear Creek Unit As Benji and I approached the West Bear Creek Unit of the San Luis NWR, I knew it was going to be…
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Merced County 2021 eBird Checklist #2 – Merced NWR
2021 Merced County Species-to-DateLife List = 178Year List = 76 After a delightful tour around the San Luis NWR – Waterfowl Tour Route, my next destination would be the Merced NWR. Infamous for its auto tour route that takes visitors on a loop through time with thousands of Snow Geese,…
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The Quest Begins – 1/4/2021
THE FOCUS IS SETPart way through last year’s San Joaquin County Birding Push, I began to consider what I would focus on for 2021. The answer was simple, focus on the southern adjacent county to Stanislaus, MERCED COUNTY. A quick check in eBird showed that I had a lot of…
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Cassin’s Kingbirds, Lawrence’s Goldfinch and Avian Eponyms
HUNTING FOR PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION The chase began, as they usually do, with a rare bird email report from ebird on 3/14 by Emilie Strauss about a sighting of a pair of Cassin’s Kingbirds. Cassin’s Kingbirds are rare to uncommon in the county with a pretty limited distribution, mostly along the…
Reflections of the Natural World 