birdwatching

Ambivalence and Rare Beauty

Although any birder reading this already knew, I was surprised by the Wisconsin State Journal coverage of a Black-throated Gray Warbler appearing in Madison. Birders are flocking to see this western species that almost never shows up here. A bonus is the bird is as beautiful as it is rare as you can see from the photo.

Photo by Aaron Maizlish

The Eyes (and Ears) Have It

A couple of weeks ago I was walking into a trout stream (here I go again) when I spotted an odd splotch of brown, white, and black on the opposite bank. I could not make it out — a dead raccoon? a sleeping badger? Neither seemed quite right and the latter sort of ridiculous. Later as I had worked back to that bank, I had my answer when a goose erupted off her nest. I had not known that geese flatten themselves on a nest when they feel threatened. Within the next week or so on two different streams I saw the same phenomena. In both cases, though, I instantly recognized what I was seeing.

Photo by Arlene Koziol