Birdingonthe.Net
  Birding for the 21st Century

Barred Owl, L. A. Fuertes
Barred Owl, L. A. Fuertes 		Mailing Lists
Regional/Specialty
List Archives Index
Rare Bird Alerts
Links
World
North America
Middle and
   South America
Europe, Africa
Asia,Australasia
Travel, Tours
Equipment
BirdingNews
jsiler@birdingonthe.net Jack's Home Page
   Search Tips Search    for      GO

Droppings:
08/24/10 Summer Books, Summer Giveaway
A "like" at Princeton U. Press's Facebook page or a fanning at its Twitter page will enter you in a drawing for a book giveaway: Birds of Western North America:A Photographic Guide and Birds of Eastern North America:A Photographic Guide - just in time for fall migration. Also have a look at some of PUP's new books including Australia (8th ed., 2010, Simpson and Day) and West Indies (2010 Norman Arlott) field guides.

A terrific read is The Private Life of Birds by Bridget Stuchbury; Every chapter starts with a Julie Zickefoose drawing and has a story or two that will amaze.

04/27/10 Warbler Songs from Cornell
Just in time for migration season is Cornell Lab's re-release of its classic warbler song recordings. The format is MP3 - ready to be downloaded ($14.95) and added to your portable or non-portable sound devices. Further information, including song samples, can be found at the web site.
03/23/10 Wild Urban Plants of the NorthEast A Field Guide
Not a birding fieldguide but if you've birded the Northeast then you've seen the plants covered in this book - probably without knowing many of their names or appreciating their history and ecological niche. This book (by David del Tredici) should live in your car except possiblyin winter when it can nestle near Sibley's tree book. Each of the many entries has brief accounts of place of origin, vegetative characteristics, habitat preferences, ecological functions, and more. The facing page contains 3-7 photographs. The photos are instructive but I found myself wishing for a web site with (much) larger versions. Cornell Press (the publisher) has a web page for the book here.
03/20/10 Back From Birding Southern Ecuador
A very fine trip with Gary Rosenberg and his new "Avian Journeys" bird tour company to 4 of the Jocotoco Reserves in Southeast Ecuador. The birding was brilliant throughout; notable sightings included Red-hooded Tanager, Jocotoco Antpitta (see left), Long-wattled Umbrellabird, White-necked Parakeet and many others. The lodges were very fine, the roads and trails mostly good and the scenery terrific. Highly recommended.

Details on this and other Avian Journey tours can be found at the website.

11/21/09 Screensaver TimeWaster
On a Mac one can "create" a screensaver from a directory of images, optionally displaying them as a continuously changing mosaic. An example, using images from Barry Kent Mackay, is shown below. It's a little rough; looks best in HighQuality and full screen.