I get asked a lot for recommendations for young birders interested in working with birds. Where should I go to school? What should I study? How do I prepare myself for a career in bird conservation? Most young birders are already on a great track. They involve themselves with local […]
Read More
What do you do when a first U.S. record shows up about two hours from where you live? If you are me, and you live in southeastern Arizona, and the bird in question is the Pine Flycatcher, you watch your Facebook newsfeed fill up with brilliant pictures taken by all […]
Read More
We were bumping down the road in the pick-up when suddenly Domi stomped on the brakes, put the truck in park, and jumped out of the driver’s seat. “ARMY ANTS!” he exclaimed in an excited voice, quickly pulling down the ladder to let our group climb down out of the […]
Read More
Last September I found myself on Chincoteague Island, setting of the mythical Misty of Chincoteague, a favorite book from my childhood. I’d arrived about a day and a half before to help facilitate a workshop to develop the Pacific Americas Shorebird Conservation Strategy. Partners from all over the Pacific coast […]
Read More
“Let’s go wide open….let us go,” we said, “into the Sea of Cortez, realizing that we become forever a part of it; that our rubber boots slogging through a flat of eel-grass, that the rocks we turn over in a tide pool, make us truly and permanently a factor in […]
Read More
“I have a question for you about volunteering for the Arizona Important Bird Areas program.” I can’t tell you how many times someone has come up to me asking something like this. “I’m not the Jennie you are looking for,” I tell them. “You are Jennie, the bird biologist who […]
Read More
Have you ever seen a Five-striped Sparrow? It’s a Mexican species that just makes its way into the United States in a few spots in southeastern Arizona. The phrase “death march” often accompany a description of an attempt to find Five-striped Sparrow in Arizona. The roads require high clearance and […]
Read More
I met Danielle Brigida (pronounced like London BRIDGE-i-da, as she’d tell you) three or four years ago when she taught a social media course I was taking at the National Conservation Training Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. At the time she was in charge of social media for the National Wildlife Federation. We […]
Read More
Do you have a local patch? A spot near your home where you regularly go to bird? I live in Tucson, Arizona, and my spot is a wastewater treatment facility called Sweetwater Wetlands. The City of Tucson has created a spot that not only uses natural processes to help clean wastewater, […]
Read More
How do you get a five-year-old interested in birds? Tell him the scientific name of American Robin. Hilarity will ensue. I promise. Earlier this year I took a trip east to visit my brother and his family. My nephews Freddy and Benny are eight and five. Since we live across the country […]
Read More