What is it about shorebirds? To a beginning birder it must seem a bit, well, peculiar to see people poring over some dull gray dowitcher poking its oversize bill into a foul-looking muddy patch, when just down the road there are Scarlet Tanagers and Black-throated Blue Warblers in nearly every tree.  And I guess it [...]

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Our tour to The Heart & Sole of Chile recently came to an end, and it was a good one. It was the second time we’ve offered this tour, and the pace, birds, and scenery were once again ideal. We did something a little different this time, though, encouraging more involvement and communication between our group and local birders and conservationists…

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If you’ve traveled with us before, I’m sure you’ve heard tall tales and humorous anecdotes from your guides. Over nearly 25 years of Field Guiding, we’ve accumulated quite a few! Every year at our late-August business meeting, with as many of us as possible gathered together from the field and our Austin office, our Field Guides step forward to add new ones to the archives. But we don’t forget the past…

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(Did you miss Part I?) Limping gingerly through Canche, a place with apparently no wheeled vehicles larger than wheelbarrows, we came to a bar at the far edge of town. There were three pickup trucks parked at odd angles in front of the place. Our driver pointed out excitedly that one of them had tires [...]

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Hey there, folks. Usually when we hear about new species they come from Peru or Brazil, not Idaho. They also often have Dan or Bret’s name involved somehow. But not this one. Craig Benkman and colleagues just published a paper in the Condor titled: A New Species of the Red Crossbill (Fringillidae: Loxia) From Idaho [...]

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Peggy Watson and I have just come back from a really fun visit to the Space Coast Birding & Wildlife Festival, in Titusville, Florida. I had an absolutely great time catching up with folks who have traveled with me before, or whom I met at this festival before — it is a really relaxed and [...]

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On Monday I awoke at five. My alarm was set for five-thirty, but rather than roll over I thought I might as well get up. I turned off the white noise of the a/c in my room, opened the glass doors to my little balcony, and assessed the day outside. Though the surroundings were still [...]

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