Category Archives: Quest for 700 (*800!)

I have always been fascinated by landfills. In a previous life, I was the Operations Director of The Waste System Authority of Montgomery County (Pa). My responsibility was to license and regulate the municipal waste haulers and, in the interest … Continue reading →

The best chance one has to see and possibly photograph the very elusive yellow rail, a small chicken-like bird, is to attend the Yellow Rail & Rice Festival in Lafayette, Louisiana. The yellow rail breeds in northern Canada and spends … Continue reading →

Dear loyal blog followers, I am pleased to inform you that my “bird book” was published yesterday and is available for purchase on Amazon. This 120 page manuscript is basically autobiographical and ties many of my blog posts together chronologically. … Continue reading →

The Oriental Turtle-Dove ranges mainly from Asia to Japan. Technically it has now been seen three times in California but realistically the chances of seeing one in the USA are basically 0% (see #221 below). I received a NARBA (North … Continue reading →

I was hesitating to write any more blogs partly because I have surpassed my goal of seeing 800 species in the USA/Canada but mainly because I did not want to diminish the significance of my recent post recording the INCREDIBLE … Continue reading →

The intrepid Steller’s Sea-Eagle is basically an endangered species native to Russia and Japan. It had NEVER been spotted in Canada or the Lower 48 states until this past summer. Startlingly, one was photographed in New Brunswick, Canada in July, … Continue reading →

Apologies for bombarding you with blogposts today but I promise….this is IT for awhile. Besides, I need to keep doing something to fight the red-eye jet lag:) After the excitement of Mr. Middendorff, my mind immediately shifted to: #800 has … Continue reading →

This bird is sooo special that no matter the number for me, it deserves its own blog-post. I was standing in one of the boneyards, not far from our guide, when Aaron’s walkie-talkie crackled inaudibly. The leader from another group … Continue reading →

The tiny village of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island in the Bering Sea hosts a number of super rare birds in the Fall that become disoriented while migrating from East Asia and Russia. Because it is a part of Alaska, … Continue reading →

The Himalayan Snowcock sightings in Nevada were certainly equivalent to winning a birding medal, possibly gold, if such a thing existed. As you know, at this point, it is really really hard for me to add a new species to … Continue reading →