Barry and Ginger bird together on April 27, 2007
Species total: 126

The dawn chorus was somewhat meager on account of the cold rain, which slowly dwindled as the morning progressed. We were in hills behind the fire station at Smith Creek. First bird heard was a GREAT HORNED OWL. First bird seen was CALIFORNIA QUAIL. On the hike back down, a pair of WOOD DUCKs was seen in a small pond. In a cluster of oak trees next to the gate for the Foothill trail we saw NASHVILLE, ORANGE-CROWNED and WILSON'S WARBLERs as well as all three Goldfinch species. The bridge over Smith Creek did not give us any flycatchers, but we got great looks at a HERMIT THRUSH and LINCOLN'S SPARROW…

Barry and Ginger bird again as “The Jack Sparrows” only this time it’s a Fall Birdathon hosted by the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory.
Species total: 106

Our plans were humble: this was not going to be an all-out get-all-the-birds type birdathon. We were going to enjoy the birds, and we were going to have a good time out in nature together. For the spring birdathon we had arranged sleepovers for the kids for both the night previous and the night following. This time we had daycare during the day, but our children were ours for both nights, and for lunch, and we would have to retrieve them at 7pm (right about when it was getting dark)….

Barry and Ginger bird together as “The Jack Sparrows” in their first self-guided Birdathon
Species total: 125

At 5:00am we woke to the smell of coffee and the faint song of an AMERICAN ROBIN. Donning our tricornes we hurried to Stevens Creek Reservoir, hearing SPOTTED TOWHEE and WESTERN SCRUB-JAY along the way. A brief scan of the lake in the darkness produced MALLARD (first sighting of the day), while a WRENTIT and SONG SPARROW called from the hillside behind us. Then we drove to our planned starting point: Picchetti Ranch's Bear Meadow trailhead starting on Stevens Canyon Road and climbing uphill to the center of the preserve...

The Varied Twitchers and the Rock Wrens team up for a Birdathon Big Day
Species total: 157

Naturally, bedtime went all the way to midnight, and my alarm was set for 3am to make it to the meeting-place by four. Still, anticipation led me to wake before the alarm and start my day as refreshed as one could on so little sleep. Ginger came to bed as I arose and wished me well as she settled into sleep…

Barry’s joins the Varied Twitchers for his first ever Birdathon
Species total: 158

My Saturday began at 3am when my alarm went off, less than an hour after Ginger came to bed. By 3:40am I found myself sitting in my car in a deserted parking at the edge of the San Francisco Bay. I was the only car there and started to wonder if I had the right location, but discovered I had not brought the instructions with me…

Some of the Flora and Fauna (and a bit of geology and history) of a tiny portion of western Puerto Rico.

Casa Badillo in the Puntas suburb of Rincón, Puerto Rico is a private guest house with a yard sitting in the shade of coconut palms on Sandy Beach. It is located just downslope from La Cadena Hills which mark the western edge of the tropical-forest-covered Cordillera Central (central hills). Nearby habitats include a small pasture (grassland), an empty lot (grass, weeds and short shrubs), forest (acacia, mango and other trees), rural yards (short grass, cultivated plants), and of course a sand beach (coconut palms, beach vine, beach bean, other vines). Sandy beach runs east-west with the AtlanticOcean to the north. The western edge of the beach is marked by an outcrop of eroded Karstic limestone rocks, which we refer to as "Bikini Rock" (maps label the area as "Punta Gorda"), resting on sandstone. The eastern edge is loosely denoted by tidepools set in smooth sandstone lying at a slight angle on the beach…