Avian Ecologist

Dressing for North Country Winter

Today is my birthday, so I’m going to share with you perhaps some of the most important things I’ve learned in my 32 years around the sun: how to dress for cold weather. My birthday weekend adventures give this east coast girl an excuse to write about the complexities of dressing for winter in a […]

Montpelier

After the tour, we walked from the main house through the Annie Dupont formal garden to the trail through landmark forest. So, we took the turkey foot trail and did the poplar run loop. We returned on mountain mill road.

Monticello

We walked the trail from Monticello back to the visitor’s center after the tour. Along the way, we stopped at the cemetery to see Jefferson’s grave.

Monocacy National Battlefield

We walked the Junction Trail, though not to the end (we turned around at the dirt road crossing).

Conservation Concern: Yellow Rails

I got into ecology to be a conservationist, so my heart goes out to pretty much all negative effects of land use/land cover change (LU/LCC). That being said, it’s also exactly why I have to be smart about where I put my efforts and focus my attention, if only in vain to save myself a […]

Ice Age Trail

Today, Paul and I kicked around the Cross Plains section of the trail! We walked up around the Wilkie historic home and the hay fields.

Indigenous Language Scholars

As several of my blog followers know (and why they’re here!) I’ve been digging into the etymology of the Indigenous bird names of our continent (North America). I’ve been trying to connect with scholars on these topics on social media, which has inevitably led me to a broader web of Indigenous communities and languages across […]

Etymology Bubble Map

I made this mind map in reverse, such that the central yellow bubble is my main topic of inquiry and the tangential bubbles (grading to “blue”) are more general. This bubble map represents the directions studying this topic has taken me. Please connect me with experts in these fields!

Social Media #SciComm

Today is the 1st round of #NameThatBirdSong since my last post, so the game was on hiatus for about a month! The bird of week is field sparrow, inspired by Rick Wright‘s generous preview of his upcoming book. How bizarre that it took us so long to figure out that that beautiful April song of […]

Pomarine Jaeger!

There’s an incredible record of a pomarine jaeger today at Point Douglas! Many people photographed it, as it was just sitting on the water for awhile apparently. It offered close views for a good number of local birders. I wonder if it was “blown in” by the gales during the week?