Avian Ecologist

Considering Planning a “Spring Break” Trip

So I don’t really get spring break anymore, but I’m thinking about heading to the Black Hills Mar. 24-Apr. 1 this year. I want to bee-line to the Badlands (get to Blue Earth, MN Friday night and drive the rest of the way Saturday). I hope to catch some straggling gray-crowned rosy-finches before they’ve left […]

The Latest Bayes in R

What good fortune that I looked up advances in Bayesian methods the day a new task view was published! If you’re just starting with Bayes, they even have packages listed here designed to help you learn. I’ve been using R-INLA and for a few reasons I became curious what else was out there. I’m still […]

A Possible Owl Sighting at Dusk, Finally!

At 5:38 PM I spotted an owl flying away from me! I didn’t get binoculars on it in time, and from the angle and distance it would have been hard to ID even if I did. I want to say from size and shape it may have been a great horned owl, but I’m not sure.

Warm Temps = Snow Melt = Snow Fleas!

We went to Sax-Zim bog this afternoon and found so many spring tails jumping around! I dare use the other common name, because it did make me hopeful for spring. The longer we have warm temperatures, the more bearable this winter becomes. We walked leisurely along the trail behind the visitors center before driving at […]

1st Night of Atlas Surveying for 2018!

Tonight from 5:00-7:30pm I went out to check my atlas block for the 1st time this year! It was a warm, windless evening, but dusk occurs now while after-work traffic is still relatively high. So, some of the spots I surveyed last spring close to the highway were too noisy. I went to Wisconsin Point […]

Reported Great Horned Owl Calling!

Tonight, someone reported a great horned owl calling from a local park, so I figure it’s time to start listening for nocturnal species!

Rare Birds of Wisconsin – January

It’s time to cheer myself up about being in cold weather with the birds I could see this month. Thanks to diligent eBirders and the Wisconsin Society of Ornithology Records Committee, many of the historic sightings from the state checklist are now online and searchable in eBird. If a particular species interests you, search for sightings […]

My Favorite Bird Sightings of 2017

This year “began” when I got back from vacation, to see a curve-billed thrasher on 1/14 with Paul coming to a feeder in MN! Admittedly, much of the rest of the year was a drought, with some crucial misses. Just as the birding demoralization was setting in, though, it came time for our trip out west! […]

Red-throated Loon…with a Red Throat!

We got to my family’s beach house this evening and saw a really close red-throated loon off our dock…and for the first time ever, I saw some red on the throat!

Building Networks for Wetland Connectivity

We’ve been playing with ways to construct networks according to graph theory, ultimately using the R package igraph to investigate wetland connectivity. I can’t reveal too much here because it’s my current research in progress! 🙂 The part of the process I’m currently trying to make more efficient is how to calculate distances for each […]