I love this time of year. After the exuberance of summer and the vibrant colors of fall, I’m thankful for the days growing shorter. The nights longer. Temperatures falling. Silhouettes of bare branches against a leaden sky promising snow. All of nature winding down. Encouraging quiet. Reflection. Introspection. [more]
Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus)
This Yellow-billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus americanus) was a spectacular surprise for me this morning after a night of strong passerine migration. Cuckoos are not that uncommon, but getting actually decent and prolonged glimpses at them are! This cooperative bird even let me snap a couple of recognizable photos. It was much more interested in feeding, albeit in the shade of the bright morning sun, than worrying about me watching it. What are some of the highlights of your “fall” birding so far? We are finally saying goodbye to many of...
read moreBoothe Park Hawk Watch 2015 Season
We are now well into the fall hawk watch season as sites across the country are staffed by citizen scientists engaged in counting raptors heading south for the winter. Various hawk, falcon, vulture, eagle, and kite species plus birds like the Osprey, Northern Harrier and even some owls can be tallied on conducive flight days at migratory hotspots often situated along ridges or at the edge of a body of water. Counting these birds helps keep track of raptor populations on an international scale, gauging the health of these important...
read moreArt and the Animal Opening
Here are a bunch of photos taken during the opening events for the Society of Animal Artist’s 55th Annual Exhibition, Art and the Animal, at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History in Jamestown, New York. Our deep and heartfelt thanks go out to all of our fantastic guests for making the Art and the Animal opening so enjoyable and truly memorable. Thanks again to RTPI Communications & Public Programs Coordinator Jane Johnson for leading the charge on getting Art and the Animal set for the world to enjoy. If you did not make it...
read moreExplicit Arches
While I have not posted too many moths lately, I have kept on mothing, as a young Roger Tory Peterson did, throughout the summer. It is time consuming to go through the photos that I take of what I find at my lights, especially when trying to identify eight or ten or more new species. Every couple of weeks there are different species occurring as flight seasons shift through the year. Some of that identification is going to have to wait for the winter. Nevertheless, I discovered this outrageously cool individual last night that I had to share...
read moreCoastal Adventure
The other week I had the opportunity to adventure out to Connecticut and Rhode Island for a week of learning. As you all know, we have a number of projects running in coastal Connecticut monitoring shorebirds and educating the public about the many federally and state listed species that reside there, and we have some wonderful RTPI staff stationed there as well. On my trip I was able to spend some time with Scott Kruitbosch, our Conservation and Outreach Coordinator, looking at several of the sites where projects for shorebirds, migrating...
read moreSAA Artist Brent Langley to Present Program – September 4, 2015
SAA Artist Brent Langley to Present Program – September 4, 2015 On Friday, September 4, at 7:00 pm, artist Brent Langley will present a program on his own artistic development and approach to painting, and on wildlife art in general with reference to his own work and that of other artists featured in the Art and the Animal exhibition. Coinciding with having his artwork in Art and the Animal, on view at RTPI through October 25, Langley also has a solo exhibition at the Crary Art Gallery in Warren, PA through September 7. This inspiring...
read moreSociety of Animal Artist’s 55th Annual Exhibition, Art and the Animal – Open!
The Society of Animal Artist’s 55th Annual Exhibition, Art and the Animal, is now open to the public at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History! After a tremendous opening reception last night with many of the sensational artists we are very excited to invite you to RTPI. The exhibition will run from August 28-October 25, 2015, and we will be sharing photos of Art and the Animal from here at RTPI with you over the next two months, as well as images from the opening events. The highlight of our gallery programs this year, this...
read moreProject Wild America Wrap Up
It’s 7am and about 55° on the morning of our last turtle trapping day with our Project Wild America Youth Ambassadors. I roll up to the Riverwalk to find all our students ready to give things a final go. All of us are beat from a long couple weeks of intensive trapping efforts and exploration of various sites along the Chadakoin River. However, we each feel accomplished with how many different species we have found and the impact we have made on the local community through the sharing of our findings and experiences. There is a...
read moreWildLife Guards Working
It is hard to believe, but yesterday was the final day of the eight week season for our Bridgeport WildLife Guards! In case you missed previous blog entries and posts, RTPI teamed up with Audubon Connecticut and the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut to run the 2015 WildLife Guards program, which trained, mentored, and employed ten local high schools students and two crew leaders who monitored nesting birds and engaged visitors, families, and friends about the City’s Pleasure Beach and its ecosystem. The WildLife Guards offered unique...
read moreLimosa Harlequin Toad (Atelopus limosus) & RTPI in New Scientist
In the 60 years that the illustrious journal New Scientist has been around they’ve never run a photo-led feature. I’m very proud and honored that they decided to break with that tradition with a story on our work with endangered frogs in Panama. Our research on a population of the exceedingly rare Limosa Harlequin Toad (Atelopus limosus) in Cocobolo Nature Reserve in Panama will hopefully give us more information on why these frogs are seemingly doing alright while its surrounding populations are going extinct. And with some luck,...
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