New York State Young Birders Club visits RTPI
This past Sunday, July 20, the New York State Young Birders Club visited us at the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. Thanks to the assistance of our friend and supreme naturalist Tim Baird we were able to arrange a visit of several young birders in order to target some of the fantastic and conservation concern grassland species that can be found here in Chautauqua County. RTPI Affiliate Sean Graesser and I met up with the group at RTPI at 7:00AM to head to the Chautauqua County/Jamestown Airport. Unfortunately we have not recorded the New York State “Threatened”...
Read MorePassenger Pigeons on display
Following up on our last post about Joel Greenberg and Project Passenger Pigeon be sure to visit RTPI to see three Passenger Pigeons on display and purchase Joel’s new book A Feathered River Across the Sky!
Read MoreRTPI’s avian archives
RTPI’s extensive archives hold a massive collection of bird study skins. This includes several extinct species as well like the Passenger Pigeon, Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Carolina Parakeet, and Bachman’s Warbler. I looked through hundreds of warblers yesterday while I was answering a couple of questions for myself after the busy last few weeks of spring migration. I was struck by this size differential – Prothonotary Warbler vs. Wilson’s Warbler. We “know” their respective sizes but…geez! The Wilson’s Warbler on the right with the black cap...
Read MorePassenger Pigeons and Bird Fest 2014
One hundred years ago this year, Martha – the last of the Passenger Pigeons – died at the Cincinnati Zoo. This may once have been the most abundant bird in North America but was effectively extinct in the wild around the turn of the 20th century with only few sad survivors remaining in captivity. Roger Tory Peterson never saw one in the wild but did illustrate the species for his first guide in 1934. As was the case with most of his illustrations he used museum specimens as models. Twan took the following photos of the Passenger Pigeon mount and study skins, Meet Your Neighbours...
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