My newest book becomes available April 14th, in bookstores everywhere. You can read a little more about it at these links: here in my web store An excerpt is available at my publisher’s website and a starred review has been published in Library Journal I’ll be posting more in the coming days, stay tuned, and […]
12 days until “What it’s like to be a Bird” goes on sale, with a starred review! Read More »
I always enjoy studying Herring Gulls, just looking at variation and trying to categorize the birds into age, sex, and regional groups. Last winter I was watching the gull flock at Turners Falls, MA, paying special attention to when the adults molted into breeding plumage. My thought was that the early-molting birds would be from
The head shape of Herring Gulls seems to change seasonally Read More »
I’ve updated my events page with lots of new book-signings and other things for the spring, mostly related to the release of my new book “What It’s Like to Be a Bird“. More events and updates will be added so keep checking there to see what’s going on. About 40 of the original paintings from
An art show opening (and updated events list) Read More »
I have a few events scheduled for 2020, and a lot more in the works as part of a book-signing tour in April and May for the launch of my new book (on sale April 14th). Check back for updates on that. You can see a map and calendar of upcoming events here. Galapagos tour
Upcoming events as of November 2019 Read More »
I’ve just updated my map of upcoming events, and here is what’s on the calendar for this spring and summer: The University of Mississippi Museum is hosting an exhibit of my original art, including many plates from the Guide to Birds, some from the Guide to Trees, and a few earlier drawings and paintings (going
Events page updated Read More »
My time in Arcata, CA, taking part in the annual Godwit Days Festival, just wrapped up. The birding was fantastic, the weather could not have been better, and the people were outstanding. Thanks to everyone for making it happen. I only have a few photos to share, since photography was definitely not a priority for
The Arcata Godwit Days Festival, 2016 Read More »
I’ve just posted two more paintings for auction, a Bewick’s Wren and a Black-throated Green Warbler, adding to the two auctions that will be ending in the next few days. You can see the full listing of current auctions here, and more original art and prints are available for sale here.
Two new paintings for auction Read More »
Part 3 of my introduction to learning bird songs is now up (click here). In this discussion, tempo refers to the overall “pace” of the song, the number of notes or phrases per second. We describe this as fast or slow, and over the course of the whole song the tempo can be steady or
Tempo, and bird song identification Read More »
The first post in a new series on identifying birds by sound: To learn bird songs, it is first important just to notice bird sounds. Train yourself to hear them and to hear the differences. Take a minute periodically while you are birding to stop, relax, maybe close your eyes, and just listen. Don’t try
Learning to Listen to Bird Songs Read More »
When considering impressions of shape and size as in Optical illusions and bird identification or More on illusions of size, one important aspect that I’ve mentioned only in passing is relative size. Consider the two birds in the sketches below, which one has the longer bill? I suspect that viewers will say either “They’re about the
Relative size and proportions Read More »