Birdwatchers, get ready to add a new destination to your bucket list. In Sumter, South Carolina, the incredible Swan Lake Iris Gardens invites guests to explore 150 acres of vibrant flowers. The gardens are described as a “birdwatcher’s paradise,” with swans, geese, ducks, herons, and more making homes there. Speaking of swans, Swan Lake Iris Gardens is the only public park in the United States where people can see all eight swan species. Oh, and did we mention that admission and parking are both free?
Are you one of those people that listen for bird song when you travel? Do you see a little critter fly by and try to identify it? Then you’re the ideal guest for a new collaboration between the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the Enthusiast Hotel Collection.
Enthusiast has seven properties spanning from the U.S. West Coast to the Caribbean. They include gorgeous places like A Stone’s Throw Away in the Bahamas, with a wraparound porch perfect for watching birds and other wildlife in the surrounding jungle. Or you could scan the sky for seabirds at the Brewery Gulch Inn on California’s Mendocino coast. Enthusiast’s on-site bird ambassador program helps answer all your avian questions. The hotel group also sets up tours in and around its properties led by local birdwatchingguides. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology supplies each hotel with relevant bird info. Guests can borrow binoculars at no additional cost.
A red-headed woodpecker at Casa Morada in the Florida Keys. / Photo courtesy of the Enthusiast Hotel Collection
“We are excited to announce our partnership with Enthusiast Hotel Collection,” Mary Guthrie, director of corporate partnerships at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, said in a statement. “Whether guests are lifelong birders or just getting started, our resources are designed to inspire and spark a deep connection with nature.” The lab, founded in 1915, is a nonprofit organization internationally known for its bird studies and conservation efforts.
Swifts swirling around the chimney of the Historic Tapoco Lodge in North Carolina. / Photo courtesy of Enthusiast Hotel Collection
Motivated guests can start their bird studies before leaving for their trip. Cornell Lab’s Bird Academy offers a Joy of Birdwatching course and access to lectures by ornithologists. You can contribute to the lab’s work of helping scientists track bird populations by submitting your sightings online through the Lab’s eBird platform or the eBird app.
An acorn woodpecker in Mendocino, California. / Photo courtesy of Enthusiast Hotel Collection
Whether you’re a bird lover or just want to blast the competition on trivia night, staying at an Enthusiast property can expand your knowledge of migration patterns and nesting rituals. “Now birds and birders will tell our story,” said Enthusiast Hotel Collection founder Oneil Khosa in a statement. “We’re thrilled to help enhance the enjoyment of birds for guests at all our hotels and give them the tools and resources to build memories that last forever. We are very proud of our partnership with the Cornell Lab.”
Devoted birdwatchers will tell you there’s never a bad time to go birding. But if you’re new to the hobby, you can’t beat springtime. Some species are starting to migrate, and nesting season is underway. Plus, the days are getting longer and warmer, so going out early is less of a chore than in, say, January.
Of course, it all depends on where you live. You might be fortunate enough to be in a spring migration pathway, where you can watch a mass movement of passing birds. Check with local birders. Also, keep an eye out for birding festivals, which are timed for maximal viewing. At the end of April, Corpus Christi, Texas’s Birdiest Festival in America takes advantage of spring migration along the Gulf Coast. The Indiana Dunes Birding Festival in May showcases migratory birds flying through the Midwest. Wherever you live, here’s the best birdwatching gear for your adventures.
On a stretch of land as vast as the Pacific Crest Trail, birders can expect to find a diverse variety of bird species. The 2,650 miles of trail travel through California, Oregon, and Washington. Numerous stops along the way are considered birding hotspots, which birders can learn more about with this handy resource sheet.
At these locations, birdwatchers may encounter bright yellow Bullock’s orioles or intense red crossbills. If you’re curious about which incredible species you can expect to find as you traverse the trail, build your birding bucket list with help from the gallery below. Here are six bird species to spot on the Pacific Crest Trail.
Bald eagles around the country are preparing to raise new broods and those who admire them, via live-cams or in person, might wonder just how large are those nests?
–Editor’s note: A version of this post was published last April
Bald eagles around the country are preparing to raise new broods and those who admire them, via live-cams or in person, might wonder just how large are those nests?
One answer is provided in a photograph that circulates each year via social media, showing a ranger sitting in a replica nest measuring five feet wide and three feet deep – the approximate dimensions of a four-person hot tub.
The photo was originally shared last in 2021 year by Forest Park Nature Center in Illinois. The Facebook post states that the replica nest is housed at Hueston Woods State Park in Ohio.
But bald eagle nests are often much larger. The Forest Park Nature Center explained that the largest recorded nest “measured 9.5 feet in diameter, 20 feet deep, and weighed almost 6,000 pounds!”
That nest, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, was constructed by eagles in St. Petersburg, Fla. The lab’s “All About Birds” website states: “Another famous nest — in Vermilion, Ohio — was shaped like a wine glass and weighed almost two metric tons. It was used for 34 years until the tree blew down.”
Nests are typically built in the tallest conifers. While both parents build a nest, the female performs most of the branch and twig placement.
Earlier this month, in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park in east San Diego County, I captured the accompanying image showing a bald eagle atop a towering tree, guarding the nest with eggs about 20 feet below.
The other eagle was in a nearby tree, also standing guard, while pesky ravens communicated among themselves, raucously, in another tree.
Whale watchers in California’s Monterey Bay on Tuesday happily made way for a red-footed booby as the seabird landed on the rail as if to become just another passenger.
**UPDATE: The red-footed booby was on the same vessel, High Spirits, again Wednesday. Click here to view some wonderful images and learn the booby’s nickname.
Whale watchers in California’s Monterey Bay on Tuesday happily made way for a red-footed booby as the rare seabird landed on the rail as if to become just another passenger.
“A juvenile red-footed booby landed on the boat today. So we took it whale watching,” Katlyn Taylor, a naturalist for Blue Ocean Whale Watch, wrote in her Facebook video description.
In Taylor’s video, posted below, and in Capt. Kate Cummings’ Instagram video, the seabird casually preens as if not bothered by the presence of people, as humpback whales lunge-feed beyond the bow.
The passengers, giving the booby space, are perhaps more in awe of the exotic visitor than they are of the whales, which are common in Monterey Bay.
Cummings told FTW Outdoors that she had encountered only one other red-footed booby in Monterey Bay, in 2018, before Tuesday’s encounter.
“It hitched a ride into Moss Landing Harbor on a fishing boat and died a few days later,” Cummings recalled. “But the booby we had [Tuesday] seemed healthy and active, as it was seen plunge-diving for anchovies, successfully, and was preening on our boat.”
The Lab’s website states: “Individuals may ride on a ship, or fly alongside it, and when flying fish take to the air in front of the vessel, the booby flies swiftly toward it, catching it in the bill. Red-footed boobies also congregate around actively feeding fish such as tuna, which drive small fish toward the surface.”
On Tuesday, the booby appeared to have benefited from whales dispersing massive schools of anchovies.
Every subculture has its quirks; the bird-watching world is no exception. Bird-watching, also known as birding, has a long history, and that history is stranger than you might expect. One bizarre bird history moment in particular still baffles birders to this day. This is the story of renowned ornithologist John James Audubon and his mystery birds.
Audubon’s odd legacy begins with his famous book “The Birds of America.” The book catalogs and illustrates a diverse collection of bird species, and many consider it an artistic and scientific masterpiece. However, since being published in the 1800s, the book has received significant criticism. Specifically, people have accused Audubon of fabricating information on certain bird species. These disputed species are known as Audubon’s “mystery birds.”
In the article “John James Audubon: Crazy, Wrong, or Neither?,” Audubon Magazine contributor Nicholas Lund explores possible explanations for these unidentifiable birds. Rather than being completely fabricated, some of the specimens may have simply been the juvenile or female forms of existing species. For example, the bird Audubon labeled “Selby’s Flycatcher,” was actually just a female Hooded Warbler. This isn’t the case for all of the mystery birds, though.
As Lund explains, “Audubon painted a handful of birds that aren’t an exact match for anything we’ve currently got. These are Audubon’s mystery birds. Maybe they’re just mistaken plumages, like the eagle or the flycatcher, and we still can’t sort it out. Maybe they were birds that Audubon just painted poorly, or from a vague memory, or from a partially decomposed corpse.”
Some of the mystery birds people are still struggling to identify include the Carbonated Warbler, Cuvier’s Kinglet, and Townsend’s Bunting. While some of the birds have likely matches, others are more perplexing. For some birders, unraveling the truth behind these mystery birds is part of the fun of bird-watching. In Lund’s words, “it’s one of the true joys of birding: You never quite know what you’re going to find out there.”
A photographer has captured extraordinary footage showing a female bald eagle swooping from its nest to a river to enjoy a bath while the male eagle watches over young ones.
A photographer has captured extraordinary footage showing a female bald eagle swooping from its nest to a river to enjoy a bath while the male eagle watches over young ones.
Mike Lemery’s footage, posted below, was captured recently on the Mohawk River in Cohoes, outside Albany, N.Y. It shows momma eagle leaving to “clean up” and immersing herself repeatedly while remaining on high alert and, at one point, calling to her mate.
Lemery, of Mike Lemery Films, told FTW Outdoors that the eagles are caring for three chicks, instead of the typical one or two, “so they have been working extra hard with the extra mouth to feed.”
The photographer added that minutes before momma left for her bath, papa eagle arrived at the nest with food.
“They take turns watching over the nest, but the female does the majority of the feeding and protection of the nest,” Lemery said. “They tend to bathe after everyone has eaten.”
After her bath, momma eagle is shown drying off on a branch near the nest.
With bald eagle nesting season underway, and nest-cams providing closeup views of feeding and nurturing, Lemery’s footage provides a wonderful glimpse of eagle behavior beyond the nest.
Bald eagles around the country are raising families this spring and people watching them, in person or via live-cams, might be wondering just how large are those nests?
Bald eagles around the country are raising families this spring and people watching them, in person or via live-cams, might be wondering just how large are those nests?
An answer is provided in a photograph making the rounds via social media, showing a ranger sitting in a replica nest measuring five feet wide and three feet deep.
Bald eagle chicks. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
The photo was originally shared last year by Forest Park Nature Center in Illinois. The Facebook post states that the replica nest is housed at Hueston Woods State Park in Ohio.
The Forest Park Nature Center explained that bald eagles can build much larger nests, and that the largest recorded nest “measured 9.5 feet in diameter, 20 feet deep, and weighed almost 6,000 pounds!”
That nest, according to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, was constructed by eagles in St. Petersburg, Fla. The lab’s “All About Birds” website states: “Another famous nest — in Vermilion, Ohio — was shaped like a wine glass and weighed almost two metric tons. It was used for 34 years until the tree blew down.”
Nests are typically built in the tallest conifers near their sturdy trunks. While both parents construct a nest, the female is said to perform most of the placement of branches, twigs, and soft materials.
Eaglets, after they fledge, generally spend about four years in “nomadic exploration of vast territories” and can fly hundreds of miles per day. Immature bald eagles born in California, for example, have traveled as far north as Alaska.
Was the mysterious orange glow in the bullfrog’s eye, during its final moments in the beak of a heron, caused by the sun? Or was it something more mysterious?
Was the bright orange glow in the bullfrog’s eye, during its final moments in the beak of a heron, caused by the sun? Or was it something more mysterious?
The accompanying footage, captured this week by Freddy Moyano in a Green Bay estuary, shows the bullfrog’s left eye glowing and blinking a bright orange after the amphibian was captured by a least bittern.
While the sun’s reflection and rustling leaves would seem to answer this mystery, Moyano stated in his YouTube description that the sun was not at the proper angle for that to have occurred.
“The sun was not behind my back as I was filming on the East side of the path, by a pond. The sun was setting on the West,” Moyano wrote. “And the frog appears to gaze towards me and then fade with the shake of its predator. This is the only moment of the five minutes I taped where it happened, shortly after the frog was caught, still living.”
Freddy Moyano
The wildlife videographer, who also published an extended version with more details and special effects, added: “Very unique to experience while on the field especially how [the orange color] fades out almost as it life was leaving the poor frog.”
Moyano, an actor and voice-over specialist, told FTW Outdoors that the scene was reminiscent of the 1984 science-fiction movie, “The Terminator,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as the cyborg assassin with a glowing red eye.
