There is probably no greater level of nest box excitement than when you are successful in attracting a small owl, kestrel, or duck to a Big Nest Box on your property or a nearby location. Imagine the thrill of attracting larger cavity nesting birds, like a pair of colorful Wood Ducks or impressive Hooded Mergansers – or screech owls or a pair of American Kestrels – all exceptional birds that anyone would be thrilled to assist by providing a sturdy, safe, and dependable nest site. Adding a big nest box to the local environment is very positive way of joining in a true conservation effort.
As always, birders demonstrated that we can and do join together across borders as friends for bird count events, and during the recent Great Backyard Bird Count, birders reported 8,208 species of the world's birds during the February 13th to 16th GBBC. That total includes 130 more species than the total reported in 2025 – a new record for this long-running winter birding event! This February activity is continuing to grow in popularity, just as birding activities increase in numbers and interest across America and worldwide.
The annual Audubon Bird Photography Awards contest is open for entries in 8 categories, and if you take videos of birds, there is a Video category for your best production too. You have until noon EST next Wednesday, March 4th to enter your photos or videos, so be sure to get your entries in pronto! Having alerted readers to this prestigious photo competition in the January 28 issue of The Birding Wire, it's getting down to the wire. Judges will score photographs and videos on their technical quality, originality, and artistic merit (1/3 each). Significant cash prizes will be awarded to the winners in 7 categories.
March migration concentrations of geese, ducks, swans, cranes, eagles, shorebirds, and other bird groups can be spectacular, and positioning yourself in the midst of a concentration area at just the right time is easier now when you use the information provided by eBird at "Hotspot Explorer" and "Explore Regions." You can use Hotspot Explorer on the eBird website to find late winter and early spring concentrations of birds in your area, or to find new birding locations you may want to travel to as birds begin to make their way to new migration stopover sites.
A respectable 17 birding teams braved bitter winter temperatures and wind chills during this year's BRRRRdathon – the World's Coldest Birdathon. Covering such northern Minnesota "coldspots" as the Sax-Zim Bog and locations along the north shore of Lake Superior as far south as Duluth and as far north as Grand Morais, birders braved the ultra-cold weather and reported 63 different wintering species. Conducted by Friends of the Sax-Zim Bog, teams competed to find the most bird species and raise money to support land protection and a variety of programs at the Sax-Zim Bog.
My hope for an especially early spring were smashed last week after temperatures that peaked at 55 and 57 degree days were smashed by an especially wintery blizzard Wednesday that covered the landscape with bright white snow that blew horizontally and appeared to chase all the migrants beyond my expansive birding reach. But among continuing strong winds and blowing snow Thursday I was surprised to see a male Northern Harrier on the hunt above the highway 20 miles northeast of home on my way to Fargo. On my way back from a birding drive to the south Thursday, another silver hawk crossed the road ahead of me – a male Northern Harrier.
Hawke Optics has introduced the new Vantage HD 8x42 Binoculars that feature their H2 optics and provide incredible value for the price. The phase-corrected prism coatings and fully multi-coated optics increase light transmission and produce beautifully sharp details and color fidelity. The Hawke Vantage HDs have an open hinge design and are built from a polycarbonate body with rubber armor to keep them lightweight and reliable in the field. The Vantage's easy-to-use features make them perfect for new birders or when shopping on a budget.
Providing big nest boxes like the Coveside Wood Duck Nest Box has made a big difference for cavity nesting Wood Ducks. Once a threatened species, Wood Ducks have recovered with the aid of conservation-minded people who provide big nest boxes for these cavity nesting ducks to lay eggs, incubate, and hatch ducklings. Large tree cavities are in very short supply in nature, and Wood Ducks can't excavate their own cavity, so providing an appropriately sized nest box is paramount to attracting them to your area and benefiting them annually.
Be Prepared – every birder and every vehicle needs a Car Emergency Kit, and this one is well-stocked with a 148-piece first aid kit, heavy-duty jumper cables that stretch 8 feet (6 gauge, 500 amp), a portable tire air compressor (12 volt, 250 psi), a tire pressure gauge, tow rope, flashlight, 14-in-1 multitool, a 30 piece tool kit, electric tape, scissors, a snow scraper, a small shovel for snow, mud, gravel, or dirt; a reflective red warning triangle, a reflective yellow safety vest, an emergency blanket, work gloves, a safety hammer, bungee cords, and a heavy-duty bright orange bag to hold it all.
As much as I tried to summon spring weather and the earliest migrants to venture as far north as my neighborhood in Dakota, the warm temperatures that topped out at 57 degrees last week were negated by a February 18th blizzard that continued into last Thursday with blowing snow and temperatures dropping to below zero overnight during the weekend. Beyond the conditions outdoors, it was hard to find more than a single species of birds – widely scattered Horned Larks until Sunday. What a dramatic change! But to reap a positive from the change in weather and birding opportunities, a chance view of a few winter photos from my most recent trips to Florida made my creative juices flow south – south until I hit the ocean shores of Florida, Texas, and California!
A series of photographs of Snowy Plovers provides an interesting look at a standing and stretching male and a banded female (600mm zoom lens, f-8 aperture, 1/4000 shutter speed, 400 ISO.)
I thought about the birds that brought me such a wonderful feeling when observing them, photographing them, and selecting the best of the photos I took each sunny day on the beach during mid-winter days. I lived on the beach in California for years, and have visited Florida and Texas beaches regularly, except the past 2 winters. Part of that lack of southbound migration for a winter week or so is that the Florida segment of my family relocated to North Dakota – 2 hours away – so I guess that lack of winter relief, and the recent set-back to below freezing high temperatures had me wishing for a walk on the beach with my camera Saturday.
A pair of American Oystercatchers were the stars of the show among the variety of shorebirds present during a spirited Gulf Coast photo session (600mm zoom lens, f-10 aperture, 1/2500 shutter speed, 800 ISO).
With that in mind, I took a closer look at favorite photographs I took along beaches of Clearwater on the edge of Tampa Bay and immediately became excited to produce a short article using a few of the favorite shorebird photographs that I took during a couple beach a couple years ago. The photo conditions were very simple, the sun was low in the southern sky throughout the day, and I kept the sun at my back and the birds in front of me with my shadow pointing to the best position for me to avoid shadowing on the birds I was photographing. It all worked out very simply beyond that – all I needed was a variety of birds to photograph, and they were present in their glorious winter plumage for some, and their year-round colors for others.
An exciting trio of plovers includes a Piping Plover at the top, followed by a Semipalmated Plover and a streaking Wilson's Plover (600mm zoom lens, f-10 aperture, 1/1600 shutter speed, 400 ISO).
Because the birds were positioned lower than me at ground level, I often tried to bend low or even kneel to get closer to their position on the sand or in the shallows. It seemed the birds came in spurts, with different species materializing one after another as I walked along the shore – until I came to a deeper side channel that created something of a barrier for birds that couldn’t wade across it and didn’t choose to fly across. That’s when I enjoyed photographing the birds that ventured closest, including Snowy Plovers, Piping Plovers, Semipalmated Plovers, Black-bellied Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, and American Oystercatchers; plus Sanderlings, Red Knots, Dunlins, Willets, and Semipalmated Sandpipers farther down the beach.
Other active shorebirds included a Black-bellied Plover (above) and a Dunlin. What birds would you like to photograph along the warm-weather coasts?(600mm zoom lens, f-10 aperture, 1/1600 shutter speed, 400 ISO.)
It's hard to convey how different and how thrilling it was to be barefooted on the sand with a variety of interesting shorebirds to focus on – woowee! Aah, I feel better now; turned up the heat in my office and enjoyed re-living those minutes and hours on the sandy Gulf Shore. If you live near the beach, enjoy it again with your camera as soon as possible, as often as possible to enjoy the birds you encounter through your lens – and include the terns, gulls, egrets, herons, and waterbirds too. And wherever you live, enjoy the birding opportunities you have, and use your camera to document the beauty and activities of the birds you encounter – Good Luck!
