travel – Round Robin

Category Archives: travel

Surprise! Sandpiper chicks emerge from the Russian lichens

July 19, 2011 – 7:44 pm

It may not feel like the end of summer where you are, but in arctic Russia, where Gerrit Vyn has been watching endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers, birds are already headed south. Here’s Gerrit’s description of the closing of the season, complete with a late, surprise encounter with a Spoon-billed Sandpiper and its newly hatched chicks: From [...]

By admin | Also posted in Birds, conservation, field reports, slideshow | Tagged arctic, birding, Birds, birdwatching, endangered species, fieldwork, Gerrit Vyn, photos, Russia, shorebirds, sightings, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, travel, tundra | Comments (3)

Courtship on the Tundra—Spoon-billed Sandpipers [Field Report]

July 8, 2011 – 1:21 pm

Gerrit Vyn, a producer in our Multimedia program, has been spending the summer in remote eastern Russia filming one of the world’s most endangered birds, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper. In the last post he sent us, he described the plight of this species as well as his first sighting of a Spoon-billed Sandpiper. Here’s his next [...]

By admin | Also posted in Birds, conservation, field reports, slideshow | Tagged birding, Birds, birdwatching, conservation, endangered species, fieldwork, Gerrit Vyn, photos, shorebirds, sightings, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, travel, Wildfowl Wetlands Trust | Comments (2)

Finding Help for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper

June 17, 2011 – 10:42 am

In the arctic tundra of eastern Russia, a sparrow-sized shorebird with a one-of-a-kind beak is facing extinction—and a few scientists are doing all they can to save it. In recent years the Spoon-billed Sandpiper‘s population has dropped by a staggering 25 percent per year. Fewer than 200 pairs now remain. So this year, shorebird experts [...]

By admin | Also posted in Birds, conservation, field reports, slideshow | Tagged arctic, birding, Birds, birdwatching, conservation, endangered species, fieldwork, Gerrit Vyn, Russia, shorebirds, sightings, Spoon-billed Sandpiper, travel | Comments (9)

Cornell Lab teams victorious in World Series of Birding!

May 17, 2011 – 1:10 pm

On an overcast and occasionally rainy day in Cape May, the Cornell Lab Redheads and Anti-Petrels found enough good “gets” to offset the painful misses from a slow day of songbird migration. Both teams won their divisions in the 2011 World Series of Birding: the Redheads won Cape May County with 163 species, and the [...]

By admin | Also posted in Birds, conservation, field reports, News, slideshow | Tagged Andy Johnson, Anti-Petrels, Big Day, birding, Birds, birdwatching, Charles Eldermire, conservation, France Dewaghe, Hope Batcheller, Jay McGowan, photos, Redheads, Scott Haber, shorebirds, sightings, travel, World Series of Birding | Comments (4)

World Series Scouting: As Darkness Falls

May 12, 2011 – 9:23 pm

(The Redheads and the Anti-Petrels are in southern New Jersey scouting their routes for the World Series of Birding on Saturday, May 14. More info and scouting reports.) Dusk is gathering under the pines at Belleplain. Swainson’s Thrushes and Veeries called off and on through the day, but what’s ruling the airwaves right now is [...]

By admin | Also posted in Birds, News, slideshow | Tagged Belleplain, Big Day, birding, Birds, birdwatching, Charles Eldermire, conservation, France Dewaghe, New Jersey, photos, sightings, travel, World Series of Birding | Comments (3)

Busy, Birdy Scouting for World Series of Birding Teams

May 11, 2011 – 11:46 pm

Wednesday was the first full day of scouting for our two World Series of Birding teams, the Redheads and the Anti-Petrels. We’re doing what you do during scouting week—re-learning bird calls, re-finding birds we can count on, obsessing over which route we should take on Saturday, second guessing the route we took last year, and [...]

By admin | Also posted in Birds, field reports, News | Tagged Big Day, birding, Birds, birdwatching, Charles Eldermire, fieldwork, France Dewaghe, Jay McGowan, photos, shorebirds, sightings, slideshow, travel, Whimbrel, World Series of Birding | Comments (1)

Anti-Petrels pedal for the medal in the World Series of Birding

May 8, 2011 – 2:04 pm

Along with the Redheads, the Cornell Lab’s other team in next week’s World Series of Birding is the Anti-Petrels. They’re competing in the “Carbon Footprint Cup,” which means they do all of their traveling on the day of the event by bike. Last year they rode 101 miles to win their category with 150 species—but [...]

By admin | Also posted in Birds, conservation, News | Tagged Anti-Petrels, Big Day, birding, Birds, birdwatching, Charles Eldermire, France Dewaghe, travel, World Series of Birding | Comments (1)

Redheads head for gold in the World Series of Birding

May 8, 2011 – 1:10 pm

It’s been two weeks since Team Sapsucker set the Big Day record in Texas—but that’s not quite the end of the 24-hour birding marathons. The World Series of Birding is next Saturday, May 14, in New Jersey, and in this post and the next we’ll introduce the two teams we’re sending: the Redheads, made up [...]

By admin | Also posted in Birds, conservation, News | Tagged Andy Johnson, Big Day, birding, Birds, birdwatching, conservation, Hope Batcheller, Jay McGowan, Redheads, Scott Haber, travel, World Series of Birding | Comments (1)

264: A new North American Big Day birding record

April 27, 2011 – 10:15 am

The Big Day is over and Team Sapsucker has set a new record for the most bird species seen or heard in a 24-hour period in North America. By birding nonstop from midnight to midnight on Friday, April 22, Chris Wood, Marshall Iliff, Brian Sullivan, Jessie Barry, Andrew Farnsworth, and Tim Lenz amassed a total [...]

By admin | Also posted in Birds, conservation | Tagged Andrew Farnsworth, Big Day, birding, Birds, birdwatching, Brian Sullivan, Chris Wood, conservation, Jessie Barry, Marshall Iliff, Texas, Tim Lenz, travel | Comments (1)

Big Day scouting report: Heating up in Texas

April 20, 2011 – 2:03 pm

At the Cornell Lab yesterday we had snow, hail, freezing rain, and regular rain. In Texas, where our Big Day team is scouting for an attempt at the North American record on Friday (and raising money for conservation), it was 88 degrees with a hot 30-mph wind blowing out of the south. Over the phone, [...]