Daily Archives: September 17, 2011

It is a knot, it’s not a monarchy – story and photo of two amazing travelers and much more

Posted on September 17, 2011 by Greg Stone

First, the Monarchs are starting to arrive on their incredible trip to Mexico and I was able to catch this one in midflight and morning sun. More Monarchs later. As with all pictures in this post, click image for larger version. … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, butterflies, gulls, shorebirds | Tagged Black-bellied Plover, Common yellowthroat, Eastern Phoebe.Laughing Gull, Monarcg butterfly, moon, red Knot, ring-billed gull, semipalmated plover, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Sundog, tern, Tower | Leave a comment

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. . . as reflected in the car window at the end of a walk.
Expert birding help

I feel comfortable with many of my bird identifications, but unsure about many others, so it was great when I met Paul Champlin on Gooseberry recently and he agreed to help out. He's a professional and a lifelong birder, so now I can be pretty sure that when I write "it's a Least Sandpiper" it really is a Least Sandpiper!
Paul has a BS and MS in wildlife biology from UMass Amherst and Clemson University in SC. He's currently employed at the Newport Navy Base in wildlife management. He's been birding since he was 8 and has been all over the western hemisphere. "I'm relatively new to the area (3 1/2 years in Westport)" he writes, "and look forward to discovering new people and places."
So I now can be sure of my bird identifications because I'm emailing Paul the pictures first with my best guesses. Someday I hope to reach the point where I don't need help, for the better I know the birds the more I enjoy my walks on Gooseberry. But the bottom line is this - if they're mistakes here, they're mine. I'm writing this. So Paul isn't an excuse for inaccuracy on my part - but he sure will give me a much higher degree of confidence. And he's already reviewed many posts and I've made corrections in them based on what he's reported. Fortunately, I didn't have to correct too much, but even with photos and several books open I make mistakes.
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Daily Archives: September 17, 2011

It is a knot, it’s not a monarchy – story and photo of two amazing travelers and much more

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