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Review – Wildflower Wonders: The 50 Best Wildflower Sites in the World

by The Birdfreak Team on January 16, 2012

Wildflower Wonders: The 50 Best Wildflower Sites in the World by Bob Gibbons is a stunning collection of awe-inspiring, wildflower-rich, locations across the globe.

Of the 50 sites included, 28 are in Europe, 5 each in Africa and Asia, 3 in Australia, and 9 in North America. There are none found in Mexico or South America.

While I love almost all of the locations included, I do wish Big Bend National Park and at least one prairie location in the U.S. were included in the list. They are only listed as “other sites”.

Understandably, the author was trying to pick places that blended diversity and accessibility along with being large enough to spend several days exploring.

Each location includes a map and info about when to go and why. The accompanying text explains in more detail where to go and what to look for.

Wildflower Wonders: The 50 Best Wildflower Sites in the World is a great book to help assist in trip planning and definitely opened my eyes up to some new places that would be worth trying to visit.

This is definitely a great book to browse through while snow is falling and I’m dreaming of spring wildflowers and gardening!

Disclaimer: We received this book for free from Princeton University Press to review on Birdfreak.com. The links above are Amazon Affiliate links.

Tagged as: wildflowers

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Bird Photography Weekly #177

by The Birdfreak Team on January 15, 2012

in Bird Photography Weekly

Join in now on the 177th edition of Bird Photography Weekly!!

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Review of Two Merrill Hiking/Winter Boots

by The Birdfreak Team on January 12, 2012

in Product Reviews

Just in time for the Christmas Bird Count season, Stacia and I received a pair of Merrell boots each from Natureshop.

Stacia’s pair is the Merrell Taiga Buckle Waterproof.

My pair is not “officially” in the winter boot category but is instead a hiking boot: the Merrell Refuge Core Mid Ventilator Waterproof.

We both wore them into the field for the Rock Cut Christmas Bird Count but alas, there was no snow to plow through.

However, the weather was brisk and the started out below freezing. Later in the day, some of the trails were sloppy with mud and we hiked for about 6 hours. We had the boots on for some ten hours.

First off, Stacia’s boots are adorable. We both think so. With a little cream-colored faux fur and black waterproof leather and other materials, the boots are stylish without distraction.

More importantly, the boots were comfortable and warm. The entire time of wearing them, Stacia’s feet stayed pleasantly warm and dry. She ended up wearing a pair of smart wool socks which helped, but the boots did not allow any water inside.

As far as comfort, they proved excellent despite not being broken in at all. The tread provided great footing on the somewhat slick trails as well.

My boots were made for hiking and not necessarily for snow. So the muddy trails were a good test.

My feet stayed dry but not as warm (no smart wool socks). They weren’t freezing, just cold, but that is usually the case with my feet.

As for comfort, the boots provided wonderful support, even over rocky, rough terrain as I skulked deeper in the woods to find birds.

While driving, the tops of the boots pressed against my shins a bit but it was a mild discomfort.

The tread is excellent but collects a lot of mud and debris. A few times I had to knock some of it off as I would lose footing in thicker muck.

Overall, we are both highly pleased with our boots and have used them several times since the count.

They look they will take a lot of abuse and remain comfortable for a long time.

View all Merrell footwear from NatureShop.

Disclaimer: we received both pairs of Merrell boots for free from NatureShop to review on Birdfreak.com.

Tagged as: Merrell, Natureshop

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2012 Species Goal – 200

by The Birdfreak Team on January 10, 2012

in Birding

For 2012 I have decided to set a moderate goal of seeing 200 species of birds.

I have been notoriously bad at keeping records so thought this would be a good way to “force” myself to record what birds I see.

Eastern Bluebird

Why 200? I’m not really sure how many species I see in a “normal” year but this seems like a nice solid number to shoot for. Most of my birding is done locally and I do not chase birds too often so I think it will be challenging enough.

At the end of January we are traveling to Florida and I hope to boost my list greatly and hopefully add a life bird or two (or twenty!).

Red-breasted Nuthatch

Currently I am at 35 species, all sighted in two counties. I plan on updating the list periodically throughout the year.

165 species to go!

Tagged as: Eastern Bluebird, Red-breasted Nuthatch

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Bird Photography Weekly #176

by The Birdfreak Team on January 8, 2012

in Bird Photography Weekly

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Rock Cut State Park Christmas Bird Count Year 4 – Final Results

by The Birdfreak Team on January 5, 2012

in Bird Conservation

We have completed collecting data from our field teams for the 4th Rock Cut State Park Christmas Bird Count. Here are the results.

Part of our group of Birdfreaks

The first three years:

Year 1 – 47 species, 11,952 birds
Year 2 – 44 species, 3,637 birds
Year 3 – 32 species, 1,072 birds

Year 4 – 54 species, 8,659 birds

We are happy to announce we tallied a record number of species for this count circle! This brings the average number of species to around 44 per year.

Always good to have some kids along on a CBC

Dakota and Sammie

Total number of birds were up from the last 2 years as well. This is due to another large number of Canada Geese: 5,712.

Some big highlights:

1 Golden Eagle and 1 Ross’s Goose were both highly unexpected and new for the circle.
2 Northern Shrikes, 3 Ruby-crowned Kinglets, 3 Hermit Thrushes, 1 Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, and 1 Pileated Woodpecker were all nice finds.

American Robin silhouette

The only real disappointment was that the Lesser Black-backed Gull sighted during the count week was not relocated. It goes in the books as a CW (count week) bird, but would have been a great species #55.

Tagged as: Christmas Bird Count, Rock Cut State Park

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