I loved wheatears from the first picture of them I ever saw in a book, and one of the things I was really looking forward to on my Bulgaria trip was to see, perhaps, a couple of species I hadn’t seen before. We would not be disappointed!
Surprisingly, the wheatear we saw least of was Northern [...]

Chris and I decided to see if it had cooled off any yesterday evening, and Catalina State Park seemed the logical destination, particularly as he was eager to see Crissal Thrasher. Unfortunately, that bird had already retired, or at least fallen silent, by the time we got there, but there was lots more to see [...]

These last two early mornings in the Avra and Altar Valleys have proved good for raptors. Yesterday morning, Ani and I found a carcass attended by two Black Vultures, along with numerous Turkey Vultures; Black Vultures are very local in Arizona, but more or less to be expected out that way.
And this morning, Gene and [...]

June 11 was truly a red-letter birding day. Raptors were the theme, and thanks to Mladen’s excellent local scouting, we got great looks at Asian Imperial Eagle and Lesser Spotted Eagle, both lifebirds for me and both seen impressively well. I was especially pleased to see the Lesser Spotted in the expert company of Mladen [...]

There were moments last week when we found ourselves looking, mirabile dictu, at things other than birds. I took a few pictures of organisms we found pretty or interesting.
Cool mornings brought out the slugs and the snails, including good-sized edible snails.

As the day warmed, butterflies emerged, sometimes reaching impressive densities in fields and along woodland [...]