Archive of May 27, 2012, BirdCallsRadio show featuring Florence “Flo” McBride

Posted on May 29, 2012 by
Florence McBride

Florence McBride

Here is the archive of the Sunday, May 27, 2012, BirdCallsRadio show featuring an with Florence “Flo” McBride. Listen as this popular Connecticut birdwatcher describes how she gets children excited about learning about nature and birds. She even does her “Blue Jay rap” — twice. Nice!

Flo leads several bird walks for children at East Rocks in New Haven, and she has developed a science curriculum, “Take Flight!”, centered around birds for the elementary schools in her hometown of Hamden.

An active member of the New Haven Bird Club, she is also a nature film maker and has made several videos of Connecticut wildlife.

Earlier this year, Flo was presented with the presigeous Mabel Osgood Wright Award from the Connecticut Ornithological Association. It is the latest in a long list of awards that have been bestowed upon her.

Click here to listen: bcr 5-27-12 flo mcbride. As always, thanks for supporting BirdCallsRadio.

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Happy Memorial Day weekend from BirdCallsRadio

Posted on May 26, 2012 by
Northern cardinal. Photo by Chris Bosak, copyright, all rights reserved.

Northern cardinal. Photo by Chris Bosak, copyright, all rights reserved.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend everybody. If you’re traveling, be careful and best of luck seeing some good “road birds.” If you’re staying put, best of luck seeing great yard birds or birds in the field. Feel free to share your Memorial Day weekend sightings with BirdCallsRadio by clicking here. I’d love to hear from you.

Remember to spend some of your weekend with BirdCallsRadio as we will have a new show on Sunday (1 to 2 p.m. at 1490 WGCH or listen live) featuring Connecticut birder Florence “Flo” McBride. Listen how this special lady gets children involved with birdwatching and nature.

Have fun at your parades and picnics, and always keep in the mind the reason for the holiday. Thanks to all servicemen and women, but on this weekend, especially those who paid the ulitmate sacrifice.

 

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Florence McBride next guest on BirdCallsRadio

Posted on May 24, 2012 by
Florence McBride

Florence McBride © Michael McBride. All Rights Reserved

Florence “Flo” McBride will be the next guest on BirdCallsRadio, coming up this Sunday, May 27, from 1 to 2 p.m. on 1490AM WGCH or Listen Live.

Flo is a well known long time birder in Connecticut and is particularly adept at getting children involved in nature. She leads several bird walks for children at East Rocks in New Haven, and she has developed a science curriculum, “Take Flight!”, centered around birds for the elementary schools in her hometown of Hamden.

She is also a nature film maker and has made several videos of Connecticut wildlife, including birds, of course.

Listen as Flo describes her love of birds, nature and introducing that wonderful world to children. Perhaps she’ll also do her “blue jay rap.” Knowing Flo, she will be up for it.

Flo is well educated and holds a MA from Radcliffe and is a Woodrow Wilson Fellow;  Doctoral work in English (American Literature) at Harvard. Graduate credits through workshops at Vermont Institute of Natural Science (VINS). She also studied ornithology under Noble Proctor at Southern Connecticut University.

She is also an active member of the New Haven Bird Club and leads bird walks for that organization. Flo participates in several bird censuses and other citizen science projects.

Earlier this year, Flo was presented with the presigeous Mabel Osgood Wright Award from the Connecticut Ornithological Association. It is the latest in a long list of awards that have been bestowed upon her.

In her own words: “My mother loved birds and wildflowers, and I almost certainly learned awareness, appreciation, and nomenclature because of her, and because of tramping around the woods and fields of New Jersey with my father.”  When I was quite young, I was entranced by a flock of Cedar Waxwings eating berries on a bush right outside our  window – thought they were named for the silky-smooth appearance of their plumage.

“The bird badge was the only badge I got in my brief time as a Girl Scout.  I loved walking around the neighborhood gathering the sightings that would enable me to fulfill the requirement to “Identify, out of doors, fifteen birds.”

Tune in to hear more from this special birdwatcher.

Posted in Backyard birding, Bird identification, BirdCallsRadio, Children, conservation, Songbird Migration, Wood Warblers | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Archive of Sunday, May 20, show with Katie Fallon

Posted on May 22, 2012 by
Katie Fallon with cerulean warbler

Katie Fallon with cerulean warbler

Here is the archive of the Sunday, May 20, show featuring Katie Fallon, author of “Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird,” by Ruka Press. Katie discusses the plight of the Cerulean Warbler, a beautiful blue warbler that is declining rapidly. Katie went to South America to visit the birds’ winter habitat. She discusses in this interview the various challenges the birds face on their winter and summer homes, as well as on their migration routes. She also tackles mountaintop removal mining in West Virginia and encourages consumers to drink shade-grown coffee.

It’s a fun interview. bcr5-20-12katiefallon

Also on the show, Joe Warren of Wild Birds Unlimited talks about helping baby birds and how cardinal parents teach their kids to eat from feeders.

Mardi Dickinson gives a wrap-up report from The Biggest Week in American Birding, that took place in Ohio.

I also talk about migration and read several “Best Bird” accounts that listeners emailed to me. (Thanks again for that.) Finally, I read a quick passage from my favorite old book “Our Amazing Birds,” which was published in 1951.

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For the Birds column: It pays to know the songs well

Posted on May 21, 2012 by

Here’s my For the Birds column from last week. For the Birds runs Thursdays in The Hour (Norwalk, Ct.) and Mondays in The Sentinel (Keene, N.H.).

 

Gray Catbird singing. Photo by Chris Bosak, copyright, all rights reserved

Just like birds don’t always look like field guides say they look, birds don’t always sound like field guides say they sound like.
Unless it’s a very comprehensive field guide — such as a Sibley or Crossley — it won’t show all of the various plumages you might see in a bird. Try finding the eclipse plumage of a male Wood Duck in a typical field guide. Birding is rarely cut-and-dry, which is one of the great things about the hobby.
This is certainly true of bird sounds as well. Notice I didn’t write “bird songs” as birds make a variety of sounds, such as songs, calls and alarm notes.
The Gray Catbird is a good example of this. I was walking through Selleck’s Dunlap Woods the other day when I heard a variety of bird sounds all around me. I heard about 10 unique sounds and at least three of them were coming from different catbirds.
Gray Catbirds, of course, are so named because of their cat-like calls. It is a very appropriate name for that bird as they indeed so Continue reading →

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Bird banding with the kids

Posted on May 19, 2012 by

Will releasing a Yellow-bellied Flycatcher

More photos below.

One day this week I brought the boys over to Birdcraft in Fairfield, Ct., to watch the expert bird banders in action. A big thanks to Judy Richardson and everyone else who was there banding and helping to educate Andrew and Will.

Sure, the boys missed an hour or two of school, but the lessons they learned I think were plenty valuable. can’t beat hands-on science.

Speaking of hands on, the action was a bit slow as the birds, for the most part, avoided the nets. But, Will did get to release one bird and Andrew got to release one bird. Will actually got to hold and release, under the watchful eye and instruction of Judy, a Yellow-Bellied Flycatcher. Not a bad bird for a five-year-old to b Continue reading →

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Katie Fallon will be next guest on Bird Calls Radio

Posted on May 17, 2012 by
Katie Fallon with cerulean warbler

Katie Fallon with cerulean warbler

Katie Fallon, author of “Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird,” will be the next guest on BirdCallsRadio. Cerulean Blues (Ruka Press, 2011) is a personal account by Fallon about the plight of the cerulean warbler, a beautiful, but fast-declining songbird. In fact, there are 80 percent fewer cerulean warblers today than there were since the 1960s.

Tune in to Bird Calls as Fallon discusses why the cerulean is disappearing; and tackles issues such as deforestation, coffee plantations, and mountaintop removal coal mining in the Appalachian mountains.

In Cerulean Blues, Fallons explains how the fate of the tiny bird is linked to our lives as humans. As Ruka Press cites: “Cerulean Blues will appeal to nature lovers, bird watchers, actual and armchair adventurers, and anyone interested in the health and future of our planet.”

The book was named a finalist for the Southern Environmental Law Center’s Reed Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment.

Cerulean Blues cover

Pete Dunne, well-known nature writer and former guest on BirdCallsRadio, had this to say about Cerulean Blues: “Told here is the story of a woman who could and a small, blue, bellwether bird that increasingly cannot maintain itself in this world of our making. Cerulean Blues is part journey, part documentary, and wholly engaging.”

Fallon also teaches creative writing at Virginia Tech and West Virginia University.

BirdCallsRadio airs 1 to 2 p.m. each Sunday on 1490 WGCH and Listen Live here.

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