Birding - Physics, Birding and Blindness

Initial Reviews of my Book: Many Good, One Rather Inexplicable

September 17, 2025

So I’ve had some very nice reviews of my book, The Physics of Birds and Birding. I am very grateful for these, and they have been coming from birding organizations, birders, bloggers, and several ornithology journals. On a recent podcast, the American Birding Association had three reviewers good through their top five birding books of … More Initial Reviews of my Book: Many Good, One Rather Inexplicable

The Physics of Birds and Birding: The Sounds, Colors and Movements of Birds, and Our Tools for Watching Them

May 1, 2025

Pelagic Publishing, based in the UK, is set to release my book, The Physics of Birds and Birding, on May 20. Here’s the Table of Contents: Preface : Looking Up1 At the Feeder: Birds, Mathematics and Symmetry2 In the Garden: Hummingbirds, Flowers and Forces3 On the Open Seas: Length Scales, Migration and Molecules4 In a … More The Physics of Birds and Birding: The Sounds, Colors and Movements of Birds, and Our Tools for Watching Them

Blind Life Cafe Interview

April 3, 2025

It was a pleasure to be interviewed along with Martha Steele and Jerry Berrier, two totally blind birders that I am happy to call my friends. We discuss our experiences of enjoying birds with vision loss here: https://thomasconry.podbean.com/e/bird-watching-while-blind-join-the-movement/

The Birding Game, Anki, and Dragonflies

March 1, 2025

We must have bought this game back in 1993 or 1994. You cannot find it anymore, except on eBay. The date on the box is 1990… 35 years ago! The passage of time certainly seems to accelerate as you get older. It was called The Birding Game with Roger Tory Peterson. It was very much … More The Birding Game, Anki, and Dragonflies

The New York Times: “Birds Are My Eyesight”

August 4, 2023

Honored to be mentioned alongside a number of great birders that are featured in the New York Times this weekend: LINK

Gambling on Rainy Season in Tanzania and Uganda

May 14, 2023

I used to think that travel to the tropics during rainy season would be a waste of time and money, and so for many years we timed our trips so as to miss the wettest months. But while we were living in Thailand for all of 2018, we realized that some of the best birding … More Gambling on Rainy Season in Tanzania and Uganda

How I Got to Five Thousand Species

May 11, 2023

The first time I put a bird on a list, it was the spring of 1993, and the entry was Northern Flicker. A common bird in a city park, an unlikely spark of obsession. Thirty years later, to the month, more or less, I ticked lifer number 5,000, under singular circumstances and with a singular … More How I Got to Five Thousand Species

Raspberry Pi Automated Bird Recording System, Improved

February 12, 2023

Edit: For a very thorough article on setting up a Raspberry Pi for this project, see this excellent post by Rich Hoeg. I invested in a better USB microphone to replace the $18 Cmteck desktop unit that I used for my first swag at the BirdNET Pi. I wanted an omnidirectional microphone with a 24-bit, … More Raspberry Pi Automated Bird Recording System, Improved

Birding in Valle del Cauca, Colombia

January 7, 2023

After finishing up in Argentina, we wanted to break up the trip back north to the US. Colombia is perfectly positioned for this: with Bogatá being only about six hours from Buenos Aires and under four hours from Miami. We had done three trips previously in the country, but had not yet visited Calí or … More Birding in Valle del Cauca, Colombia

Birding in Spectacular Northwest Argentina

January 7, 2023

After our trip to Tierra del Fuego and cruise to Antarctica, we flew from Ushuaia to Córdoba, Argentina to start a nine-day trek from the north-central region all the way north to the Bolivia border. We did this trip with Martín Toledo from Beagle Birding, a birding company based in Córdoba. Martín is a fantastic … More Birding in Spectacular Northwest Argentina

Birding the Drake Passage and the Antarctic Peninsula

January 3, 2023

After a few days of birding in Tierra del Fuego, we took a nine-day cruise from Ushuaia, Argentina, to the South Shetland Islands and Antarctica. The trip was organized by Albatros Expeditions and the ship was the Ocean Victory, a mid-sized vessel that carried about 160 passengers and 80 crew for our particular voyage, starting … More Birding the Drake Passage and the Antarctic Peninsula

Defining a Big Day with Media

June 7, 2022

Lately I’ve been thinking about doing a bird outing where every species that I tick – whether I see it or hear it, or both – must have accompanying media capturing it. Photos, audio WAV files, or both. Perhaps video if the opportunity for a decent recording presents itself. Doing this won’t add too much … More Defining a Big Day with Media

Downy Woodpecker on the Down-low

April 5, 2022

Our backyard is typically very active with birds, especially juncos this time of year. There are plenty of feeders and spilled seed to keep everyone happy. Mid-morning today, Claire excitedly called out “Hawk in the back! Hawk in the back!” A Sharp-hinned Hawk had perched right above our suet feeder and was inspecting the grounds. … More Downy Woodpecker on the Down-low

Why Is Vision Considered More Important Than Hearing?

January 29, 2022

Suppose you’ve just set up a last-minute trip for birding in Manuas, Brazil. It will be your first time in that diverse region, which sits on the border of Amazonia and the Guianan Shield. There are hundreds of species that will be new for you, and so you will have far too many targets to … More Why Is Vision Considered More Important Than Hearing?

Recording What You Don’t Hear

October 24, 2021

My eyes are terrible, and I rely on ear-birding to make up for it. I’ve always thought of my hearing as being good, other than having some obnoxious tinnitus resulting from decades of loud music. But today I got a clear demonstration that my ears are not what I thought they were. I’d walked over … More Recording What You Don’t Hear

Why I Go Further Away, Not Closer

October 19, 2021

When I was much younger and had normal eyesight, I worked as a line cook. I enjoyed the mental and physical challenge of handling dozens of orders at once. You had to constantly think about your next actions, and your hands, eyes, and feet were obliged to move quickly. Mistakes and inefficiency were cumulative; if … More Why I Go Further Away, Not Closer

A Very Useful Bird Locator

September 14, 2021

A North Carolina birder and programmer, Michael Fogleman, has created a slick tool that utilizes eBird data in a novel way. It is located at https://www.michaelfogleman.com/birds/. You simply need to enter a location (you can even use zip code), a radius, and a month, and then the program will query eBird data and build a … More A Very Useful Bird Locator

Okarito Kiwi: A Most Unorthodox Birding Strategy

September 4, 2021

The cost, in New Zealand currency, was $75 each. For my wife Claire and I, that would make it just over $100 in terms of US dollars. A fair price for a top life bird, if we could get it. Especially one as unique and rare as the Okarito Kiwi. It was January of 2019, … More Okarito Kiwi: A Most Unorthodox Birding Strategy

The Librarian Tormentor and the Cuckoo

June 9, 2020

Before I dropped out of high school, I took a shop class where we learned how to solder and do electronics troubleshooting. At the end, everyone had to build a functional device, utilizing a kit selected from a vendor’s catalog of various projects; each kit had all the components you’d need to put it together. … More The Librarian Tormentor and the Cuckoo

Brazil, April 2019

April 14, 2019

Just completed a week-long trip to Brazil, focusing on the Atlantic Forest area as well as the central Cerrado region. We spent most of our time (six days/nights) at REGUA (Reserva Ecológica de Guapiaçu) and did quite well there. All together we recorded 253 species and 134 lifers in about eight days of birding. REGUA is a … More Brazil, April 2019

Physics, Birding and Blindness

Michael Hurben, PhD

Tag: Birding