IATB #84 A Beginner's Guide to Bird Blogs

There weren't many bird blogs around five years ago.  Today, thousands of blogs at least occasionally have good bird or birding posts, and hundreds of blogs are dedicated specifically to birds and birdwatching.  So how's a beginner to find the best bird blogs out there? 

Welcome to I and the Bird #84, A Beginner's Guide to Bird Blogs.  After a brief intro on how to find good bird blogs, we'll highlight some of the best bird blogs and recent bird posts in the blogosphere.  

Finding Good Bird Blogs to Read

While there isn't a published Bird Blogs for Dummies, the good news is you don't need one.  There are lots of tools to help you find interesting bird-related blog posts.  We'll take a quick look at perhaps the top three.

1) Perhaps the easiest way to find bird posts is with a simple Google Blog Search.  This will let you search for any term you want, be it "bird" or something more specific like "birding Tikal" or "Great Horned Owl".  

2) The relatively new Nature Blog Network ranks nature related blogs based on how many visitors they get each day.  Blog visitorship is a function of both promotion and blog quality.  While the top nature and bird blogs are usually ranked highly for both reasons, most bird bloggers do not heavily promote their blogs, leaving many great bird blogs farther down in these rankings.  So have fun exploring! 

3) Finally, this semi-weekly I and the Bird blog carnival (a blog carnival is a regular collection of blog posts on a related theme, see here for more info) always features great bird-related posts from the last two weeks.

20 Bird Blogs to Know

While there are hundreds of bird blogs to enjoy, here's a quick look at 20 of the best to get you started. Some are among the most popular bird and nature blogs, others are lesser-known chestnuts, but all worth exploring. 

Living the Scientific Life is one of the oldest, and most popular nature blogs. The author, GrrlScientist, not only writes some great posts, she has also spent a heck of a lot of time promoting her blog, which is part of the huge ScienceBlogs network. This blog is currently ranked #1 on the Nature Blog Network.  Not all of her posts are on birds, but birds show up all the time.  As an example of her careful book reviews, check out her recent review of the Smithsonian Field Guide to the Birds of North America.

Mike Bergin, founder of 10,000 Birds is the Godfather of bird blogging.  Not only has he spent a ton of work making 10,000 Birds the most popular birding blog, but as the creator of I and the Bird and the Nature Blog Network, he's also the world's greatest promoter of bird blogging.  And when he isn't busy building his blogging empire (and helping other bird bloggers), he birds.  Check out this report of his recent Montezuma Muckrace birding adventure.

My friend Julie loves coffee, and when she isn't drinking coffee, she's helping people make sure they buy coffee that is better for birds and the environment on her Coffee & Conservation blog.  Even if you don't drink coffee (like me), the migratory birds you enjoy are spending time on coffee plantations south of the border.  Check out Julie's latest post to learn about one of these Coffee Birds.

As a fledgling birder in the early 80s, I loved reading Bird Watcher's Digest.  Now, Bill Thompson III is not only running that magazine empire, but he's blogging on his Bill of the Birds site.  Currently ranked #2 in the Birds category of the Nature Blog Network, this is another popular site.  Check out Bill's recent interview On Birdwatch Radio to find out why.

Audubon Birdscapes is a new resource to help folks interested in making their yards and neighborhoods better for themselves, birds, and other wildlife.  I hope you'll bookmark or subscribe to the blog, and send me good stories about how you or someone you know is helping birds so we can celebrate it here.  Everything we do impacts birds.  Here's some tips on how we can Help Birds Downstream.

For NASCAR fans, Jeff Gordon is a racing celebrity.  But birders have our own legendary Jeff Gordon, a bird tour leader, author, and birding buddy of mine from Delaware.  His new Jeffrey A. Gordon blog features great photos and accounts of his birding adventures.  If you ever want to know what a real birder is like, just check out posts like his recent Taking What We're Given and you'll know!

Rick Wright is a birding buddy of mine down in Tucson, Arizona.  His Aimophila Adventures is always worth a read, featuring photos and insights from another great birder.  To get a taste, check out his recent post about finding a color-banded White-faced Ibis, and discover where the bird originally came from.

The Bird Ecology Study Group blog features bird sightings and info from Singapore.  If that seems just a little too exotic for you, think again.  Posts like these recent photos of Black-naped Tern's Defense Vomiting (you gotta see it to believe it) are well worth a look and will keep you coming back for more (posts that is, not bird vomit!).

Amila Salgado's Gallicissa blog from Sri Lanka is another Asian delight that can help sate your appetite for wonderful exotic birds.   Check out his recent Pure Gold! post to find out about a little-known birds that was only recently discovered and almost never seen, perhaps because it sounds like a common local tree frog!

Hailing from Australia, Duncan's Ben Cruachan blog is a long-time I and the Bird favorite, featuring photos of birds that may be common in the vicinity of this scenic hill, but alien to most birders who may never get to Australia.  Check out My Kind of Maths to get a taste!

Normally dedicated to Birding in New Jersey, this blog recently featured Dan's exploits Birding in Arizona.  Warning: Dan was able to photograph the first North American record of Sinaloa Wren.  If you are a jealous bird lister, take whatever medication you need to before drooling over this post!

When my friend Julie Craves isn't out drinking coffee or blogging about Coffee & Birds, she is a bird bander and researcher based out of the University of Michigan-Dearborn.  Her new Net Results blog features some of her research findings from over a decade of bird banding at an urban bird observatory.  She recently published a paper on how well thrush's are able to take advantage of this urban site.  Check out First Migrant Thrushes for more info.

Amber, host of the Birder's Lounge, writes about suburban birding Texas-style, including her recent visit to the Heard Museum in McKinney, Texas.  Check out Birding the Heard for her experience at this Important Bird Area.

It is a pleasure to feature Jeff Wells's Boreal Songbird Initiative blog.  Jeff worked in the Audubon Science Office before I arrived there, and now he's helping to save Canadian habitats many of our birds depend on.  Check out Two Surprises to discover another little-known threat to boreal birds, as well as which common backyard songbird may be more threatened by forest clear-cutting than we previously knew.

You don't have to be an ornithologist to make a contribution to bird conservation.  Nancy, The Zen Birdfeeder, is helping out in her own yard and community.  Check out this post where she puzzles about One or Two Grosbeak Families???

For more on suburban birds and nature, check out Max, The Apartment Biologist, as he describes these wonders, as well as the ecology of Central Oregon encountered on his Woodpecker Quest.

Don't let the spare blog header fool you, a look at Vickie Henderson Art is a visually pleasing experience.  Don't take my word for it, check out her recent photo essay on the Ruby-throated Hummingbird.

OK, does the Bluebird of Friendliness win the delightful blog header award, or what?  Proving once again that the best birdwatcher is anyone who enjoys birding the most, do yourself a favor and let Leah take you along on her New York City birding search for Light in August.

Even when you are tired of reading, there are always quick visual blogging experiences to savor, including The Ridger's short photo-essay of a female Downy Woodpecker on The Greenbelt.

Everybody has something to share.  Carrie of Great Auk - or Greatest Auk focuses more on verbal images than digital ones.  Make sure to read to the end of Both Sides Now for her description of a birding sight that most of us will never see.

OK, if you were keeping track, that was 20.  To finish up, here's a quick link to my own Birdchaser blog.  Sometimes silly, sometimes not, this blog currently bounces on and off the list of top ten birding blogs on the Nature Blog Network (today it is #11). Most recently, I wrote about my trip to catalog bird names and stories in three Mayan languages in Guatemala and Belize.  

Writing Your Own Bird Blog

Blogging can be a great way to interest your friends and neighbors in birds, and may encourage them to make their yards and neighborhoods more attractive to birds.  After viewing this Beginner's Guide to Bird Blogs, maybe you have ideas for your own bird blog. As you have no doubt noticed, the best birding blogs generally feature:

A) A nice header and design.  The web is a visual medium.  Folks are more likely to stay interested if your page features some nice eye candy.  Don't go crazy, but make it as simple, clean, and attractive as you can.  To that end, you'll probably want...

B) Photos.  Even more than reading about birds, people want to see interesting bird photos.  

C) Good writing.  Even if you are mostly posting bird photos, good writing will keep your site from becoming just another blahhhhg.  Whether you write essays, short stories or haiku, keep your writing as lively and beautiful as the birds you write about.

D) Publicity.  We've already discussed two ways to promote your bird blog.  List it on the Nature Blog Network.  And when you have a post you are proud of, submit it to the next edition of I and the Bird!

Even more fun than enjoying birds is sharing that joy with others.  Have fun birding and blogging about birds, and hope to see you back here at Audubon Birdscapes and on future editions of I and the Bird!