For The Birds

By Brian Kluepfel   April has arrived with a spaghetti splatter of weather patterns befitting climate change, but there is much to feel positive about in the birding world and with Saw Mill River Audubon (SMRA) in general. SMRA held

The Case Against Caged Birds   By Brian Kluepfel   A big celebrity news item in December 2016 was the birth of Mick Jagger’s eighth child, Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger. Mick will turn 80 this year, and even in his

By Brian Kluepfel   The last Carolina parakeet died 104 years ago. Perhaps fittingly, it died in a zoo. Humans had wiped out all the wild birds of this species several years before. On this cold winter’s day, I pay

By Brian Kluepfel   The state bird of Tennessee is not the Nashville warbler, nor is it the Tennessee warbler. It is the northern mockingbird. This was among the factoids I garnered whilst attending the American Birding Association’s Bird of

By Brian Kluepfel   The Hudson Valley is full of surprises. One that isn’t obvious to the casual viewer is the migration of thousands of raptors over the great river each autumn. Taking advantage of thermals and convenient geography, a

By Brian Kluepfel   Last Friday, Saw Mill River Audubon (SMRA) held its annual dinner, this year at the Kittle House in Chappaqua. During the outdoor hors d’oeuvres hour, as I approached the bar, I spotted a ruby-throated hummingbird circling the lantana

By Brian Kluepfel We’re in the death throes of an overly-hot start to August, but sometimes one just needs to get outside. Even in the fiercest of heat, birds are out there, going on with their un-airconditioned lives. So I