Bicknell’s Thrush is a bird that is important to me because I grew up in New York’s Catskill Mountains, one of the places that it breeds. Washington in New Hampshire in July. Given new technology and information availability and new species splits, someone with lots of money, good planning, and a lot of luck should be able to at least get close to Sandy’s record within the next 10 years or so, even without Attu. MORE

Both coniferous and hardwood tree seed crops are generally poor from northeastern Ontario extending eastward across Quebec to Newfoundland south through the Maritime Provinces, New York and New England States. Be sure to get a copy of the new Birds of Algonquin Park (2012) by Ron Tozer. I especially thank Matt Young of The Cornell Lab of Ornithology for advice and detailed information about seed crops in New York and adjacent states and for information about Red Crossbills. MORE

I was happy to see that the Mississippi Kite map documents the kite’s incursion into the Northeast, including two notable nesting sites in New Jersey and New Hampshire. I want to make one final note: I don’t think there is a hawk guide, in print or archival, that offers more data and information on Red-tailed Hawk than these two new titles by Wheeler. MORE

There may have been a Great Depression going on, and little discretionary spending for bird seed, but this was the decade that saw the publication of A Field Guide to the Birds: A Bird Book on a New Plan by a young Roger Tory Peterson in 1934, followed by a second, less well-known title, The Junior Book of Birds , which advocated winter bird feeding. And, I have a new appreciation for the range of labor and innovation involved in the bird feeding industry. MORE

Efforts for such a ballot initiative in Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, New Hampshire and Vermont have failed but efforts are currently underway to establish similar legislation in Colorado and Washington. Again, thanks to Farmed Animal Net for this update on California's proposition 2. MORE

Snowy Owl in Queens, New York, 1 December 2013. Here in New York State Snowy Owls have been reported in more than ten counties, with most of those counties having birds being seen in multiple locations. Snowy Owl in Queens, New York, 1 December 2013. The midwestern and northeastern United States, especially coastal regions and areas along the Great Lakes, is currently experiencing an invasion of Bubo scandiacus. MORE

In particular they evoke the New Hampshire lake my extended family descends upon each summer and has done so from before I was born. New Zealand: The Didn’t Bloody Even See It Award. I saw a number of lifers this year in New Zealand, but my bird of the year is one I heard but didn’t see. A new duck! Well, that year was something else. MORE

Which is why I was so excited when I found out that the Kaufman Field Guide to Nature of New England was being published. I love traveling through New England; it’s a cornucopia of eiders and gulls in winter, a symphony of leafy colors in autumn, a treasure trove of sea glass and seashells in the summer, and the home of good friends in springtime. There is also a chapter on conservation, an area in which New England has a historical stake. MORE

The heat map is revealing: Unsurprisingly for a site founded and run by two New Yorkers (one of whom literally wrote the book on birding New York), the Empire State boasts the highest number of species (316). California (297) is next, followed by Florida (227), Oregon (209), and New Jersey (199). Virginia (122), New Mexico (112); Texas (106); Colorado (106), and Pennsylvania (102). Some are all three ( e.g. , New York, California, and Florida). MORE

” New Hampshire must have thought the same, for they voted the Purple Finch the state bird in 1957. Originally, the Purple Finch ran into opposition from proponents of the New Hampshire hen. Parts of the Pacific Coast, New England, and the Great Lakes region are home to the finches all year round, including, of course, New Hampshire. Birds New Hampshire Purple Finch state bird MORE

Having lived there for 36 years, Beehler is able to appreciate, and communicate, how each season has “something new to see as well as a hundred familiar things to savor from the past.”. The literature of naturalists on two wheels is not new: it includes Listening to a Continent Sing , by Donald Kroodsma; Wild Rides and Wildflowers , by Abbott and Rushforth; the aforementioned book by Louis Halle – and there are surely others. Yale, New Haven and London. MORE

As the author, Tom, describes it, two very unlikely hikers set out on doing what few hikers ever had; climb all forty-eight of New Hampshire’s four thousand- foot peaks twice in one winter while raising money for charity! I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first started reading Following Atticus: Forty-eight High Peaks, One Little Dog, and an Extraordinary Friendship. After all, it was a memoir of a middle aged man who didn’t seem to be very happy. MORE

The Stokes checked out some Snowy Owls in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. As we might have already mentioned here on 10,000 Birds, this year is shaping up to be a historic year in terms of a Snowy Owl irruption. And because birders are often bloggers, the amount of material that has already been published regarding this invasion of big, white owls from the north is pretty impressive. MORE

East of Ontario cone crops are generally poor in the Atlantic Provinces, New York State, New Hampshire and other northern New England States. With the recent breeding range expansion east across northern Quebec and the annual abundance of buckthorn berries in settled areas, Bohemians now occur every winter in varying numbers in southern Ontario, southern Quebec and New York State. Ron Pittaway has published his winter finch forecast for the winter of 2014-2015. MORE

In March of 2007 I wrote, " in a horribly-depressing vote of 198-138, New Hampshire's House voted AGAINST a bill that would shut down live racing at its three greyhound race tracks." E-mails were exchanged between yours truly and NH legislators, and though I knew the hounds would someday be free of racing, they were going to have to wait at least another year. At least. Nearly two years later, one of the tracks closed. MORE