Featured Blog: Birdfreak
by Kirsten (Editors' Blog) on March 2, 2012
Follow Eddie and the Birdfreak team on their birding and travel adventures, which they share along with great photos on their blog at birdfreak.com.
Eddie, of the blog birdfreak.com, giving a presentation on birding tools.
What was the inspiration behind your blog?
I’ve loved birds since I was five and my parents took me bird banding. I released a blue-winged warbler and it was awesome. Then many years later I wanted to create a place to promote the love of birding (I am a marketer) along with the conservation of bird habitat, large or small. So my sister and I launched it as Birdfreak.com.
How long has it been around?
The blog officially started on December 1st, 2006 so we are into our sixth year.
Everyone on the Birdfreak time has a nickname. How and why did you come up with them?
I gave myself the Birdfreak name as a way to partially make fun of my obsession of birds over other animals. Jennie, my sister and co-creater, chose Veery because she loves their voice and elusive nature. Everyone just chose their own names based on birds they loved the most.
If you could go anywhere in the world to bird-watch, where would you go and why?
As much as I love local birding, there are two vastly different places I dream of visiting: Peru and Bhutan. Peru is so diverse and I want to experience the overwhelming feeling of seeing so many new birds, especially around the Amazon. Bhutan seems like a peaceful country that loves nature. Plus they have the Beautiful Nuthatch!
You set a goal to see 200 bird species in 2012. Where are you at right now, two months in?
My 88th species was a short-eared owl being mobbed by a mixed murder of American crows and blue jays on Leap Day. I set the goal rather arbitrarily and it is low compared to competitive birders. But most of my birding is done locally so 200 seemed attainable yet requiring me to go hiking a lot.
What’s one of your favorite or most popular blog posts and why?
This is difficult to answer but one of my favorites was a post on the organization Working Dogs for Conservation Conservation Canines Sniff Out Animals, Plants & Poo.
One of our goals at Birdfreak.com is to promote new ways of looking at conservation. Working Dogs combines our love of dogs with a unique way to improve conservation efforts. We try to think beyond the norms like our goal to promote bison farming as a way to restore prairies.
Tagged as: Featured Blog
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Every year I have ants get in my Bluebird houses and kill the baby Bluebirds. I have used Ortho, Spectricide, Bayer and other Insect granules all around the bottom of the post the houses are on and they still get in there. Do you have any ideas to control these ants? They are the tiny yard ants.
We also put 5% Sevin Dust in the bottom of the box. We have had babies almost totally feathered out and killed by these ants. We live in zone 6 in very western KY.
We use the insect control on our whole yard and always pile it up at the base of the posts.
The Bluebirds are already coming in and starting to build nests.
Please help me with this. I am at the point of desperation.
Thank you so very much for any advice!!!
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There was a recipe for homemade suet in the birds and blooms website at Christmas time, i didn’t write it down, now i am looking for it once again, and can not find it. if you can, or know of one, could you email it to me? thank you in advance
Sheri
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As a avid hummingbird lover and caregiver i hope that you will inform your readers of the number one predator of these little beauties.At least in the south it is praying manthis insects.There is a online video that shows how quickly they capture and kill the hummer.I usually find them on bottom of my hummingbird feeders at dusk and dawn.Had i not seen the video i would never have believed it possible Please let your readers know so they can help keep their hummers safe this year. Thank you
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