5 August 2023
Bird update “July” 2023
Posted by Callan Bentley
Oops – July slipped by without a monthly bird update!
Maybe that’s not the end of the world – I spent much of the month in Montana, and only tacked a few new species onto my county list – a Swallow-tailed kite, a Northern bobwhite, and a Great egret (photo above, 2nd column in the 2nd row). So for those keeping track, that puts me at 154, which is ranked 4th in my county (so no change there).
I’m still missing a few species which should be low-hanging fruit, but somehow they keep eluding me. Next week is my last week of summer break leisure before pre-semester meetings start up again, so maybe I can harvest a few more sightings before I have to go back to work.
Callan Bentley is Associate Professor of Geology at Piedmont Virginia Community College in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is a Fellow of the Geological Society of America. For his work on this blog, the National Association of Geoscience Teachers recognized him with the James Shea Award. He has also won the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council on Higher Education in Virginia, and the Biggs Award for Excellence in Geoscience Teaching from the Geoscience Education Division of the Geological Society of America. In previous years, Callan served as a contributing editor at EARTH magazine, President of the Geological Society of Washington and President the Geo2YC division of NAGT.