John E. Riutta

While the beginning of the famous, gift-laden twelve days of Christmas actually begin on Christmas Day proper (December 25) and conclude on Epiphany (January 6), the modern western practice of the Christmas holiday renders this period all but moot except to the exceptionally observant of the faith or as a poetic metaphor. For this reason, Born Again Bird Watcher will be observing the “Twelve-tide” beginning on December 1 and running out twelve days thence.

Whether your interest in Tundra Swans, Cygnus columbianus, is focused on their patterns of migration, their susceptibility to avian influenza, or is simply based on their majestic beauty and the pleasure to be derived from watching them, then the Swan Surveillance and Research page of the USGS’s Alaska Science Center website is something about which you should know.

In one of the more perplexing executive decisions made by the outgoing Bush administration, a Charleston, Missouri man who pleaded guilty in 1995 to killing three bald eagles in southeast Missouri through the use of poisoned hamburger and thus violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, has been issued a presidential pardon for his crimes.

…but one of my Wingscapes BirdCams did.