What we're reading--check it out.

We are in the midst of our annual post-CBC hibernation. This has given us a bit more time to check out other birding sites and blogs, some of which are pretty new or not as well known as the "top" birding sites. We enjoy reading these bolgs, and we think you will too. If you don't, well, don't blame us, we didn't make you click-through.

First up is the site from the U.K.'s most infamous birder, Tom McKinney, which we have mentioned in a prior post. This site is funny as shit, even if we don't understand what they're talking about half of the time. Some of the spoof birding diaries are hilarious, and they'd probably be even more hilarious if we knew who those people actually were. Make sure you check out all of the hidden goodies at the site, like the linked videos. Our kind of guy. Here is how Tom describes himself: http://skills-bills.co.uk/about.htm

And here is more his current birding diary: http://skills-bills.co.uk/2007.htm

Make sure that you check out the rest of the site, including all of the linked videos.

Next up, and continuing the Maiden theme (is there a correlation between Iron Maiden and birding skills? Why doesn't Cornell study that?), is Bell Tower Birding. We first found this site from a link at Charlie's Bird Blog. We think. We forget stuff like that. Anyway, this site is run by a European birder who is currently living in Ann Arbor, Michigan. We think it's interesting to see how an experienced Eurobirder views birding in an urban (or at least semi-urban) part of the Midwest.

Check it out: http://www.belltowerbirding.blogspot.com/

Finally, we'll give you one more newish site to check out. It's Josh's Around the Globe blog. Josh's blog is probably going to focus on African birding to start out; Josh is working for a major birding company, so he'll get to see the rest of the world again. We think Josh's blog is sort-of the reverse of Bell Tower Birding for us: a local "urban" birder's view of the rest of the world, including some places most of us will never get to. So check it out:

http://oxypogon.blogspot.com/