A Few Blog Changes

I finally spent some time updating the blog's appearance last weekend. I added a title picture (some trees across the street from my house). Also I adjusted the colors of the background and text. Hopefully it's a little less stark and easier to read now. What do you think?

Most significantly, I started linking the photos to Flickr instead of uploading them to Blogger. Flickr has a strange user interface that takes some getting used to. But it has so many features for sharing photos I think it's worth the effort. Some of them:

• Most of my photos are geo-tagged. So when you're looking at one on Flickr, you can click on the very small "map" link to the right of the photo (under the "Additional Information" section) and see exactly where I took it on a map. (Click on "Hybrid" on the map for a satellite view.)
  
• You can click on the "All Sizes" link above a photo to see a bigger version.
• If you have an account on Flickr, you can comment on individual pictures.
• You can even comment on particular parts of a picture by using the "Add Note" link at the top-left of each photo. (The notes are visible when you hover over the picture with the mouse.)
  

Try it out! Here's a Mourning Dove I saw on Sunday that I posted a couple notes on. It's pretty neat!


I don't put all my neighborhood birding pictures on the blog, but I do put them all on Flickr. So you can also explore my "photostream" there to see more. (I tag all my photos from the NASWC area with "Neighborhood".) Have fun!

Welcome!

About this Blog

This blog is a place where I can post quick reports and pictures about finding birds in my neighborhood. It was originally meant to supplement my neighborhood association birding column and to show my community the amazing variety of birds and other wildlife we have here. Hopefully it will even spark a few neighbors' interest. The blog audience has grown a bit beyond just the neighborhood, which is great! I hope it can promote local birding in general. You don't always have to drive 10 miles to find neat birds.

About Me

I've lived in Austin since 1983 and became an avid birder in about 1994. In early 2004 I bought a house on Broadmeade Avenue in northwest Austin and I have been surprised and delighted by the variety of birds here. In 2006 I started keeping records of my neighborhood bird sightings in eBird. In late 2006 I started writing about our neighborhood birds and leading a monthly bird walk for NASWC, our neighborhood association. I started this blog in early 2007.

About the Pictures and the Birds

All the pictures on this blog are taken in the NASWC area (see this map) by me or a neighbor. (Most are hosted in Flickr and geo-tagged, so just click on them to see exactly where they were taken.)  All the birds reported were observed in this same area. All pictures are copyright protected © 2010 by Mikael Behrens, all rights reserved.

Contact Me

If you're interested in my monthly neighborhood bird walk, or if you'd like to contact me for another reason, you can find my email address here.

This post was updated on 5/26/2008.
This post was updated on 11/11/2010.