The Zen Birdfeeder

I and the Bird #79

Congratulations to the 10,000 Birds blog as they celebrate the 3rd anniversary of "I And The Bird"! 

What IS "I And The Bird" you ask?  It is a "blog carnival", a periodic traveling event featuring the best bird blog writing on the internet. 

Periodic in that it appears once every 2 weeks.  Traveling in that each IATB is compiled by a different blog author from around the world. Event in that it a celebration of the bird blogging community.  Best bird blog writing in that it includes, all in one post, links to recent posts by the bird blogging community, selected and submitted by the bloggers themselves.

I And The Bird #79 is compiled by Charlie of 10,000 Birds himself, and it features bird bloggers' response to an obvious, but seldom asked question "Why are you STILL blogging???"

Take time to enjoy Charlie's response as he waxes poetic his response to the question (ok, he just waxes).  Read on to links to other bloggers' thoughts on the subject as well.  The Zen Birdfeeder blog replied, and got a stamp of approval saying TZB has "just the sort of attitude we here at 10,000 Birds thoroughly approve of…"  Thanks guys and keep up the good work!

Still Blogging After All These....Months

Mike Bergin of 10,000 Birds recently posed this question to the bird blogging community:

"Why are you still bird blogging?  Why, despite the difficulties, time-pressures, and other things to do (like birding), are you still at it?"

So, what IS my motivation to write The Zen Birdfeeder blog?

The first thing that came to mind for me was LEARNING.  To keep The Zen Birdfeeder blog interesting (and I hope you do find it interesting), I've found that I have to really observe, read, listen, and constantly, well, just pay attention. We all do this to some degree anyway, but keeping a blog vibrant and alive pushes it to a much higher level.

I love the opportunity to showcase creativity.  Admittedly, creativity doesn't come often or easy for me, but when a fun idea like the SOM Seeks SOF post comes along, I love being able to share it!  And I love getting comments that provide a big "thumbs up" to my work.

The Zen Birdfeeder also provides a great opportunity to share my passion for the birds, especially the birds we see everyday.  The Zen Birdfeeder blog has been around for 14 months now, and my 248 posts are mostly about the birds in my yard.  Chickadees and Downy Woodpeckers and Blue Jays and Purple Finches.  The usual suspects.  But I still have yet to tire of seeing these "commoners" in my yard and sharing my observations.

The abundant but always appreciated Black-capped Chickadee

Lastly, I think the The Zen Birdfeeder blog helps fill an important niche in the bird blog community.  Specifically, it helps bridge the gap between serious birders and the people that "just" feed the birds.  There are literally millions of people that care deeply about the birds.  And the majority of those millions do not follow rare bird alerts or maintain life lists.  We just show our love and appreciation for birds by maintaining  feeders in our yard.  And we are thrilled every day by the most common of birds that visit those feeders.  The Zen Birdfeeder blog is THEIR blog.  And to all you hard-core birders, I hope you find it enjoyable too.

I and the Bird #77

The Brooklyn-based blog Great Auk - or Greatest Auk? hosted I and the Bird #77.  I submitted my "SOM Seeking SOF" post about a male Baltimore Oriole looking for love.  Check out the latest IATB entitled "Summertime".

Help Cornell Lab Redesign Their Website

Cornell Lab of Ornithology is starting work on a major redesign of their website and they are looking for guidance from the experts (that's all of us - Cornell Lab's everyday site users).

They invite all users to participate via their new blog, Round Robin.  They'll use the blog to float ideas, preview features, and solicit opinions.

Check out their first post "We're redesigning: Come along for the ride!".  This is a great opportunity for all of us to participate in the redesign of Cornell's great internet resources.  Save their blog as a favorite or subscribe to the feed and check in often.

I and the Bird #76

You're invited!  Stop in at Wanderin' Weeta's "Beginning of the Season – Victoria Day – It's Not Raining Day" Garden Party and Potluck. Included in her party recap, I and the Bird #76, is our "Hitting a Tree at 13mph" post.

I and the Bird #75

Read some blog posts - take a quiz - win a book.  And our Nightime Visitor post is included!!  Check out Gallicissa's I and the Bird post, all the way from Sri Lanka.

I and the Bird #74

Check out I and the Bird #74 on the Consworld blog.  Her theme is Songfest, and my Fox Sparrows Migrating Through post is included.  Check it out - there are some cool posts out there!

Search Function Added to The Zen Birdfeeder

A few weeks ago, I added a really useful widget to The Zen Birdfeeder.  Scroll down to just below the Photo Albums on the left and you'll find the blogbar search widget.

This widget lets you search the entire The Zen Birdfeeder blog.  Enter your search word, and a Google search comes up in a new window with links to all posts in my blog that contain that word.

It works great - give it a try!

Tuftie Goes to Funkytown

You've got to check out this video by waveryfilms.com on YouTube:

The Zen Birdfeeder is One Year Old!

Today marks the 1st anniversary of The Zen Birdfeeder.  What a fun year it's been!

It is interesting how things have evolved over the past twelve months.  I started the blog after reading BlogWild! by Andy Wibbels.  The "zen" concept had been in my mind for awhile and it finally evolved into the Zen Birdfeeder concept.  I dove in with an absolute basic blog.  Here's my first official post entitled Junco Jungle.

I've slowly learned some of the Typepad capabilities like adding sound files, videos, photo albums, widgets, and other extras to the blog. It took me almost a year to figure out I could do a custom banner - duh!  My Red-breasted Nuthatch image was just added about a month ago and was recently featured by Typepad on their blog.   
 
The Zen Birdfeeder Factoids (as of April 2)

• 188 Posts
• 476 Comments
• 9,881 Visitors
• 15,490 Page Views
• Nature Blog Network Ranking: Birds #24; All Sites #68

What I have enjoyed the most is meeting other bloggers through The Zen Birdfeeder.  Though we've never met face-to-face, I've grown to appreciate and look forward to hearing from loyal readers such as Monarch, members of The Birdfreak Team, Lana, Larry, Vern, Sue, Mike and more.  All these folks have great blogs themselves and I am honored to have them frequent The Zen Birdfeeder and include me on their blogroll.

Plans for 2008

• More digiscoped images
• More BirdCam images
• More stories of interesting bird behavior
• More off-location posts, both local sights and in my limited travels
• More about environmental issues that impact the birds (Care for the Birds - Care for the Environment feature)
• Maybe a new camera?

Please let me know if you have any ideas or suggestions that would improve The Zen Birdfeeder or make it more interesting or user-friendly.  I welcome your ideas!

I hope you all enjoy what you read and see on The Zen Birdfeeder.  Thanks to you all for your support - you're all great!