My free Zoom talk on "The Real James Bond" is tomorrow (Friday, Oct, 23) at 8 p.m.

The real-life James Bond was an ornithologist and noted naturalist/adventurer from Philadelphia who was an expert on the birds of the Caribbean.

When Ian Fleming was looking for a name for his fictional British secret agent, he looked at the cover of his birding bible, Birds of the West Indies, saw the author’s name, and simply stole it.

My talk for the Fyke Nature Association will cover such topics as Bond’s iconic field guide, his identity theft by Ian Fleming, and Bond’s solo expeditions to the Caribbean.

Earlier this month,  The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a disturbing article about more than 1,000 migratory birds dying after flying into the bright lights of the city's tall buildings on a foggy night.

Today The Inquirer followed up with an Op-Ed n how the city can reduce the disturbing number of deaths.

You can read it here.

A fellow Bergen County bird lover writes:

Can you explain why the sparrows in my yard are going into my birdhouses?

There are usually two of them, one enters the birdhouse and stays for up to one minute and then they both fly away.

I see this activity during the spring mating season, but now it’s mid-October ....

I have a theory, based on Eastern Bluebird behavior. What do you think?

What bird built (and abandoned) this nest? 

Know where I took the photo?

I'm happy to announce I am giving a free Zoom talk about my book "The Real James Bond" next Friday (Oct, 23) at 8 p.m. for the Fyke Nature Association.

The real-life James Bond was an ornithologist and noted naturalist/adventurer from Philadelphia who was an expert on the birds of the Caribbean.

When Ian Fleming was looking for a name for his fictional British secret agent, he looked at the cover of his birding bible, Birds of the West Indies, saw the author’s name, and simply stole it.

I'll talk about Bond’s iconic field guide, his identity theft by Ian Fleming, and Bond’s solo expeditions to the Caribbean.

Leslie Young passed along these two excellent Northern Flicker pix upon reading my Bird Watcher column yesterday. She writes:

"On one of my recent visits to the CF, I saw 2 pairs of flickers.

"They crossed back and forth in front of me several times. They are self-assured, bold creatures.

"Easy for me to shoot. They are beautiful birds."

(Thanks, Leslie!)

My column in The Record and other papers today is all about Northern Flickers and features a great anecdote from Pete Dunne.

You can download it here:

Download Wright Bird Watcher Flickers TheRecordBergenEdition_20201015_LF03_0

or read it here: