Lost in virtual bird land

Birding is like stamp collecting: obsessive sleuthing for things small, rare and elusive. But bagging bird sightings is a tougher gig. You’ve got to travel hard and listen up.

If you can’t jet off to Borneo, Patagonia or Panama, www.birding.com will catapult you into the mysteries of the avian world. Track the migrations of ducks, sandhill cranes and Canada geese in New Mexico’s Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge. Fly from Ecuador to Maine in a nanosecond to hear the demonic laughter of the loon or the asthmatic squeal of the red-tailed hawk. Thrill to the rat-a-tat-tat of the rediscovered ivory-billed woodpecker in Arkansas’ swamps.

Science trumps commerce on this labyrinthine site, which takes its ornithology seriously. Calls, songs, habitats, mating rituals, migration routes, glorious photographs and a maze of hot birding links proliferate.

It’s a fantastic site to get lost in.

-- Susan Dworski