One of my favorite birds in Jamaica is the  Kling-Kling, a.k.a the Greater Antillean Grackle or Jamaican Grackle. I saw these mischievous birds both times I visited GoldenEye, the resort created from Ian Fleming's winter residence in Oracabessa.

The first time, one was rearranging the napkins at the waterside bistro (above).

                                                                       Photo by Kevin Watson

My latest column for The Record is about an extraordinary series of events that happened early this month.

A storm blew two Brown Boobies from the Caribbean clear to the tristate region. One landed in Bergen County, the other on Long Island.

The real James Bond wrote about these unusual birds in his many editions of Birds of the West Indies.

You can download the column here:

Download Wright Record Bird Watcher_20200528_LF03_2

Or read it here:

By Jim Wright
Special to The Record 

This is the tale of two long-distance seabirds.

Their story began earlier this month, a nasty cold front propelled the two birds all the way from their native tropics to North Jersey and Long Island -- more than 1,500 miles out of their range. They were found roughly 35 miles apart, in bad shape, on the same Saturday.

The webpage "Donovan's Bookshelf" named "The Real James Bond" one of its prime picks last month.

Here's a sample:

The Real James Bond: A True Story of Identity Theft, Avian Intrigue, & Ian Fleming is a 'must' read for any fan of the Bond movies or writer Ian Fleming's creation, offering an intriguing real story of an ornithologist whose life mimicked Bond's world, in many ways....

The Real James Bond is an outstanding survey of these events and is a thoroughly engrossing read packed with color photos throughout. It will interest not just Bond and Fleming fans, but science and nature history enthusiasts. 

You can read the review is here (just scroll down).

You can read The Wall Street Journal's review here.

The Birdbooker Report called "The Real James Bond"  ... "a must-have for James Bond fans and for those with an interest in ornithological history."

Jim Wright is the author of "The Real James Bond" and several other books, including large-format books about the New Jersey Meadowlands, Pennsylvania’s Hawk Mountain, Allendale's Celery Farm Nature Preserve, and the largest rainforest in Central America.

He has also written two e-books on Bald Eagles (including one for Duke Farms) and one on Red-shouldered Hawks.

He has written “The Bird Watcher” column for The Record since 2009.

He is a deputy warden of the Celery Farm, a board member of Allendale's Lee Memorial Library, and on the Conservancy Council of the New Jersey Chapter of The Nature Conservancy.