Nov 01
There are two families or subfamilies of owls, depending on the authority. In either case, there are the “true” owls with nearly all the species, and then all alone in the other category is the Barn Owl, a distinctive-looking animal. There are several genera in the so-called true owls. In this article, I will discuss …
Oct 28
The owl may be my favorite bird of all. Most people are fascinated with owls but they don’t want to venture too close. While we have gotten more used to owls by reading and watching Harry Potter and the beloved Hedwig, that owl is nothing like the typical owl most of us see in neighborhoods, …
Jul 10
Are sparrows really common? Sparrows are in the family of small passerine birds. Passerine birds are perching birds and songbirds. They include more than half of the world’s bird species. A house sparrow is a bird in the sparrow family that is found in most parts of the world. It is a small bird with …
Jun 14
The Northern Oriole is better known to most people as the Baltimore Oriole, especially, no doubt, in Maryland, where it is the state bird and provides the name for the baseball team. Authorities have differed on whether it is the same species as the more western Bullock’s Oriole. The high point of unifying the two …
May 04
Not everyone loves the Blue Jay. But you cannot deny its pretty blue color. Larger than the average song bird, the Blue Jay has a bad reputation for disrupting the nests of other smaller birds in the area. While this is what we think of when we think of the Blue Jay, the actual evidence …
Feb 28
The Green Jay belongs to a very distinctive family of perching birds. The family of the jays, magpies, and crows, the Corvidae, is widespread. They are generally large, often noisy, and intelligent, especially in their ability to obtain and store food. The Green Jay is green on its body and tail with yellow sides and …
Feb 28
The Red-Tailed Hawk is the most common hawk in North America. This hawk can be seen possibly sitting on a fence post, anytime you take a drive along a highway in most of the United States. I don’t think I’ve ever driven across I-70 in Kansas that I haven’t seen several hawks along the way …
Feb 28
Blue-footed Booby is a funny name for a funny bird, or at least its behavior is funny. The Blue-footed Booby is a seabird usually found on rocky islands or shorelines. It was the birds’ lack of fear that earned them the name “Booby,” derived from the Spanish word for stupid or clown. However, the bird’s …
Feb 28
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is related to cardinals and buntings, all characterized by stout beaks adapted to seed crushing. Grosbeaks, as implied by the name, have especially large beaks. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak nests over the northeastern and central states and north into Canada. Although they winter in the tropics, they are early arrivals in the spring …
Feb 28
The Atlantic Puffin is a northern bird of the seashore, spanning the Atlantic from the east coast of Canada to Iceland to the North Sea. It is the official bird of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. This is a most distinctive, even comical, bird in its shape and coloration. Stocky shape and black above-white …