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 27
And Other Flight Facts The short answer as to why birds don’t usually fly in the rain is really the same reason as to why people don’t do much outside in the rain. It just isn’t practical. Birds are conserving their body heat and hunkering down in trees and near their nests during rain storms. …
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 07
When you have time to watch the different birds in your area, think about how different the beaks are from bird to bird. From a hawk or an eagle, to a robin or a wren, the sizes and shapes of the beaks are so varied. What about the beaks of the humming birds or the …
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
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 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 …
Feb 28
The Northern Cardinal is a backyard favorite of many bird watchers. This popular bird lives in the Eastern parts of the United States. Because of the male’s bright red color, they are perhaps the most colorful visitors we have who eat at our bird feeders and swim in our birdbaths in local yards. Some believe …