Sep 02 2025
Geese may be famous for waddling across lawns and gathering around ponds, but much of their day is actually devoted to one simple activity: finding food. So, what do geese like to eat? Geese primarily eat grasses, tender shoots, leaves, aquatic plants, seeds, grains, roots, and other plant material. Depending on the species and habitat, …
May 11 2025
Most songbirds spend their lives among branches, grasses, and open skies. The American Dipper (Cinclus mexicanus) takes a very different approach. This stocky gray bird makes its home beside cold, rushing streams—and routinely plunges directly into them. American Dippers can swim, dive, and even move along rocky streambeds while searching for food. They are considered …
Apr 25 2025
Discover the Backyard Birds of North Carolina North Carolina is a wonderful place to become a backyard birdwatcher. From the Blue Ridge Mountains to the Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain, the state contains an impressive variety of forests, fields, wetlands, pine woods, gardens, and suburban neighborhoods. More than 400 migratory, wintering, and year-round bird …
Apr 17 2025
The Evening Grosbeak is one of North America’s most dramatic finches. With an oversized bill, bold white wing patches, and flashes of yellow and black, an adult male can look almost tropical when it lands at a snowy winter bird feeder. Females are more subdued, but their combination of gray, olive, yellow, black, and white …
Apr 11 2025
Discover the beauty and power of the American kestrel, a small but mighty bird of prey. Learn about their habitat, behavior, and conservation efforts in this informative article.
Jan 27 2024
The Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) may be small, but it is one of the most recognizable and approachable woodpeckers in North America. This energetic black-and-white bird is a familiar visitor to forests, parks, suburban neighborhoods, and backyard bird feeders, where its compact size allows it to forage in places that larger woodpeckers simply cannot reach. …
Jan 27 2024
Winter can transform a familiar landscape almost overnight. Insects disappear from view, ponds freeze, berries become scarce, and snow covers many of the seeds birds depend on for food. At the same time, freezing temperatures force birds to burn additional energy simply to stay alive. Yet chickadees continue darting through snow-covered branches. Woodpeckers cling to …
Jan 01 2024
Birds and blooms have a special connection that goes beyond just aesthetics. Explore the science behind this relationship and how you can create a bird-friendly garden in your backyard.
Nov 07 2023
Bird sanctuaries are places where birds can find something increasingly valuable in a changing world: safe habitat. Some protect wetlands crowded with migrating waterfowl. Others preserve forests used by nesting songbirds, islands occupied by seabird colonies, grasslands where ground-nesting species breed, or coastal mudflats where shorebirds stop to feed during migration. For birdwatchers, these protected …
Aug 15 2023
From the wooded mountains of the Adirondacks to the salt marshes of Long Island, New York State offers an extraordinary variety of habitats for birds. Even New York City becomes an important refuge for migrating songbirds each spring and fall. More than 450 bird species have been observed across New York State, according to the …
