Aug 06 2023
Yellow and black is one of the most eye-catching color combinations in the bird world. A flash of brilliant yellow against dark wings can make a bird stand out instantly at a feeder, in a meadow, or high in the treetops. But color alone rarely tells the whole story. A tiny American Goldfinch and a …
Aug 05 2023
Birds come in an astonishing range of sizes. At one end of the spectrum are hummingbirds light enough to perch on a fingertip. At the other are enormous birds that stand taller than a person, weigh hundreds of pounds, or stretch wings nearly 12 feet from tip to tip. But determining the biggest bird in …
Jul 01 2023
Deep in a mature forest, long after daylight has faded from the treetops, a booming series of hoots breaks the silence. To many people, the rhythm sounds remarkably like the phrase, “Who cooks for you? Who cooks for you-all?” This unforgettable call belongs to the Barred Owl (Strix varia), one of the most recognizable owls …
Jun 24 2023
Birdsong is one of the most familiar sounds in nature, yet the way birds experience that sound is remarkably different from what we might imagine. A robin singing before sunrise, a chickadee sounding an alarm, an owl tracking prey in darkness, and a flock calling to one another overhead all depend on sophisticated auditory systems. …
Jun 02 2023
A tiny songbird lies stunned beneath a window. A young owl is discovered beside a road. A pelican arrives tangled in fishing line, while a nestling is brought in after a storm tears apart its nest. Every day, situations like these bring wild birds into wildlife rehabilitation centers, where trained professionals and volunteers work to …
May 27 2023
A birdhouse can be much more than a charming garden decoration. Choose the right design, place it in suitable habitat, and you may give a cavity-nesting bird a safe place to raise its young. The key is choosing a birdhouse for the birds rather than simply for its appearance. Different birds need different entrance-hole sizes, …
May 18 2023
A bright orange beak can be one of the easiest field marks to notice when you are trying to identify an unfamiliar bird. Against black, white, gray, or brightly colored plumage, an orange bill can stand out from surprisingly far away. But an orange beak alone usually is not enough to identify a bird. Bill …
May 14 2023
Brilliant green feathers, a fiery red belly, a long patterned tail, and a habit of sitting almost perfectly still among the branches make the Elegant Trogon (Trogon elegans) one of Central America’s most memorable forest birds. Despite its spectacular coloring, the Elegant Trogon can be surprisingly difficult to spot. It often spends long stretches quietly …
May 14 2023
The Arizona Woodpecker is one of the most distinctive woodpeckers in the United States. Instead of the bold black-and-white back seen on many familiar North American woodpeckers, this southwestern species wears warm brown upperparts, a large white cheek patch, and heavily spotted underparts. Its limited U.S. range makes an Arizona Woodpecker sighting especially memorable. In …
May 14 2023
Ptarmigan are among the most remarkable birds of the far north and high mountains. These compact members of the grouse family survive in environments where winter can bring deep snow, bitter winds, scarce food, and months of freezing temperatures. Their most famous adaptation is their seasonally changing plumage. Many ptarmigan are mottled brown, gray, and …
