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Screech-Owls Go Fishing
Screech-owls are opportunistic diners. In the Pacific Northwest, they’ll prey on small birds, crayfish, large ants, or earthworms. In Arizona, pocket mice and pack rats. And in Ohio, biologists who n…
Published on 1 year ago
BirdNoir – The Mystery of the Blue Bird
In this episode of BirdNoir, Michael Stein — Private Eye — gets a call from a friend, Danny, who wants to know why the bluest bird he’s ever seen has vanished. But there are many birds that are blue …
Published on 1 year ago
How Terns Read the Water
Like an expert angler, a tern can read the surface of the water to find where to catch its next fish. Scientists piloted a drone to track the flight paths of terns on the hunt. The terns sought out t…
Published on 1 year ago
Geese Whiffling in for a Landing
Looking at a Canada Goose, you might not think their bodies are designed for fancy flying. But watch as a flock of geese comes in for a landing at a lake and you might be surprised. If the flock come…
Published on 1 year ago
Titmice Lead the Way
In winter, many songbirds join flocks made up of multiple species that travel around looking for food, benefitting from safety in numbers. But a bird flock that doesn't move in the same direction soo…
Published on 1 year ago
The Importance of Neotropical Ornithology
To protect our migratory birds, it’s vital that we understand their behaviors both during the breeding season in North America and when they migrate to the Neotropics — a region that includes Central…
Published on 1 year ago
The Pecking Order
Birds in flocks almost invariably develop a pecking order. An alpha chicken can peck any other in the flock, and a beta chicken can peck all others but the alpha bird. Juncos and other small birds ha…
Published on 1 year ago
Western Hummingbirds, East
Not long ago, the only hummingbird that someone living in the eastern United States and Canada could hope to see was the Ruby-throated Hummingbird. But things have changed. Today, more and more hummi…
Published on 1 year ago
Learning to Sing from a Blackbird
Many years ago, when writer and musician Ray Young Bear was training his singing voice, he took a kind of vocal lesson from the blackbirds. “They have the most complicated song in the world — high pi…
Published on 1 year ago
As the Crow Flies
Traveling "as the crow flies," eating "like a bird," and being "free as a bird" are just a few of the sayings we use to describe everyday human actions and feelings. But these often don't take into a…
Published on 1 year ago