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The Fight for a Bird-Friendly Chicago
Window collisions kill nearly one billion birds every year in the U.S., with many fatalities occurring during spring and fall migration. Judy Pollock, president of the Chicago Bird Alliance, says thi…
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago
Mating Strategy of the Saltmarsh Sparrow
In the tidal marshes of the East Coast, the Saltmarsh Sparrow has a breeding strategy described by scientists as featuring an “obligate, promiscuous, and bond-free relationship between males and fema…
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago
Spark Bird: Kenn Kaufman
As a young child, Kenn Kaufman ventured into his neighborhood in search of the tigers, bears, and dinosaurs, but quickly found that Indiana doesn’t have those. So he set his sights on the next best t…
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago
Sam ‘Ohu Gon on Protecting the ‘I‘iwi
Because of invasive species and climate change, many of the native birds of Hawai‘i are endangered or have gone extinct. Sam ‘Ohu Gon, Senior Scientist and Cultural Advisor for the Nature Conservancy…
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago
Chickadee Brains Are Bigger in the Cold
As the colder months arrive, birds that remain in northern climates face the harsh realities of staying warm and finding food. Some birds approach the food problem by storing it in advance — a behavi…
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago
Chorus Line in the Sky
A flock of small shorebirds, like Western Sandpipers, twists and turns, glittering in the sky. When threatened by a falcon, these birds take to the air, flying so close together that it's hard for a …
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago
American Wigeon
The American Wigeon is a grazer. Its bill is narrow, with a pointed tip like that of a goose. When feeding on water plants, a wigeon grabs a leaf and rips it off with its strong bill, rather than usi…
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago
Songbirds Teach Each Other Tricks
In the UK for years, milk came in bottles with foil caps. Great Tits, a common songbird, learned how to peck through the foil. The skill spread. But how? Researchers trained Great Tits in different w…
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago
Birds in the Winter Garden
Put your winter garden to work as a haven for birds. Leaves and brush left to compost provide foraging and roosting places, smother this year’s weeds, and feed next spring’s plant growth. Watch for j…
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago
Spark Bird: Chidi Paige and the Yellow Warbler
When Chidi Paige moved from Nigeria to the U.S., she began running a youth STEM program and had to teach lessons on bird identification. She was in for a challenge: she had to learn the local bird sp…
Published on 1 year, 1 month ago