January winds in Nantucket are wicked, a ferocious combination of arctic cold and New England dampness. Downtown streets and rural woods are nearly empty—tourists and birds alike having fled for warmer climes. The island is hospitable only to the large, heavy-coated northerners, like eiders and...
The appearance and behavior of Swainson's Hawk is much like its close North American relatives; Red-tailed (Buteo jamaicensis), Broad-winged (Buteo platypterus), White-tailed (Buteo albicaudatus), Short-tailed (Buteo brachyurus), and Ferruginous (Buteo regalis) Hawks. Although its overall...
With outstretched wings, a male Buff-breasted Sandpiper tilts its bill upward and does the "shake". Several females scrutinize his dance in their search for the best male to father their young. Nearby, other males dance at their mating posts hoping to attract female attention.
One constellation most people can recognize is the Big Dipper. Did you know that the two stars farthest from the handle of the Big Dipper point toward the Little Dipper, and that the last star in the handle of the Little Dipper is the North Star? Did you also know that the North Star is the star...
Like a centurion standing guard, the Cedar Waxwing strikes a commanding pose with its natty garb and erect profile. It's very name, Bombycilla , speaks of well-kempt fashion. "Bombux" or "bombukos" comes from the Greek root for "silk". The "cilla" comes from Modern Latin, and (mistakenly by...
In the cool mist of a waterfall, several black arrows dart back and forth to the recesses behind the falls. Behind this veil of cascading water in the damp moss-laden cliffs, hidden and safe from predators, are nests of the northern subspecies (borealis) of the Black Swift. Restricted to the...
Rice bird, meadow-wink, skunk blackbird, reed bird, butter bird—these various names for the member of the blackbird family most commonly known as the bobolink reflect the diversity of ways in which humans have looked upon this gregarious songbird.
The bobolink has been the source of inspiration...
Bottomland forest on a hot June day. Dark and murky. Quiet except for the buzz of a million mosquitoes and the sounds of occasional splashes and bubbles in the tea-stained water.
Suddenly, a flash of golden-yellow darts across the background of muted greens and browns. The bird lands, throws back...
When we think about birds migrating to the tropics, we often focus on nearby areas such as Mexico and the Caribbean. However, each fall, millions of songbirds migrate from North America to their wintering areas in the northern Andes of South America.
When first described by scientists in 1830, this species was named the “Franklin's Rosy Gull” for its rose-colored breast and belly.
However, for those of us familiar with the seagulls of the coast, this beautiful and delicate gull seems more aptly named the “Prairie Dove” as dubbed by the early...
From mid-June to late August thousands of birds foraging on brine shrimp and fly larvae dot the large saline and alkaline lakes of the West with whirling, spinning patterns. Many of these are Wilson's Phalaropes who along with their cousins, the Red-necked Phalaropes, congregate in flocks of up to...
At top speed, a needle-like bird beak, flared with chestnut and horns of gold and followed by bright black-and-yellow tiger stripes, hurtles towards its target. This is the view that many birds have of the beautiful but aggressive male Cape May Warbler as it chases all comers from a favorite tree...
The brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) is a brood parasite that lays its eggs in the nests of other birds. These "foster parents", called hosts, usually raise cowbird young at the expense of their own eggs or young.
Flight affords the utmost in mobility and has made possible the evolution of avian migration as a means of exploiting distant food resources and avoiding the physiological stress associated with cold weather.
Imagine. It is dark and you have been traveling at an altitude of 5,000 feet for eight hours over arid desert, crossing the Mexican border at midnight. You have been flying on your own two wings, fueled by body fat and guided by the celestial map of the constellations. The sun begins to rise, and...
Several species of insects including the Western Spruce Budworm, Gypsy Moth, Western Pine Beetle, and the Eastern Spruce Budworm experience population cycles in which populations remain low for several years and are followed by outbreaks (population explosions). During non-outbreak years, these...
In the midst of altered and shrinking habitat in both North and Latin America, migratory birds have found a sanctuary in the forest-like environment of traditional coffee plantations. In eastern Chiapas, Mexico, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center biologists found that traditionally-managed coffee and...
