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As soon as they step off the boat onto Santa Cruz Island, the largest of the eight California Channel Islands, a distinctive, metallic call greets visitors. This call belongs the island scrub-jay, a large, strikingly blue bird with a whitish-gray breast and a prominent black bill.

The rock pigeon is the official English name for our common city pigeon. It is as noble as any animal when you view it in its proper place.

The game of survival is all about carving out your niche and being successful in it. Within the natural world, few birds play this game better than the American dipper (Cinclus mexicanus).

To many bird enthusiasts, the white-throated sparrow is just an "average Joe." In fact, I suspect that few birders living in Canada and the eastern United States have celebrated the long-awaited addition of the white-throated sparrow to their life lists.

Few birds are so easily identified in flight as a crow, cutting a sharp, sleek image against the sky or a woodland edge with powerful, deliberate wing beats and black form.

The Baltimore oriole is perhaps the most famous neotropical migratory bird. Its brilliant orange and black plumage is reminiscent of the crest of Lord Baltimore, an important figure in Maryland's history, and the bird has become the mascot of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team.

The harlequin duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) is a cult bird. I came to this conclusion very early in life. I grew up birding in Northern California in the '60s and '70s when breeding harlequins had been gone so long there they didn't even qualify as an ornithological memory.

The northern waterthrush ( Parkesia noveboracensis) is a swamp thing, a seeker of wet woodlands far from where most people go. Summers are spent amid the swamps and sluggish rivers of the far north's forests, with beavers, moose, and bears for neighbors. In winter, they head south to tropical swamps...

The widespread American robin is one of our most familiar birds and its arrival in spring is eagerly anticipated.

Despite its misleading name, the Tennessee warbler neither breeds nor over-winters in the state of Tennessee. This species got its name when the first specimen collected had the misfortune of being shot by Alexander Wilson in 1832. This unlucky individual happened to be passing through Tennessee...

As darkness descends along rural roadsides from Texas to Argentina, mysterious ember-like dots appear near ground level. Reflecting the beams of car headlights, this orange glow emanates from the eyes of a cryptic bird of the night known as the Common Pauraque. With the onset of twilight, pauraques...

By John Barrat, Smithsonian Office of Public Affairs Something is squirming inside a white athletic sock marked with the number 16 and hanging from the belt of biology student Jessica Hollis. Standing in the deep woods of the Smithsonian National Zoological Park's 3,200-acre Conservation and...

For many North American birdwatchers, the Cerulean Warbler is one of the most sought-after species during spring and summer. This elusive, azure-colored songbird is uncommon over most of its breeding range, and spends the majority of its time high in the forest canopy, giving it a reputation for...

Eastern Phoebes are one of the first migratory birds to arrive in the spring in the northeastern United States. They often appear in March, well ahead of the peak migration for most forest songbirds (in May), and they are one of the last to leave in fall, with the peak of migration in October. Their...

The sun is just about to rise on a cool December morning on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The birds awaken at the forest edge and begin calling vociferously: the harsh "shack" call of the Northern Mockingbird, a variety of "chip" calls from cardinals, sparrows, and yellow-rumped warblers, and the...

In summer in the Appalachian Mountains, its buzzy zoo zoo zoo zee song can often be heard drifting from dense stands of rhododendron and mountain laurel. As the naturalist Lynds Jones wrote in 1899, “The song is uttered in a spirited manner while the bird is feeding and flitting about in the foliage...

Although its name sounds like an insult Yosemite Sam might sling at Bugs Bunny, the yellow-bellied sapsucker's moniker aptly describes its appearance and habits. Both males and females indeed have a pale yellow underside, and tree sap constitutes a large portion of this woodpecker's diet. In fact...

On a cool spring morning in downtown Baltimore this year, the breeze was blowing and the hustle and bustle of an urban city were evident.

An Arctic Tern hovers high above the water, zeroing in on the fish it intends to take back to the nest to feed its ravenous young. With perfect precision, it dives head first into the water and is back in the air within seconds, the fish dangling from its bill. Urged on by parental instinct, the...

Most birders in North America are no doubt familiar with the orange-crowned warbler ( Oreothlypis celata). The species breeds throughout the western U.S. and across the boreal forest from Alaska to Newfoundland, winters in much of Mexico and the southern U.S., and migrates through a broad swath of...

Singing from a concealed perch, the catbird truly enjoys its comfortable position. With its tail held down, body feathers fluffed, and wings drooping at its sides, the catbird exuberantly sings a series of musical whistles and catlike meows, interspersed with imitations of other birds' songs. Video...

Once upon a time, you could, on a summer's day, count on hearing the creaky song of the Rusty Blackbird ( Euphagus carolensis) filtering from the bog lands of the boreal forest. Decades ago, on a winter's day, one could reliably locate small flocks of Rusties foraging at the edge of the swamps in...

Wait. I think I hear a Summer Tanager calling from that shrub over there. No, it sounds more like a Great Crested Flycatcher. But, in a shrub?? No I think I'm hearing a Rufous-sided Towhee!? Is this a strange flock? Hold it, I see a bird that's small and olive, with some yellow below…It's a White...

This species is well named for its blue-gray head that contrasts with white 'spectacles' yellow sides, white wing bars, a greenish back and white belly and throat. However appropriate the name, birders may find the process of naming this vireo confusing. It is clearly the victim of changing...

When birdwatchers list their most beautiful birds, the Swamp Sparrow is seldom, if ever, mentioned. In the world of ornithological aesthetics, sparrows get short shrift. They do not possess the vibrant and gaudy colors of a warbler, tanager, or toucan. However, some bird aficionados tire of spectral...