News Archive

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. Sometimes a renegade...

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 Viellot...

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 for...

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...

Imagine you have been travelling in your car for hours. You are hungry, thirsty, tired, and need to stop soon for a break.

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.