Wild Birds

Introduction When I think about woodpeckers, I mentally picture black-and-white birds with perhaps some red or yellow splashed about somewhere. Lewis’s woodpecker, honestly, doesn’t look like it should be a woodpecker at all. It looks like it should be a tropical species with its pink and red colors, almost reminiscent of a swallow on steroids. […]

Have you ever had the gift of seeing a Blue-throated Mountain Gem hummingbird fly backward?  Hummingbirds are the only birds that can do that and fly upside down! That’s one sure way to determine you’ve seen a hummingbird!  These fun-sized birds are restless and quickly flit about, making it difficult to see their true colors

Formerly known as the Mexican Goshawk, Gray Hawks are unique in their coloring compared to other North American buteos. Their dark brown eyes contrasting with their light grey colors certainly draw me to this enchanting diurnal hawk. Taxonomists have had a field day trying to place the Gray Hawk in the correct genus. The way

Introduction There seems to be a plethora of black-and-white woodpeckers in North America! Some have specialized, some have diverged, and some still look like each other. Nuttall’s woodpecker is another one of these confusing similar-looking species, and yet surprisingly, their habitat association is the most researched part of their biology. Sometimes it can be easy

Woodpeckers are such an interesting group of birds. Just the thought of them spending the day hammering away against hard trees makes my head hurt, and these birds do it every day, for their whole lives. American three-toed woodpeckers, with their sleek black side profile, look like they were sprinkled with white powder on their

The Swainson’s Hawk was not named until 1827. In 1827, Dr. John Richardson was the first to collect a Swainson’s Hawk in Saskatchewan, Canada. Initially, it was thought to be a species of Buzzard and was given the Latin name Buteo vulgaris, which we now know as Buteo buteo (the Common Buzzard). Richardson was a British

Introduction / Taxonomy Everybody loves hummingbirds, right? There’s no controversy there, they are delightful little gems that add much entertainment and joy to our lives. But asking somebody what their favorite hummingbird is, results in a far more complex discussion. For me, the Calliope Hummingbird is the best of the North American species. As the

Meet the most powerful eagle in Africa, with unique, unusually large razor-sharp talons and incredibly strong legs that can crush skulls and snap spines of prey weighing up to 60 pounds! Of the 30 eagle species that exist, it is no exaggeration to call the Crowned Eagle the most ferocious bird on earth. The Crowned

Black-backed woodpeckers are northern birds and are specialists of burned forests. When trees are dead or dying (because of fire or infestation by mountain bark beetles), several other species of beetles (especially in the families Buprestidae and Cerambycidae) lay their eggs on these trees. The larvae burrow under the bark and are the primary food

Everyone loves hummingbirds: they are little jewels of reflective, glittering light, darting through the dappled forest in impossible directions and, if you’re really lucky, alighting on your backyard hummingbird feeder. I spent months doing research in The Bahamas on a couple of different species of birds, but while there, I got to watch all the