A Message from Wendy Clark, BWD Publisher and Director Dear Friends: How are you faring during our global pandemic? We hope you are safe, sequestered, and staying healthy amid this unprecedented time in our world’s history. The staff at Bird Watcher’s Digest has avoided COVID-19 so far, and we are taking sensible measures to stay safe during… Read more »
by Kelly Ball, Ad Sales Director & Jessica Melfi, Assistant Editor Migration’s kicking into gear, and it couldn’t come at a better time. Who couldn’t use a little positive bird distraction right now, as we wait out the COVID-19 pandemic and its subsequent effects on our daily lives? Like you, we check in daily with our loved ones; balance work, family, and other immediate… Read more »
If you decided that seeing a snowy owl in the wild would be a great goal for this winter, good luck! Snowy owls have turned up in their regular haunts in the past month or so, but this winter is not proving to be an irruption season. Most memorably, in the winters of 2013–2014, and… Read more »
A bald eagle nest by any account is a sight to behold, especially once the adults are joined by their young. On rare occasion, one of the little heads peeping over the top of the nest isn’t an eagle at all, but rather another raptor species! This is exactly what happened recently in Redding, California,… Read more »
In southern Peru, a vast 200-square-mile stretch of desert plains is adorned with massive etchings known as the Nazca Lines. The drawings include geometric shapes, human figures, plants, and various animals, including 16 birds. Scientists have been studying the geoglyphs for nearly a century in an attempt to determine why unknown pre-Incan people created them… Read more »
When we think of helping birds, tube feeders, sunflower seeds, hummingbird nectar, and bird baths might come to mind. But the most substantial help humans can provide for wild birds is natural habitat that safely feeds and shelters birds. Some trees and shrubs can provide sustenance for early emerging insect larvae, also known as baby… Read more »
Fewer than 20 Antioquia brushfinches are known, and habitat is under immediate threat By the American Bird Conservancy (Washington, D.C., April 12, 2019) The Antioquia brushfinch, a rusty-crowned Colombian songbird described as a new species 12 years ago, based solely on old museum specimens, eluded scientists until it was documented for the first time in… Read more »
Marbled Murrelets, by British bird artist Darren Rees, graced the cover of the July/August 2017 issue of Bird Watcher’s Digest, and was accompanied by a fascinating story and profile of this species on the pages inside the issue. (Read the story here!) Now, to help with the cancer-related expenses of BWD’s editor and co-publisher, Bill… Read more »
Alvaro warns against getting creative when packing for a birding trip. Also, blue jays, green jays, brown jays, and gray jays are all part of the intriguing family of corvids. What makes these birds so inquisitive and social? Listen here and find out! https://www.birdwatchersdigest.net/podcasts/otwtb/episode51.mp3
Three bald eagles—two males and a female—are nesting amicably at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge near Fulton, Illinois—again. The three parents share incubation responsibilities for the eggs—three this year—as they have in previous years. Like their relationship, their history is complicated. Male Valor 1 was young when he was spotted at the nest… Read more »
