They say a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Be that as it may, I like to name things. Through naming comes knowing and in knowing, understanding. I can name most of the mammals and many of the reptiles and amphibians I encounter, and I’m well acquainted with the birds. But when… Read more »
They stomp their feet like a child having a tantrum. They flare long “ear” plumes (pinnae feathers) into an impressive double erection like jackrabbit ears, and bend over to stick their tail feathers straight up in the air to moon anyone nearby. Most impressively, they inflate apricot-colored air sacs on the sides of their neck… Read more »
I don’t think I am old, but when I realize that my parents were born before the passenger pigeon was extinct, that my grandparents were born when bison filled the plains and that there were Eskimo curlews and, probably, ivory-billed woodpeckers inhabiting the planet with me at one time, I start to feel old. As… Read more »
There’s a certain sensation I think every birder is familiar with: the bugging eyes, the pounding heart, the sharp inhalation when your lenses sweep across some unexpected avian, the adrenaline that surges when you’re not quite sure whether you can believe your own eyes. Is it really? Could it be? Quick, grab your field guide!… Read more »
Stonechat The stonechat is not a stonechat. She is simply herself on the long twig, by the stones, no, she is not even self – it all simply is, on this, the only possible, perfect twig. It is look, and oh! and flit, all sense and verb, centred in the understood, measured height of the… Read more »
If you’re like me, certain of the more vocal local birds, those with individually distinctive songs, gain nicknames as the breeding season unfolds. The song sparrow that sings outside my bedroom window in the morning has come to be called Chicken Legs, due to the fact that its melody reminds me of one W.C. Fields… Read more »
We talk about our relationship with birds: how they uplift us, inspire us, bring us peace, make us smile. It certainly sparks my imagination to see a bird in the wild, but I believe my fascination with birds started with captive birds. When I was a small child, my parents took care of a neighbor’s… Read more »
Some birds like you to know they’re there. Take the European robin. It sings, sweetly enough, throughout the year as well as through the night on occasion. It visits feeders, and doesn’t hesitate to chase other birds off them, the result of a highly developed territorial sense. And, if you’re outside digging the garden at… Read more »
The Smithsonian Gardens presents The Lost Bird Project, by renowned artist Todd McGrain, on the National Mall — an exhibition of five bronze sculptures of now-extinct North American birds. One of the 6-foot sculptures, “Passenger Pigeon,” has been gifted to the Smithsonian as a permanent display, as that bird marks its 100th year of extinction… Read more »
My local birding email group has been quite vocal of late. It’s probably the time of year, too many leaves on the trees to see the birds and they are too intent on avian family life to show well. It makes it a slow time of year for birders. The latest topic must be one… Read more »
