Semaphore is a way to communicate over distance using colored flags. Male Red-winged Blackbirds know how to do this – only they use feathers. Male Red-wings […]

In late fall and winter and even early spring, the world often seems inverted, as if we’ve descended underground. With their leafy distinction long gone, trees […]

How did the Baltimore Oriole get named for a city in Maryland? It didn’t. England’s Lord Baltimore was one of the early benefactors of the Maryland […]

White-Breasted Nuthatches are known for two things: their odd name and walking down the length of trees while woodpeckers climb up. First, the name. It’s really not that odd. […]

It’s ironic that the scientific name for the American Goldfinch is Spinus tristiswhich, loosely translated, means “Sad thistle-eater.” After all, few species give bird lovers a case […]

Bird lovers have always known that nature has some potently positive effects on the human mind, body and spirit. Now science is quantifiably proving it. Consider […]

What would it be like to be a celestial being? To rarely touch the terrestrial and instead be a citizen of the sky? Chimney Swifts know. […]

“Bully birds.” That term conjures up images of Blue Jays in tiny leather jackets waiting to steal some poor unsuspecting Black-Capped Chickadee’s lunch money. The idea […]

What flies 3,200 miles each spring to show up at your feeder crunching black-oil sunflower seeds? Yep, that’s the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. These stunners winter primarily in […]