More Birds In Your Yard

Dr. Roger Lederer
New Hope's Guide to a bird-friendly backyard Many people feed or just watch birds out their kitchen window; that’s a treat but one might eventually get bored with watching the same conglomeration of birds from day to day. After all, having a mob of a few dozen Eurasian Collared Doves,…
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Bird Mites

Dr. Roger Lederer
Bird Mite From the Middle English meaning very small or Middle Dutch meaning small copper coin, we get the term mite. Mites are small arthropods (joint-legged animals like insects, crayfish, and spiders) belonging to the class Arachnida (spiders and allies). Most mites are tiny, less than 1 mm in length, and have a simple, unsegmented body…
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Big Bird

Dr. Roger Lederer
Elephant Bird Even though Big Bird was 8 feet two inches tall, he wasn't the biggest bird we know about. The biggest bird that ever lived was the Elephant Bird of Madagascar that stood nearly 10 feet tall and weighed about 1700 pounds. Its egg weighed 22 pounds. Extinct since…
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Birding Namibia

Dr. Roger Lederer
Ruff Namibia, with the second least dense human population (after Mongolia), sits on the southwest side of Africa, just above South Africa. I have been fortunate enough to visit this country twice in the last 14 months and of course took some time to birdwatch. Nambia is not particularly known…
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Beware, Seagulls

Dr. Roger Lederer
Just today I received an email from a reported at a British newspaper in Yorkshire, England, asking if I knew anything about babies (human babies) being attacked by seagulls. No, I hadn't, so I looked it up. Couldn't find any information on baby attacks, but I read about others. One…
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Singing for Fun

Dr. Roger Lederer
[caption id="attachment_9301" align="alignleft" width="300"] European Starling in Breeding Plumage[/caption] In 1889 a religious book emphasized the spur provided by the possession of a song. This notion matched the quotation under examination: A bird sings because it has a song and must sing it. In 1902 a column in “The Brooklyn…
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The Mysteries of Eggs

Dr. Roger Lederer
[caption id="attachment_8494" align="alignleft" width="300"] A Variety of Bird Eggs[/caption] I’ve always known that birds’ eggs are pretty amazing structures. Encased in a shell with everything it needs to produce a new bird, an egg does so in 10 to 60 days, depending on the species. You can get an overview…
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Migratory Bird Treaty Act Defiled

Dr. Roger Lederer
From NPR: The new Secretary of the Interior, responsible for the protection of our natural resources, is a former gas and oil lobbyist. Bernhardt says that responsible energy development on public lands is good for both American taxpayers and towns dependent on oil, gas or coal. The Department of the…
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