After some debate, the Gray Jay has been chosen as Canada’s national bird. In 2015 the Royal Canadian Geographic Society asked the public to vote on a candidate for national bird. Now, one would think that the Canada Goose would be the top pick – after all, it has Canada in its name. On the …
I just returned from a two week trip walking the countryside of Cumbria and Yorkshire in northwest England. My wife and I went because we enjoy the English countryside with its stone and brick houses and lovely flower gardens. Dry stone walls, works of art from the 16th century, traverse the land. It is almost …
The most basic definition of a species is a group of biological individuals who can interbreed. Using DNA, and morphological and behavioral studies, birds are placed into categories based upon the closeness of their relationships. Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who formalized the modern system of naming organisms called binomial nomenclature. …
Birds have a skeletal system with a number of adaptations for their way of life. Flying especially requires a number of adaptations to make the birds’ bones lighter and stronger. Many bones are fused into one, some are hollow, and most have internal struts for strength. Flying birds have a keel extending from their sternum …
My wife visited her two horses at the stable where they are kept and found two large gopher snakes in the rafters of the barn. One had a nestling House Sparrow in its jaws. The snakes were transported away and released unharmed. I used to think that blaming nest failure on snakes was like attributing …
“It’s estimated that as many as 1 billion birds die each year in the United States due to collisions with windows. Daniel Klem, a biologist at Pennsylvania’s Muhlenberg College, has been studying the problem for three decades and cites window strikes as a major cause of bird fatality. The primary danger stems from reflective …
Since 1977, House Sparrow populations have declined by 67 percent in Great Britain. Once a very common bird, the mystery of their disappearance has apparently been solved: a lack of insects. Disappearance of habitats, pesticides, and the conversion of gardens into parkin spaces have all contributed. But it’s not just House Sparrows and not just …
Last week was the 48th anniversary of Earth Day. I attended the first Environmental Teach-In in 1970 at the University of Michigan, a month before the first Earth Day on April 22nd. I saw Gaylord Nelson and Gordon Lightfoot there and attended lectures at even at 2, 3 and 4 am on environmental issues. There was …
I often hear that birds mate for life. It’s much more complicated. Yes, some birds like waterfowl and seabirds and eagles tend to have long term pair bonds and they may actually stay together for life. This “marriage” certainly makes life easier as it minimizes annual courtship, nesting, and territorial activities. There are a number …
As I write this, I am at sea about 600 miles east of the Caribbean. Very few birds are in the middle of the ocean here except for the occasional shearwater. But yesterday we had some unusual avian visitors. First I saw a white egret circle the ship a few times. I wasn’t quite sure …
