Seems like every time there is an unusual event, conspiracy theorists and their ilk come up with farfetched explanations. Science generally operates on the principle that the simplest explanation is generally the right one. There is no need to invoke ideas like changes in the earth’s magnetic field, toxic gases, black holes, radio waves, or …
There is something like one bird book published every day in the U.S. Look in your local bookstore and you’ll find a plethora of titles. I gave a quick perusal of Amazon.com and found 432 books on hummingbirds alone – there were more, I just got tired of scrolling down the page. To the left …
The pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock at the end of 1620; by the fall of 1621, almost half of the 102 people who came over on the Mayflower had died, starvation being a major cause. In 1621 the harvest was good, so the surviving pilgrims celebrated by feasting with Wampanoag Indians who had been so …
I’m sure those of us who are buying our Thanksgiving turkey at the local supermarket are weighing it by the pound rather than kilogram. The U.S. is one of only three countries in the world that continues to use the awkward and difficult to remember English system of measure. Liberia and Myanmar, poor, undeveloped countries, …
A while back I wrote a blog about ornithophobia and then I saw a TV episode of Big Bang Theory with Sheldon being afflicted by this fear. A “blue jay” was hanging out on Sheldon’s apartment windowsill, making Sheldon anxious. The bird, however, which eventually flew into their Pasadena apartment, was a Black-throated Magpie-Jay, a bird found only …
We kiss under it but mistletoe is important in nature; it provides food, cover, and nesting sites for many animals. The Christmas mistletoe we hang from our doorways is only one of more than 1,300 species of mistletoe worldwide. In the U.S., we have only the American (kissing ) mistletoe and the dwarf mistletoe. The …
I am a zoologist, ecologist, ornithologist, and professor; I am, bottom line, a scientist. One of the things that makes science and engineering such successful as well as rigorous fields, is terminology. Without precise terminology, one cannot define or solve many problems. The laws of thermodynamics, the principles of genetics, the oxidation-reduction reactions of chemistry …
I once thought that the name “sapsucker” was a pejorative appellation laid upon someone or just another version of “seersucker.” The latter is a type of cotton fabric and the former is actually a type of bird. There are four species of sapsuckers in North America: the Williamson’s, Red-breasted and Red-naped Sapsuckers are western species …
There are many bird blogs besides mine across the U.S. and world, most focused on local birds. Some are: 10,000 Birds , Bill of the Birds, Birdchick , and the Top 80 Websites for Ornithologists and Bird Lovers. You might want to check those out. Be skeptical of every blog, though. I am all for …
It has been written that there are 81 million birdwatchers in the United States. Well, if you include every person who looks out his or her window and observes it for a few seconds, then that figure might be accurate. But how many of these folks give birds a good look through a pair of …
