Falconry—the art and practice of hunting wild quarry with trained birds of prey—is one of humanity’s oldest and most refined partnerships with the natural world. Its origins stretch back at least 4,000 years, with early evidence from Mesopotamia and Central Asia. Over time, it spread across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, becoming both a […]
The Red-tailed Hawk (along with the Cooper’s and Sharp-shinned Hawks) was once called a “Chicken Hawk,” and the Red-shouldered Hawk was known as the “Hen Hawk.” Undoubtedly, they took a few chickens—but only rarely. Like most stories of wild predators attacking domestic animals, their impact was greatly exaggerated. There’s one story about a farmer who
Now that it is almost Christmas, you will hear the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” created in about 16th century England. This song has more birds in it than any other holiday song. You know, “On the first day of Christmas, my true love sent to me a partridge in a pear tree.” The
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There are lots of examples of birds looking like other things in order to avoid or frighten away predators. Many nightjars (Order Caprimulgiformes) look like leaf litter, bark or leaves. The Brown Creeper blends in with the tree trunks it climbs. The winter plumage Willow Ptarmigan is all white to blend into their snowy landscape.
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Regularly I like to blog about some of the more interesting birds of the world. Today, one of the 45 species of Birds-of-Paradise. Birds-of-Paradise, family Paradisaedae, are only found in Indonesia, New Guinea, and a small part of Australia. In the early years of exploration, European Traders shipped Bird-of-Paradise skins from New Guinea to collectors
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I like to alternate my posts between scientific and philosophical musings with looks at some interesting birds. Today the bird is the Anhinga. The word “anhinga” is derived from the native Brazilian Tupi-Guarani language word “ana’ĩnĩa,” which translates to “devil bird”, “snake bird” or “evil spirit of the woods.” The Tupi people (one of the
“Cuckoo” has come to describe someone not fully in control of their mental state, but it has a number of other meanings that you can look up here. But today I’m going to give you the real scoop on the real cuckoo bird. The Common Cuckoo, Cuculus canorus. Cuckoo and cuculus both reflect the bird’s
The Secretarybird –Sagittarius serpentarius. The common name comes from the feathers of the head crest which resemble quill pens. Sagittarius, from the Latin, means “arrow or archer” and refers to the way an archer walked while stalking prey; serpentarius means “serpent handler” from the bird’s supposed affinity for snakes. They are endemic to Africa where
The Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla. Gulls are not to be dismissed as just annoying picnic intruders. Some say they are actually “noble.” “Gull” from old Norse, means unhatched or new bird. Leucophaeus, from ancient Greek, means “dusky white.” From the Latin, atricilla means “black tail.” The adult Laughing Gull is easily identified by its contrasting
This is the time of the year when shorebirds start making their way from their breeding grounds in the tundra to more southern climes. It’s an arduous journey to say the least. So today’s blog is about one of these birds, the very attractive Ruddy Turnstone. “Ruddy” refers to the reddish color on the back
