Are you reading a lot these days of social isolation? I read that an average of one bird book a day is published in the U.S. Seems like it because there sure are a lot of bird books out there and they seem to be arriving at an unwavering pace. There are field guides, like …
A few years ago I received an email from someone in Hawaii wondering why so many pigeons on Maui were missing toes. I had no idea so I emailed the ornithologist at the University of Hawaii and she responded that with many people with long hair lying on the beaches leave bits of their tresses …
Regularly I get emails asking why there are fewer birds in one’s backyard this year, or why there are fewer blackbirds, or why hummingbirds are not coming to their feeders, or something like that. The answer is complicated. First of all, there are about 3 billion fewer breeding birds in the U.S. and Canada since …
I’ve written before about hearing impaired birding. It’s a challenge and I speak from personal experience. Unlike birds whose cochlear hair cells in the ear, which transmit sound to the brain, grow back, ours never do. As we age our hair cells die and our hearing diminishes. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy birding. …
I heard a podcast the other day that I thought was fascinating, although I’m not sure I totally understood it all. But I’ll do my best to pass it on to you. There is a part of the human brain that is apparently specialized to recognize human faces. It is called the fusiform face area, …
Birds are among the most colorful of animals, their colored feathers evolving mainly as an adaptation for reproduction. Males of species such as hummingbirds, sunbirds and t tanagers attract mates with their colors and Red-winged Blackbirds establish and defend territories with their blazing epaulets. And of course, in the thickness of tropical forests, the range of …
Bird lovers may be surprised to discover that the original, real, James Bond, after whom Ian Fleming’s character was named, was one of their own. Bond was born in 1900 in Philadelphia, but when his mother died in 1914, he moved to England with his British-born father. There he went to private school and then …
Philip Roston is apparently the most accomplished birdwatcher, or at least lister, as he has seen 9,607 species out of a possible 10,500+. There are a number of other birdwatchers with impressive records, though. A list is on Wikipedia. But a person with “only” 8400 species on her list is notable, and her name is …
Last week, a volcanic eruption on White Island off mainland New Zealand killed several unfortunate people and likely had devastating effects on the bird population, including thousands of Australasian Gannets and some endangered bird species. How the bird populations will recover is unknown at this point but there is some good historical information to foretell …
In the northern hemisphere, birds have been heading south for the past few weeks, or even longer, depending on the species and where they are starting from. Some birds have not begun their southward trek yet. Wherever they begin and whatever their destination, it’s a perilous journey. Just before I sat down to pen this …
