In September, this Arctic Tern flies from Alaska all the way to Antarctica. Rufous Hummingbirds follow pathways of mountain wildflowers, from as far north as Alaska south to Mexico. Ruby-crowned Kinglets, migrate altitudinally from the mountains to the lowlands. Each of these birds migrates, but on a very different course. All make the most of food and breeding opportunities that change with the seasons.

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The American Crow’s rattle call is uncommon, and researchers aren’t sure what it means. It could be a gathering call, a predator alarm, or a call between mates. But if you hear it, you might think it sounds like cackling laughter. However, no one has identified a crow noise that indicates glee at the expense of another creature. It’s just a coincidence that the rattle sounds like a laugh. However, crows can play pranks on other animals: egging on cats to fight and yanking on dog tails for their own amusement. They aren’t pranking for survival — as far as we can tell, it’s just for fun.

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How does a robin know a worm is in one exact spot? Does it see the worm or hear it? Smell it? Sense its movements through its feet? To find the answer, researchers buried worms in soil in a tray. They covered the soil with a thin but opaque sheet of cardboard, followed by more soil, so the robin couldn’t see the worms. Still, the robin found them with ease. The scientists concluded the birds are listening for their prey. There’s always more to learn about birds!

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Birds that depend on flies for food have many creative ways of catching their prey. Swallows execute sharp turns and quick changes of speed. Bluebirds watch from a perch, pouncing when the time is right. A Chuck-will’s-widow flies with its scoop-like mouth wide open, engulfing moths and other insects. A Merlin snares dragonflies in its talons. Hummingbirds dart into swarms of midges.

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For birds, learning starts early. Birds listen to their parents’ songs and calls from inside the egg. Recent findings have shown that calls from Zebra Finch parents can even prepare their chicks for warmer temperatures before they hatch. Researchers noticed that Zebra Finches make a special high-pitched call, called a heat call, when sitting on their eggs on hot days. Once out of the egg, chicks whose parents made heat calls grow more slowly in the heat. As adults, they seek out warmer spots for their nests, and even produce more offspring of their own than finches that didn’t slow their growth in hot conditions when they were chicks.

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At the end of summer, the once-bright feathers of a male American Goldfinch look ragged. Growing new flight feathers in a process called molting makes him more vulnerable to predators. Before migrating to wintering grounds, many songbirds stop at a secondary location to undergo the indignities of molting. It’s called molt migration. The places birds go to molt could be important targets for conservation efforts.

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When woodpeckers drum, they slam their beaks against bark many times per second. Scientists have long hypothesized that woodpeckers have a way of protecting their brains from injury. However, more recent work provides a different picture. High-speed cameras showed scientists that woodpeckers aren’t softening the impacts to their skulls. And researchers also have found signs of cellular damage in woodpecker brains. However, woodpeckers could be protecting themselves in other ways, and may even have ways of repairing damage over time.

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Your eye may be drawn to the gorgeous male Wood Duck, but it is the call of the modestly plumaged female you’ll hear. This call tells the male where his mate is, important as the pair stays together through much of the winter and spring. Wood Ducks are among a small number of North American waterfowl that nest in cavities, and many of them nest in boxes we provide for them.

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Broad-tailed Hummingbirds are small but hardy creatures built for life in the mountains. They survive freezing cold nights by slowing their heart rate and metabolism. And they perform a death-defying stunt for potential mates. Male Broad-tailed Hummingbirds begin their performance by flying up 60 feet or more in the air. Then they dive toward the earth, reaching speeds of up to 50 miles per hour! At the last moment, they pull out of their dive and fly horizontally past the female they’re trying to impress.

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At a glance, swallows and swifts, both graceful fliers, look much alike. But swifts — like this Chimney Swift — have longer, slimmer wings and short bodies, enabling them to glide for long periods. Their glides are punctuated by rapid, stiff bursts of wing-beats. Swallows, on the other hand, flex and flap their wings. Why do swifts have such a peculiar, stiff wing stroke? Picture a bird wing, with two halves jointed in the middle. Swift wings have a short inner “half” and a long outer half. This causes the stiffness.

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