BirdNote

Today is the Autumnal Equinox, when the sun crosses the equator and day and night are of approximately equal length across the globe. In her poem ‘Utsuroi’, writer Lee Ann Roripaugh reflects on how, as the days grow shorter, the remaining light feels that much more beautiful.

Nature educator Johanne Ryan shares her observations of Southern Lapwings, shorebirds that make their nests on the ground in open areas and vigorously defend them. If a potential predator approaches, the parent will sound a piercing alarm call. If that doesn’t work, the lapwing will charge the

Author Kira Jane Buxton loves crows — so much that she’s written two novels about a crow named S.T. navigating the extinction of humanity. When she was writing those books, she tried befriending the crows in her neighborhood and wound up bonding with a pair of them. She named them T and Dart. T, the

Williamson's Sapsuckers nest in western mountain forests. The radically different plumages of the male and female so confounded 19th-century naturalists that, for nearly a decade, the birds were thought to be of different species. Sapsuckers are unique among woodpeckers in drilling neat rows of tiny

The Santa Marta Sabrewing is a hummingbird species so rare, they’ve only been documented twice in recent years. Native to the mountains of Colombia, they were officially described in 1946. No one reported another sighting until 2010. They became a “lost” species, eluding every attempt to find them

Northern Mockingbirds can learn to mimic the sounds of just about any bird. They mimic to show off, not to deceive. But this Thick-billed Euphonia, a tiny songbird in South America, employs what scientists call “deceitful mimicry.” When frightened by a predator near its nest, a Thick-billed Euphonia

The Bicknell’s Thrush is known for scarcity… and promiscuity. Unlike most songbirds, the female thrush establishes a territory and then mates with males that happen by. She then lays eggs that have been fertilized by multiple different males. Many of those males will stick around and help feed the

Si los vuelos migratorios de larga distancia ya son asombrosos, lo que ocurre dentro del cuerpo de un ave durante esos vuelos parece, sencillamente, increíble. Para almacenar grasa, muchas aves comen hasta tres veces más de lo normal y buscan alimento durante muchas más horas, mientras se preparan

The Magellanic Plover is known for being a bit of an oddball. These shorebirds have a round body like a dove and even feed their young with milk produced in a part of their digestive system called the crop — a rare trait they share with doves. But genetic data revealed that Magellanic Plovers are

All birds need to sleep — or at least snooze — sometime during each 24-hour period. And most sleep at night. A bird, like a Mallard duckling, may turn its head around and warm its beak under its shoulder-feathers. Songbirds find a protected perch, sheltered from rain and nighttime predators. Small