Category Archives: Birding the Americas

A Flamboyance of Flamingos

Posted on March 12, 2019 by Bob

If you see a group of birds together and call it a ‘flock’, you may be missing an opportunity to brighten your language and impress your friends.  You’re probably familiar with a few of these alternative names for a collection … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Caring for our Birds in Winter

Posted on December 27, 2018 by Bob

Not that long ago it was thought that putting hummingbird feeders out in the winter would encourage birds to hang around past the time they might normally migrate south.  This concern has been proven false for quite some time, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas, Hummingbirds | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The World of the Owl

Posted on December 10, 2018 by Bob

Since owls and hawks are both raptors (from the Latin ‘rapere’, to seize) and they share morphological and behavioral traits, originally they were thought to be close relatives.  However, with the emergence of DNA analysis, owls are now known to … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mimids

Posted on October 13, 2018 by Bob

  What do catbirds, thrashers and mockingbirds have in common?  If you answered they all mimic other birds, you’d be right.  Although a number of birds play at mimicking other birds, mockingbirds, thrashers and catbirds are specialists, to the point … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Canyon Birding by Train

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Bob

We didn’t intentionally plan this, but scheduling vagaries put us on three train trips to three canyons over three weeks in March.  A triple header spring fling.  Two of the trips were part of Road Scholar’s ‘Scenic Railroads of Arizona’, … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Penguins: White Tie and Tails

Posted on March 26, 2017 by Bob

Having just returned from the far southern reaches of South America, it seems appropriate to write about the most popular bird from that part of the world, the penguin.  Unafraid of humans (they have no land predators), flightless and shuffling … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

When Your Best Friend is a Sapsucker

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Bob

One of the few bird groups with a name sillier than woodpecker is the sapsucker.  To make matters worse, the poor sapsuckers are actually part of the woodpecker family, Picidae.  In North America, there are 22 species of birds in … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Twelve Days (and Six Birds) of Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2014 by Bob

In spite of my obsession with birds, my true love never gave me a partridge in a pear tree, let alone any of the five other birds mentioned in ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, a carol published in England 214 … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Thanksgiving and a Tale of Two Turkeys

Posted on November 12, 2014 by Bob

When November rolls around, thoughts turn to Thanksgiving, being thankful and, inevitably, turkeys.  Whether turkeys think about our holiday has yet to be proven, and except for the annually-pardoned White House bird, domestic turkeys have no reason to be grateful.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Smallest North American Bird, the Calliope Hummingbird

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Bob

Many of us might guess (correctly) that the California Condor is North America’s largest wild bird, but few of us know that our smallest bird is the Calliope Hummingbird. California Condors are pretty hard to ignore.  Once nearly extinct, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Birding the Americas | Tagged , | Leave a comment