Hummingbirds belong to the family Trochilidae, native to only the Americas. They are the third largest bird family, right after the tyrant flycatchers and tanagers, consisting of 363 species in 112 genera. They occur as far north as Alaska and as far south as Tierra del Fuego, though the highest concentration can be found in…
Woodpeckers have several different adaptations to deal with the unique hazards caused by their habits of chiseling and excavating wood, to either create a nest cavity or searching for insects. One hazard they face is that when chipping away wood and bark are the stray splinters flying through the air, especially so close to their…
Even within the same family, related species can have a vastly different appearance. One of the parts of a bird that can vary is their beaks, since the shape has evolved around their primary food source. One group that this can be seen in are finches. Pine siskins, a small boreal finch, have thin beaks,…
Even within a single species, there can be great variations of plumage, size and behaviors. For example, I absolutely love red tailed hawks, their diversity is incredible. They also are a good example for this episode. At the very basic the red-tailed hawk is classified as a species with a species name of Buteo jamaicensis….
One of the highlights in spring is going birding to see and hear the colorful songbirds that have migrated back from their southern wintering grounds. These little songbirds are as brightly colored and diverse as their musical songs, whistles and trills. This colorful group is the parulidae family, also called the new world warblers or…
Birds of prey have excellent vision, they need it to be able to see prey from perched in a tree or soaring high above the ground. Though, something can get in the way of their vision, making it difficult to clearly see, especially when out in the open, and that is the sun. Many times…
If you asked someone what their favorite bird species is, many will respond with some species of owl. What’s not to like? They are a beautiful group of birds, full of mystery and not as often seen as other birds who are active during the day. When you see one, it tends to be the…
To start this series off with the honor of it being may 28th, which is whooping crane day, we will start with spotlighting this species and the process that it took to bring these species population to where it is today. While you may be familiar with this bird’s cousin the sandhill crane, the whooping…
As an artist and lifelong birder, its always been in my head to do a huge art project revolving around birds. The idea that most stuck out to me was drawing all the birds of North America. But just drawing all those species just didn’t seem like enough, even though drawing all those species in…
Owls are broken up into two different families, Strigidae (true owls) and Tytonidae ( barn owls). The family Strigidae consists of around 220 species and is found almost worldwide, on every continent except antarctica. Characterised by circular facial disks, cryptic coloring and many species possessing ear tufts. Like tytonidae they also have feathered legs, powerful…