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…
Tag: birds of north america
Species Spotlight: Hoary Redpoll
In the northernmost reaches of north america is a small little finch species, white and frosty as the snow and a red forehead. Both features give hints to this species name. This little round arctic bird is called the hoary redpoll. This species spotlight episode is going along with my art project of lifesize birds…
A Conservation Story: The California Condor
In 1987 there were only 22 california Condors left in the wild, numbers had plummeted and it seemed certain that this great bird would soon become extinct. That’s when a plan was put into action and every single wild california condor was captured and put into a captive breeding program with hopes of saving this…
Birds of North America Project
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…
Bird Migration
Migration is described as a yearly seasonal movement of a population of animals, in this case birds, generally north to south, to and from breeding and wintering grounds. Many are familiar with an overhead passing form of canada geese noisily flying over in their typical v formation. Seeing these large flocks form twice a year,…
Great Horned Owl
Found throughout all but the northernmost parts of North America and parts of South America, this large stocky owl is well recognised by many as it is one of the most common owls on the continent. Characterised by its large ear tufts, mottled brown-gray plumage and white throat patch their color can vary depending on…
Indigo Bunting
Indigo Bunting The indigo bunting is a small sparrow sized songbird foundthrough out the eastern half of North America and in winter migrates down into Central America. The males are the ones who are the brilliant blue while females are brown with faint streaking on their breasts. Their prefered habitats are overgrown fields, brushy areas…
Red-Headed Woodpecker
Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) A medium sized woodpecker native to the eastern half of North America. In their prefered habitat of deciduous woodlands and tree groves, they can be seen eating insects, fruits and seeds. This species is on the IUCN red list as near threatened due to losses of mature forests with nut crops…
Cedar Waxwing
The cedar waxwing is a medium sized songbird found through out almost all of North America except the the northern most parts. These little birds have a little crest, black crest and have a brown head and chest along with a yellow belly with their tail being black with a yellow or orange tail tip….
American Kestrel
The smallest and most common species of falcon in North America. It is one of the few birds of prey species that is sexually dimorphic, which means males and females have a different apearance. Males will have a slate colored head and wings with rusty backs and tails. Females are a reddish brown all over….