June 24, 2016 —
4610
The Cattle Egret: The Opportunist
Southern folklore depicts Brer Rabbit as the quintessential easy-going trickster, who uses his wits rather...
May 27, 2016 —
4611
The Loggerhead Shrike: Looks Can Be Deceiving
At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that that grey-and-white bird sitting on a...
May 20, 2016 —
4237
The House Wren: The Unjustly Accused
In the early 1900s, when Althea Sherman began noticing House Wrens nesting in her backyard in Iowa...
April 29, 2016 —
4488
The Barred Owl: The Interrogator
This first time I saw a wild Barred Owl I thought it was going to kill me. Bushwacking alone through a...
December 18, 2015 —
4080
The American Coot: A Tough-Love Parent
A couple years ago, just after my daughter was born, my friend gave me a book called Parenting for...
November 13, 2015 —
3980
The Southern Giant Petrel: Ogre of the High Seas
The Procellariiformes have always seemed to me one of the more distinguished orders of...
October 30, 2015 —
3950
Northern Harrier: The Gray Ghost
Across North America, from the Arctic Tundra to the grasslands south of the border, if you look in the...
October 23, 2015 —
3635
The Lammergeier: Public Enemy No. 1
High in the Pyrenees Mountains lies a boneyard filled with half-devoured skeletons. The keepers of this...
October 09, 2015 —
3833
The Hoatzin: Misfit, Belcher, Genetic Mystery
Deep in the wilderness lurks a fat, foul beast that stinks of manure, barks and caws in...
September 25, 2015 —
3756
The Kakapo: A Survivor
There are few places on earth that could provide hospitable habitat for a nocturnal, flightless parrot that weighs...
September 18, 2015 —
3770
Wilson's Phalarope: The Rebel
Wilson’s Phalaropes don’t care for your gender norms.
In the bird world, roles for the sexes are fairly...
September 04, 2015 —
3726
The Oilbird: Is This Thing Even a Bird?
You know the type: They go out after sundown and return again in the morning, and regurgitate...
August 14, 2015 —
3661
The Bar-tailed Godwit: A Marathoner Who Makes It Look Easy
You probably already know the amazing story of the Bar-tailed Godwit—who...
August 07, 2015 —
3632
The Galapagos Penguin: The Beach Bum
Think of a penguin. What do you see? Allow me to hazard a guess: You see a cathedral of snow and ice...
July 31, 2015 —
3618
The Black Skimmer: A Scissor-beaked Night Hunter
Bear with me for a brief thought experiment: What if humans had to eat the same way Black...
July 24, 2015 —
3594
Wilson's Storm-Petrel: The Water Walker
What’s the most ubiquitous bird you can think of? Even the least outdoorsy of us have crossed...
July 17, 2015 —
3566
The Superb Lyrebird: An Artist With Commercial Appeal
It's safe to say that no bird on earth can rival the viral potency of the Superb...
July 10, 2015 —
3547
The House Sparrow: Little Troopers
There’s an army in the bushes. You may not have noticed, but there’s a good chance it's nearby...
June 26, 2015 —
3505
The Monk Parakeet: A Jailbird Who Made Good
There's a legend that holds that Monk Parakeets became established in the United States after...
June 19, 2015 —
3437
The Hoopoe: Emissary of Kings, Secreter of Stink
It takes a special bird to incur the wrath of a legendary king. “I will punish him most...