No matter how serious you are about birding, or how much you want to see hawks, a Mourning Dove will always have a stronger interest in spotting them. Birds that are in mortal danger of hawk attacks have excellent eyesight and are constantly alert to any potential threat. It’s a safe bet that they will spot […]
Finding hawks by watching doves Read More »
Download a free one-page guide to American Woodcock display The flight display of the male American Woodcock has to be one of the most remarkable avian performances in the world. And yet, despite the fact that countless ornithologists and birders have marveled at this spring spectacle, some very basic questions are still unanswered, including this
The mysterious sounds of the American Woodcock Read More »
The Eastern and Western subspecies of Willet are often mentioned as likely candidates for splitting into two species. They differ in size, proportions, details of plumage, migration pattern, and have no overlap in breeding range and very little in winter range. There is a lot of good information in print about how to identify them
Comparing the songs of Willet subspecies Read More »
The painting shown here was recently sold at auction Birds in the family Caprimulgidae, which includes Eastern Whip-poor-will (shown here), have been referred to as “goatsuckers” based on a superstition that goes back well over 2000 years. They all have tiny beaks that open to reveal an impressively large mouth used to catch flying insects, and
Why are they called goatsuckers? Read More »
This is the time of year when Red-winged Blackbirds are returning to marshes all over the continent, and the males are performing their showy displays to impress females and intimidate rivals. You might think the display simply involves fluffing up the body feathers and especially the red patches on the wings, but there is a
Red-winged Blackbirds showing off Read More »
Lots of birds have a habit of pumping (or wagging) their tails. It’s mostly open-country birds like phoebes, wagtails and pipits, Palm Warbler, Spotted Sandpiper, and others. Many hypotheses have been suggested to explain why the birds do it, but nobody came up with an answer until Gregory Avellis in 2011. He studied Black Phoebes
Why do phoebes pump their tails? Read More »
Cackling Goose is a rare fall migrant through Massachusetts and I usually see a couple of them each fall among the hundreds of Canada Geese around Concord. I look forward to the challenge of sorting through the flocks and picking these birds out, and once a candidate is located the identification has usually been straightforward –
Cackling-ish Geese Read More »
Limited edition prints are now available of the four paintings shown below. These gouache paintings were completed between 2011 and 2014, and a portion of the proceeds from their sale will be donated to benefit efforts to preserve and manage bird habitat. Be sure to check out the other conservation prints available here. [wp_cart_button name=”Tree
Four new prints to benefit conservation Read More »
I have been noticing variation in American Pipit for many years, and last month I had the opportunity to photograph a small flock. The photos here are of three randomly selected individuals in that flock, all taken within a few minutes on October 27, 2014 in Acton, MA. The differences in color are striking: compare
The extremely variable American Pipit Read More »
I saw a Cooper’s Hawk catch a Rock Pigeon a few days ago. By itself that experience is noteworthy – a Rock Pigeon is a big bird for a Cooper’s Hawk to handle – but more remarkable was the way the attack unfolded.
A hawk in pigeon’s clothing Read More »