When the bitter cold of winter arrives, songbirds face an emergency: how to keep warm through the night. On normal nights, many prefer sleeping solo in a sheltered spot. But in severe cold, some kinds of birds may have a greater prospect of survival by roosting with others.

In some parts of North America, Sandhill Cranes are common as ants at a picnic. In New England, on the other hand, they’ve been almost as rare as pterodactyls — until relatively recently! Birders began reporting cranes scattered throughout the region. When a Sandhill Crane chick hatched in…

In this BirdNoir mystery, the private eye fields a call from a woman who says a large bird that looks like a Bald Eagle stole a Rainbow Trout from her pond. Through a process of elimination, the detective is able to rule out a few likely suspects and arrive at the probable answer. When you…

The Wandering Tattler is one of the few birds equally at home along the coast and high in the mountains. They’re found far and wide along Pacific shores, living up to their “wandering” name and gaining names in many local languages throughout the ocean basin. Their nesting habitats in the…

The group of birds called “songbirds” — the perching birds — is incredibly broad. Half the world’s 10,000 birds are in the songbird group, and their range of body sizes is mind-boggling. One of the smallest songbirds in North America is the Golden-crowned Kinglet, barely larger than a…

Whistling as they fly, Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are gorgeous waterfowl with bright pink bills and legs, chestnut necks and backs, and black underparts. Though most whistling-ducks live in the tropics, Black-bellied Whistling-Ducks are found in the U.S. along the western Gulf Coast and…

A bird with abnormal white feathers, like this American Robin, may have a genetic condition called leucism. Leucism prevents pigments from reaching some — or sometimes all — of a bird’s feathers. Albino birds are distinctly different and are entirely white with pink skin and eyes. Albinos…

Groove-billed Anis gather in loose groups. And with good reason. They nest communally. As many as four or five pairs of birds may use one nest, a bulky cup of twigs lined with fresh leaves. When the dominant female ani begins to lay her own eggs, the other females lay simultaneously. Up to…

Birds’ four-chambered hearts run larger than those of mammals, relative to body size, and they are coupled with extremely efficient cardiovascular systems. The energy demands of flight require these adaptations. An exercising human has a heart rate around 150 beats per minute. In contrast…

Collective nouns are a mixture of poetry, alliteration, and description. Victorians often made up creative names for groups of birds, as a parlor game. Many names bring a vision of the birds instantly to mind. How about this spring of teal? These are Green-winged Teal. So what would a…