Image: The Ultimate Bird Drawing Throwdown Showdown Graphic featuring images of David Sibley and H. Jon Benjamin

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Illustrator David Sibley and actor H. Jon Benjamin will face off in the bird illustration battle of the century during BirdNote's Year-end Celebration and Auction!

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Shows With Contributions by Rick Wright

Semipalmated Sandpipers

Feistypipers

Pity the bird that gets between a Semipalmated Sandpiper and its meal out on the mudflat! If crowded while foraging, they will readily attack, bumping birds of their own and larger species out of the way with their bodies. The deceptively cute juveniles can be just as irritable as their…
Golden-winged Warbler

Chestnuts and Warblers

The Golden-winged Warbler builds its nest in thickets beneath an open sky, which was a rare habitat in the old-growth forests of eastern North America. But the chestnut blight at the turn of the 20th century wiped out billions of trees, an estimated one fourth of the forest in Appalachia…
Short-billed Dowitcher

Short-billed Dowitcher

Dowitchers are a common type of sandpiper seen across North America. Two species, the Short-billed and the Long-billed, stop to feed busily on wetlands during migration from their Arctic breeding grounds to their wintering areas. The origin of the name is unknown. Theories include that it…

Decoy - Shrike Trickery

Northern Shrikes are unapologetically cool, with their black masks, elegant gray plumage, and predatory lifestyle. But these little raptors, although technically songbirds, sometimes sound less than appealing. Two species of shrike — the Loggerhead and the Northern — are widespread in…
Searching in the Gobi Desert

Eoornis - A Bird of the Gobi Desert

The critically endangered Eoörnis of the Gobi Desert was first described in scientific literature in the late 1920s. This bird is known informally as the Woofen-poof — because of the sound it makes when it takes off from the desert sand. It is easily recognized in flight by its semi…
Male Anna's Hummingbird at feeder

Hummingbird Feeder Homebrew

The familiar components of a hummingbird feeder include a bottle, sugar water, and something red to attract the birds. (But not the water, please! Food coloring can be harmful to hummers. Here's a healthy recipe.) Feeding hummingbirds such as this Anna’s Hummingbird may seem like a recent…
Ptarmigan in snow

Burrowing Snowbirds

Light, fluffy snow can be up to 90% trapped air — just the thing to keep birds and other animals warm. Ptarmigan spend winter nights in cozy caves they excavate in snow. During truly harsh weather, they will hunker down in their caves through the short arctic day, too. Common Redpolls…
Blue Tit at bird feeder

William Turner and the First Bird Book

The first printed bird book, The Principal Birds of Aristotle and Pliny, was published in 1544. Written by the English physician and naturalist William Turner, the book is noteworthy for its inclusion of Turner’s personal observations — a real innovation at a time when ancient authorities…
House Sparrow

Ulm Sparrows

As an old story from Germany goes, workers building the world’s tallest church were preparing to install an immensely long beam, but they couldn’t get it through the city gate. Preparing to dismantle the city wall to clear a path to the construction site, workers saw a House Sparrow carry…
House Sparrow

House Sparrows' Dance

In 1559, Duke August of Saxony ordered that the House Sparrows of Dresden be excommunicated. The birds were slipping into Holy Cross Church, where they interrupted the sermon with exuberant chirping and “endless unchaste behavior” before the altar. Now their manic chirping and courtship…