by Alex Forsythe I have had the pleasure of helping to band a Red-bellied Woodpecker. Their size and the length of their beak may seem fearsome, but they are far less aggressive when being extracted from the net than a Northern Cardinal. Cardinals will grab your skin with their...
by Alex Forsythe Imagine eating 10 – 20% of your body weight during a meal, washing it down with salt water, then waddling off to digest that feast. How long do you think you would survive? Mourning Doves can drink brackish water (half the salt as sea water) without any ill...
by Alex Forsythe A familiar harbinger of spring, the Red-winged Blackbird is a welcome sight, with the males arriving in large flocks to establish territories before the females arrive. Arthur Bent wrote about their arrival in the Smithsonian Institution’s bulletin in 1958: “A flock of about fifteen redwings, adult males…...
by Alex Forsythe This finch dressed like a sparrow can be seen in abundance one year, then rarely the next. The migration patterns are variable. During irruption years Pine Siskins travel further south and east in the winter in search of food. Normally seen in the northern states, some...
by Alex Forsythe The Hairy Woodpecker is often confused with the Downy Woodpecker. They are very similar in appearance, especially if they are not viewed together, but there are some differences. The first difference is the length of the beak. The Downy has a shorter beak, while the Hairy has a beak that...
by Alex Forsythe From the “bluebird of happiness”, to Judy Garland’s iconic voice singing “Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly”, the Eastern Bluebird has long served as an inspiration to song writers, poets, artists and philosophers. Their brilliant blue color, gentle disposition, happy song and beneficial nature have secured for them...
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