In marshes across the country, birds awaken on a summer morning. Tall dense grasses and reeds often make marsh birds hard to see, but their voices carry easily across the lush, green landscape. You can hear birds like the Redhead, the Sora, the American Bittern, the Ruddy Duck, this Yellow…

What a comfort it would be if every bird song were as easy to recognize — and remember — as that of this Olive-sided Flycatcher. Some people think it sounds like "quick-THREE-beers" or "what PEEVES you." Do you drink coffee? Then you can help Olive-sided Flycatchers, when you choose to…

Just because a young bird appears to be alone – whether on the ground or squawking loudly from a bush or tree – doesn't necessarily mean it is sick or injured. In June, young birds, including this juvenile Northern Flicker, are leaving their nests. And most likely, a parent is near-by and…

Bird beaks, or bills, come in many shapes and sizes. And birds use them for just about everything: to collect food, preen, fight, court, and more. In order for a bird to fly, its beak must weigh as little as possible. Beaks are covered with a sheath of a tough material called keratin…

In higher animals, the brain is like a Lamborghini — amazing engineering, but expensive to run. In a human, the brain uses about 10 times more energy than other organs. A bird's system is exquisitely attuned to this expense. Several species, including Black-capped Chickadees, have adapted…

Does staying cooped up inside with your kids sometimes drive you up the wall? Take comfort in the bird that does it year after year — the hornbill. Each breeding season, a female hornbill plasters herself into her nest cavity, leaving only a thin slot for ventilation and food. She stays…

The peace of the vast Guyanan jungle is abruptly broken with the dawn chorus of male Capuchinbirds, one of the most bizarre birds in South America. The singing male bows forward, then suddenly stretches to his full length, raising a monk-like cowl of feathers around his naked blue-gray…

Peer into the world of birds, and eyes of many different colors peer back. While eye color isn’t tied to one group of birds or another, a common pattern is a change in eye color as immature birds grow to adulthood. Bald Eagles, Ring-billed Gulls, and ducks such as goldeneyes and scaup have…

In spring, millions of songbirds — like the Orchard Oriole — migrate north across the Gulf of Mexico, from the Yucatan to the southeastern U.S. When birds encounter storms or headwinds, many may die. Why risk such an end, when they could migrate north along the length of Mexico? It's…

The Yellow-billed Cuckoo, one of two species of cuckoos in North America, lives in broadleaf forests throughout the East and riparian stands in the Southwest. Cuckoos were common breeding birds in the Pacific Northwest as late as the 1920s, but then they disappeared. The Black-billed…