Each spring and summer, Indigo Buntings sing their buzzy, jumbled songs from brushy edges throughout the Eastern US. West of the Rockies, a different bunting sings his song. Named for the gemstone lapis lazuli, a male Lazuli Bunting shimmers an iridescent azure. He looks as if he might…

The raucous laughter of the Common Murre rings out from a nesting colony, high on a narrow ledge on a sea cliff. Precarious as their nest site is, Common Murres nest by the thousands along the Pacific Coast, perhaps millions north along the Bering Sea. Their eggs are pointed at one end and…

In parts of the United States, House Finches overlap with similar-looking Purple Finches. Their distinct songs help us sort them out. House Finch songs are jumbled and have a sharp, buzzy note — especially during the breeding season. Purple Finches’ songs, on the other hand, are smoother…

Meet three of the most fearsome predatory birds. The Northern Goshawk is a silver blur when it rockets toward an unsuspecting grouse. The Brown Snake-Eagle snatches six-foot cobras off the ground. And the Eurasian Eagle-Owl preys on animals as large as deer fawns.

When scientists looked at climate data for more than 8,500 robins’ nests in the US, they found that robins will nest only if the mean noon temperature is between 45 and 65 degrees. But even more critical is relative humidity: it needs to be around 50 percent in the middle of the day. What…

The range and abundance of the Great-tailed Grackle have expanded significantly since 1900, when the species barely reached Texas from Mexico. One winter roost of grackles in South Texas was pegged at 500,000 birds! Great-tailed Grackles can present pest management problems for agriculture…

When it comes to building a house, one of the first decisions is where to put it. The same is true for birds. It's called "nest site selection." And one thing most birds have in common? The female chooses the site. A robin builds its nest on top of a stout branch. This Warbling Vireo hangs…

All birds lack the typical gene for detecting sweetness, but hummingbirds avidly seek out sugary nectar. It turns out that evolution has transformed hummers’ taste receptors. Mutations to their savory taste receptor gene allowed the receptor to respond to sucrose and other sugars…

Washington Irving called the Bobolink "the happiest bird of our spring...he rises and sinks with the breeze, pours forth a succession of rich tinkling notes ..." Bobolinks nest in hayfields and grasslands, returning north each spring, all the way from southern South America. Listen to more…

A Tufted Titmouse has just about everything you could ask for in a backyard bird. Petite and strikingly elegant, it’s as perky as a chickadee. In fact, it’s a cousin to the chickadee. And as it comes boldly to your seed or suet feeders, the Tufted Titmouse will even hang upside down like…