The harsh caws of American Crows are one of the most familiar bird calls in North America. Fish Crows sometimes join flocks of American Crows as they forage for food. The two crow species look similar, but have a distinct call that sounds a bit like an American Crow with a stuffy nose. The…

eBird, una herramienta en línea para registrar observaciones de aves, permite a los científicos hacer seguimiento de las aves en todo el mundo. eBird cuenta ya con más de dos mil millones de observaciones de aves de más de un millón de personas, la mayoría científicos comunitarios que se…

While Dara Wilson was working at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in D.C., she introduced visitors to the Amazonia exhibit. She would describe the song of a bird she’d never had the chance to see in the wild, the Blue-gray Tanager. But when Dara moved to Panama, she heard the song that she…

Loons are built for life in the water – so much so that their legs don’t work well on land. During migration, loons sometimes mistake wet pavement for the reflective surface of deep water and try to land there, then become unable to take flight again. If you see a stranded loon on a road…

For years, nature recordist Lang Elliott came up with clever ways to hear high-pitched bird songs despite his high-frequency hearing loss. Lang teamed up with a programmer to develop an app called Hear Birds Again. Currently it’s only available for iPhones, but it’s able to take high-pitch…

Knowing how clever parrots are, researchers wanted to see how they’d respond to another parrot saying hi on a tablet or phone. After being trained how to start a call, many parrots chatted amiably on calls and stayed on for the maximum amount of time. Some birds even seemed to develop…

Milkweed plants are important to Monarch butterflies, which depend on milkweed to raise their caterpillars. But Monarchs aren’t the only ones who benefit from milkweed. Scientists once documented hundreds of insect species they found eating some part of the common milkweed plant –…

La mascarita común ( Geothlypis trichas) es una de las chipes más abundantes de América del Norte. Son aves muy adaptables, capaces de prosperar en lugares que otras chipes más exigentes no escogen. Entonces es fácil encontrarlas en zonas urbanas. Búscalas en pantanos, campos con…

Las calandrias castañas ( Icterus spurius) son aves muy sociales que construyen sus nidos en árboles altos, cerca de arroyos y humedales. Los machos tienen el pecho de un tono castaño intenso y el dorso y las alas negras, mientras que las hembras y las aves jóvenes son en su mayoría…

There are many great tools for identifying birds, some of them right on your phone. If you’re stumped on an unfamiliar plant species, iNaturalist is a great resource. When you upload a photo to iNaturalist’s website or mobile app, it uses AI to make an educated guess on the species ID. A…