American Robin-Nature’s Troubadours If you have ever lived somewhere that American Robins breed, a spring without their bright, lilting “cheerily, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up” song lacks something magical. Yet…

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Red Shouldered Hawk-our fearless buteo   If you live in a Red-shouldered Hawk’s territory, you know it. (If you aren’t sure, you most likely don’t.)  Even non-bird-oriented people can’t ignore…

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The Bushtit, San Diego County’s smallest songbird, is a long-tailed, effervescent, beady-eyed wisp of a thing that would easily go unnoticed if it led a solitary life—which it most definitely…

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Bird Names for Birds Wilson Warbler Leucadia Photo by Steve Brad I remember my first one. Bright yellow underneath, yellow-olive back and wings. Striking black cap. “What is that bird?”…

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Small but Mighty— The Northern Saw-whet Owl Small but Mighty— The Northern Saw-whet Owl The Northern Saw-whet Owl is a small owl (a mere eight inches tall) with a streaked…

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The Hermit Thrush

For five years, my husband and I covered a Breeding Bird Survey route in Colorado’s high country. One morning during breeding season, starting ½ hour before dawn on a 24.5-mile…

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Well Worth the Search— Lewis’s Woodpecker What bird climbs trees like a woodpecker but feeds mostly by acrobatically sallying forth from a perch or circling high in the air to…

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The Northern Shoveler

As a medium-sized duck, the Northern Shoveler seems just too small for its preposterously large, flat, broad-tipped bill. A paint pallet on webbed feet, the male’s breeding plumage (September through…

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The Western Bluebird— Carrying the Sky Above and Reflecting the Earth Below At the wildlife rehabilitation center, I grabbed a dish of fresh mealworms and headed to an outdoor aviary.There,…

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