Birdchick

Another informational bird sign from my buddy Paulie:

It’s a commonly heard fact at many bird programs: most bird species have a lousy sense of smell. Check out great horned owls–their favorite food is skunk!Well, according to this article in Science Daily…we may have to rethink that! The sense of smell might indeed be as important to birds as it is to fish  [ Read More ]

I’m so proud, Non Birding Bill had a submission accepted over at Cute Overload. A DC Birding Blog has some interesting observations on the reports of birders not seeing as many hummingbirds this summer. Meanwhile, Mr. Neil’s yard seems to be experiencing more hummingbirds than usual. There are two feeders out this year and both  [ Read More ]

Thanks, Jed, for sending this my way, it’s from National Geographic, so it’s gotta be true, but here is a story about using bees to keep crows away from a threatened tern colony: After years of being attacked by crows, a colony of seabirds nesting in Tokyo is getting an unlikely ally: the tiny honeybee.  [ Read More ]

Here’s a video of a honey bee licking my finger: You can watch it in high resolution here. There’s a similar video here.

From blog reader Malorie: “I have been reading your blog for a while now, and I came across something today in which I thought you might be interested. There are a series of caves in Kuna, Idaho called Kuna Caves (not very creative name, I know), and I went to explore there today. At the  [ Read More ]

Today, I had to do a “roving ranger” day for the National Parks Service at Coon Rapids Dam. Basically, we go out with a backpack full of brochures and ask people at random, “Hey, did you know you were in a National Park?” and politely and excitedly tell them about the trail system and various  [ Read More ]

Do you ever have days where you feel like no one can make a mistake as big as you can, or quite so publicly, and taking several people down with you in the process? That you are perhaps the antithesis of tact? That perhaps the place for you to reside for the next month or  [ Read More ]

From my buddy Paulie: I don’t know if I want to, friend…

So, I had someone email me from a bird store in Kentucky asking if I had noticed a hummingbird shortage in Minnesota. “My Customers are coming into the store complaining that their are no hummingbirds this year, where most customers have had hundreds in previous years, now only have a couple. Have you seen a  [ Read More ]