Flamingos are truly unmistakable birds of endless superlatives: dazzling pink plumage, stiltlike legs, an impossibly long neck, and a bill that seems to have been bent in half. American Flamingos are ...

When Audubon explored Florida in the 1830s, he apparently found Zenaida Doves nesting on the Florida Keys. Today the species is only a very rare visitor to Florida from the islands of the Caribbean...

Perhaps the most outwardly distinctive of the dabbling ducks thanks to its large spoon-shaped bill, the Northern Shoveler busily forages head down in shallow wetlands. Its uniquely shaped bill has com...

A stark velvety black seaduck with a bright pumpkin-orange knob at the base of its bill, the male Black Scoter is distinctive at almost any distance. Females are mostly brown with a distinctive face p...

The startlingly pretty Red-faced Warbler is a mix of gray, black, and fire-engine red. Mainly a bird of high-elevation coniferous forests, its core range is in Mexico but it breeds as far north as Ari...

A close relative of the Mallard, the Mottled Duck is the only dabbling duck specialized for nesting in southern marshes, far to the south of most of its relatives. Unlike most waterfowl, Mottled...

A comic about real and implied bird species, including a hawk, flycatcher, chickadee, and bittern.

In dense mangrove and hardwood forests of the Caribbean, the sweet song of the Black-whiskered Vireo is loud and clear, but its drab greenish plumage and slow movements make it hard to spot. Visually,...

A small, plump owl patterned in cinnamon or gray, Ferruginous Pygmy-Owl is a fearless predator capable of tackling birds more than twice its size. With its small stature, tuftless head, and long tail,...

This large sparrow may be brown, but its harlequin facial pattern and white tail spots make it a standout among sparrows. Males sing a melodious jumble of churrs, buzzes, and trills reminiscent of an ...

The waterborne American Coot is one good reminder that not everything that floats is a duck. A close look at a coot—that small head, those scrawny legs—reveals a different kind of bird entirely. Their...

Yes, let us drag our minds away from the headlines for a few moments to consider the many amazing things about this rather drab, and somewhat unfortunately named little bird. And it really is minus…

This rather mysterious seabird, nesting on a few islands in the South Pacific, was not described to science until 1949. Not until the late 1980s was it learned that Murphy's Petrel may be a regular...

Attractive, fairly common warbler of oak and pine-oak woods in highlands and foothills. Typically forages in leaf clusters and is usually seen at middle to upper levels in canopy, especially in oaks. Often associates with mixed-species feeding flocks of other warblers, vireos, titmice, and orioles, etc. Note the bold white eyebrow, lack of white wingbars, and the extensive yellow bib with a variable dark reddish crescent on the breast (can be almost absent on some immatures). Song is a cicada-like buzz.

Small and rotund with obvious teardrop-shaped plumes protruding from forehead. Looks gray and brown at a distance; look for buffy belly with a black patch. Males have black face and longer, more curled crest than females. Usually seen in flocks running on the ground in deserts, often close to dense thickets for cover. Well-accustomed to humans in many areas; a frequent visitor to feeders. Listen for loud wailing calls and various clucks and chuckles. Separated from similar California Quail by range; also note Gambel’s lacks scaly pattern on belly and has brighter chestnut-colored crown and sides.

The slender, almost ternlike Long-tailed Jaeger is daintier than other jaegers, but no less ferocious in its approach to getting food. These birds catch lemmings and raid bird nests during summer on t...

Yellow-eyed Juncos shuffle through the leaf litter of pine and pine-oak forests with fire in their eyes—a bright yellow-orange gleam that instantly sets them apart from the more widespread Dark-eyed J...

A lively warbler that hops among tree branches in search of insects, the male American Redstart is coal-black with vivid orange patches on the sides, wings, and tail. True to its Halloween-themed colo...

Great Shearwaters are ocean nomads, journeying thousands of miles each year from remote South Atlantic breeding grounds to cool North Atlantic waters in the boreal summer (their nonbreeding season). T...

Learn the amazing physical characteristics and adaptations that make American kestrels so intriguiing.