This past week, as we were having breakfast at the kitchen table, we noticed some “flitting and sitting” in the lilac tree just outside the window. We turned and saw a ruby-crowned kinglet that…

Palm warblers have started to pop up around the state in the last week or so, and their return has gotten us thinking about how the names by which we know different bird species often don’t seem…

Despite the lingering snow and cold this year, migrant birds are returning. American woodcock have come back and started their mating dances. Yellow-bellied sapsuckers are back, too, and tending…

Some folks see a robin and instantly think spring — even though individuals and flocks of robins often can be seen in winter here in Maine, where they subsist on…

No one familiar with the famous story of the unfortunate sailors who were shipwrecked on Boon Island in December 1710 and fought to survive for weeks, with no fire, on the frigid, rocky, wave-…

St. Paddies Day got us musing about the color green in the bird world. Have you noticed that there aren’t a lot green-colored birds up here in our…

It’s a xanthowhat?

Bilateral gynandromorphism. Great term, don’t you think? It refers to the…

As more of us struggle at this time of year with colds and the flu, it made us think about illnesses and disease in birds and how this might have an impact on their population numbers.

…

On these bitterly cold days this February we often find our minds drifting to the warm places where so many of “our” summer birds are currently in…

Unless you’ve been living in a snowbank (which we realize is entirely possible), you probably know that this week is the biggest one for Maine high school basketball.

As we’ve been watching…

We’ve been thinking lately about the idea of habitat.

Maybe because the recent onslaught of winter storms has left most of us confined to the small habitat inside and near our homes. Birders…

With the continuing frigid temperatures and mounds of snow, our backyard bird feeders have been hopping with activity.

But as the number of birds at the feeder increases, the frenzy also…

As the heavy snow and high winds of “Snowmageddon” engulfed us this week, we were safely tucked into a warm house with a well-stocked refrigerator and cookies baking in the oven. Outside we could…

We recently read a short essay in the Birding Community E-Bulletin about what the authors called “The Shrimpy Effect.” It turns out that “Shrimpy” was the affectionate name bestowed on a…

It’s one of the rarest birds in the world, with less than 250 breeding pairs in the entire population. It nests on only a few tiny islets just…

We were at a book signing at L.L. Bean in Freeport recently to shamelessly promote the purchase of our book, “Maine’s Favorite Birds” as the perfect…

As much as we humans are resistant to change, we also seem to be collectively drawn to novelties — all the antique shops and art galleries along the Maine coast are in part a testament to this…

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us and the mayhem of Black Friday (if you buy into such schemes) has “cashiered” in the official gift-giving season, why not change it up a bit by thinking of “…

Thanksgiving Day is almost here, and it wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without turkey, so we thought we’d share some. The wild kind, that is — the species that is, along with the Muscovy duck, the only…

We bought some fancy mixed bird seen recently that included lots of nuts, which were avidly sought after by both the squirrels and the blue jays. One…

Just yesterday we heard the whiney “shree” sounds of pine siskins in our neighborhood and were delighted to find a flock of about 40 descending into the bare branches of a maple a block away. This…

It seems so far away from us — and it is. But as colder air dominates our days now in late October and early November, and with winter birds beginning to arrive, the far north of Quebec may not…

We looked out the back window this morning and saw a flock of about 15 black-capped chickadees passing from treetop to treetop in a southerly direction. A glance at our feeders showed that the…

Every fall when the hillsides begin to glow with the reds, yellows and oranges, there is a crisp, clean coolness that greets you as you step out the door in the…

Maine is well known and loved for its Atlantic puffins and common loons, bald eagles and ospreys.

We were enjoying a visit to a lighthouse in South Portland on Maine Open Lighthouse Day recently when a tight flock of about 150 semipalmated sandpipers came wheeling into view and landed on the…

Recently, we went birding on Barters Island with some friends who had been enthusiastically exploring a new app developed by our friends and colleagues at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

The…

A bird rescue and rehabilitation center recently put out a query on the Maine birding listserve website. They asked if anyone was aware of any chimney swift roosts that were still active, as they…

It’s that time of year again, when common nighthawks are migrating. As their name suggests, they look very hawk-like (actually, more falcon-like because of their long, pointed wings) and…

One of our favorite birding things to do in August is to try to find a flock of what bird book author Roger Tory Peterson famously described as “confusing fall warblers.”

August flower gardens in Maine are exquisite kaleidoscopes of color and texture. They are also strong lures for nectar loving insects and, of course…

It was an unexpected gift.

We had a few minutes of free time and decided to go for a walk at the Colby College Arboretum in Waterville. As we strolled along we noticed a…

As we mentioned in last week’s column, we had the amazing opportunity a few weeks ago to tour through one of America’s most famous natural areas, Yellowstone National Park. The…

We were watching a massive female grizzly bear with cubs moving through the willow flats below the Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park with high snow-capped peaks towering…

We recently received a photo taken in the Boothbay region a few weeks ago. It showed several least sandpipers and a short-billed dowitcher feeding together in a small marshy area. It may be hard …

Over the weekend we had the opportunity to lead a birding expedition to an area north of Millinocket known by many as the proposed national park lands. It was exciting to be birding an area that…

For those who think a crow is a crow is a crow, let us dispel that idea right now.

…

Like many a Mainer, we have awoken each morning in recent weeks to the squeaky songs of a gray catbird echoing around our neighborhood. Gray catbirds are a common summer bird in Maine and indeed…

Audrey Giles Chase, Jeff’s grandmother (“Nanny” to her grandkids), loved to see pileated woodpeckers. Whenever she saw one she would excitedly tell the story of where it landed and how…

Over the last month we’ve been serenaded from dawn to dusk by a wonderfully vigorous male song sparrow.

Living up to his name, he improvises a variety of pleasing-to-the…

In vacuuming the house in recent weeks we have noticed an increase in cat hair as our two healthy and happy indoor-only cats apparently shed their heavier…

This past week many a backyard, park and preserve has been flooded with boreal migrant songbirds, particularly yellow-rumped warblers and white-…

Persistently cool, rainy weather in the spring may seem like an inconvenience to us, but it can be a matter of life and death to many birds.

Those that rely largely or exclusively on flying…

If you haven’t heard it yet, chances are pretty good that you soon will. We’re talking about that rapid-fire rapping that arrives every spring. You may hear it from…

After reading in our column about how robins often overwinter in Maine (and thereby shattering some folks’ illusions of winter’s end in, say, January) we were asked recently about which species we…

Gulls are a nearly constant part of our Maine landscape, at least in the southern and coastal portions of the state. So it’s no wonder that most people probably don’t realize they are migratory…

We were talking with one of our next-door neighbors recently, on one of the recent nine degree “spring” mornings, when he expressed his surprise that…

People think of doves as peaceful. In some cultures, they’re considered a symbol of peace. Maybe that’s because they typically occur together in groups and can sometimes be seen roosting together…

Living in a coastal area where open ocean water is always nearby and where, for us humans, freshwater is available anytime at the kitchen sink, it is…

When you hear the word “songbird” you probably imagine a small, singing bird, perhaps a robin or a warbler. Maybe you are left with the distinct…