WILD THINGS: CLASSY & ROYAL BIRDS
I know it is anthropomorphic, and therefore wrong, to think of terns as classier versions of gulls. In the proper scientific sense, class should...
WILD THINGS: IF IT LOOKS LIKE A DUCK AND QUACKS LIKE A DUCK…
There is a semi-old adage that says if something walks like a duck, swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably...
WILD THINGS: DOVE HEADS & OLD-SCHOOL ORNITHOLOGY
William Earl Dodge Scott and John Wyley Atkins must have had some interesting correspondence, as evidenced by a letter Atkins once sent to Scott.
“I...
WILD THINGS: THE SECRET LIFE OF HERMIT CRABS
I was lucky enough to spend some time on a backcountry island a few years ago. There was a house, but it was pretty...
WILD THINGS: ASK THE BIRD GEEK
Why aren’t there any blue jays in the Lower Keys? — Paul Z. Bandit
It’s pretty hard to avoid blue jays in the eastern half...
WILD THINGS: DUCKS: RUSSKIES, OKIES AND OTHERWISE
The things that freak people out about Muscovy ducks are the caruncles, sometimes called wattles – the prominent, bright red, fleshy bits on their...
WILD THINGS: BALD EAGLES AND MAKING IT OFFICIAL
There were five of us in the car – my sister Karen, my brother-in-law Lee, and their friends Kathy and Charles. We’d been up...
WILD THINGS: ENTER SANDERLING
A male sanderling in breeding plumage is something to see, a bird with a classic shorebird profile – horizontal torso, slim, longish bill, respectable...
WILD THINGS: KUNG FU HERONS & THEIR PLACE IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS
It was the third year that Ellen Westbrook and I had done the morning part of the Christmas Bird Count by bike, which officially...
BIRD GEEK MARK HEDDEN ANSWERS READERS’ QUESTIONS
Why doesn’t North America have any big flightless bird? Africa has ostriches, South America has rheas, Australia has emus and cassowaries. Did we have...
