All in Bird Watching
Most of us have seen barn swallows flying around the countryside, but how many have seen a cliff swallow? The American cliff swallow is a member of the bird family that includes swallows and martins. These small, swift birds breed throughout much of the United States during the summer and migrate to South America during the winter.
The Common Loon is an interesting bird. Although not normally seen in many of the central states during the summer, in the spring they can be observed on lakes and reservoirs as they migrate north in search of nesting grounds.
Most birds are great insect hunters. While some bird species are just as happy to eat an insect as they are other things like seeds and small fruits, there are some birds that prefer to eat insects almost exclusively. One of those insect specialists is the barn swallow.
Mergansers include a few different species of diving ducks that either live in the Midwest or pass through while migrating north. There are three species that are commonly seen spring and fall migrations, including common mergansers, hooded mergansers and red-breasted mergansers.
One of the most common hawks seen by backyard birders in the continental US is the Cooper’s hawk. The reason is simple: Cooper’s hawks are bird-eaters, and they are attracted to backyard bird feeders.
It is mid-winter, and many of our summer birds have migrated south to Central and South America. But one particularly interesting species of bird has migrated from more northern climates to where we are in the central United States: the bald eagle.
Did you seen a large bird soaring over a lake, pond or river last summer or fall? It may have been a fish hawk. Actually, fish hawk is just one of its many nicknames. It is also called the river hawk, sea hawk and fish eagle, but its real name is more regal: it is the osprey.
The northern cardinal is the state bird of seven different states (Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia), and it is quite colorful. The males are bright red, of course! Cardinals are beautiful birds, and the male’s brilliant red feathers are contrasted by a jet black face.
Visitors to ponds and shallow wetlands are likely to see a particularly tall and stately bird: the Great Egret. Great egrets are large wading birds that look like great blue herons, except that their feathers are all pure white. They have a large yellow beak and black legs.
Some birds are seen but rarely heard. Others are just the opposite – heard but rarely seen! The gray catbird is one of those vocal, but very shy birds that people don’t often see. Aptly named, this gray-colored bird prefers to spend its time in thick underbrush and at least one of its many calls sounds like the lonely mew of a cat.
A common visitor to back yard bird feeders is the brightly-colored American goldfinch. These small finches are easy to identify by their coloration. Adult males are bright yellow with black wings and a black cap on their head.
Owls are creatures of the night. In the Midwestern United States, the largest and perhaps most well-known owl is the Great Horned Owl. These big birds can have wingspans of four to five feet, and they hunt everything from mice and rats to rabbits, snakes, frogs and even other birds like ducks and hawks.
