Chickadee Chatter

The sharp-eyed chickadees in our yard have something to say when I come out to fill our bird feeders. “Dee-dee-dee!” they call. “Dee-dee-dee-! Dee-dee-dee!” as they land on a branch directly over my head. As it happens, they are most likely speaking in “Chickadese”, a...

Red-breasted Nuthatch, Sitta Canadensis

A pair of diminutive red-breasted nuthatches has been frequenting our bird feeders in the past several weeks. Smaller and more colorful than their cousins, the white-breasted nuthatch, our pair cut a fine figure with their gray backs and rosy breasts, and jaunty black...

Gray Catbird,  Dumetella carolinensis

The summer is rapidly drawing to a close. The chorus of birds that I could hear from my bed at 5:00 a.m. in June has dwindled to almost nothing and mornings are silent. We have not been entirely deserted, however. The gray catbird which nested in our yard this summer...

The Green Heron, Butorides virescens

By Sue Leaf Tucked away in a small cove of South Lindstrom Lake, a pair of Green Herons were making a fuss. They sat high in a dead tree. Their forms were dark, but I knew their bodies would be a deep green with a rich rusty-colored neck. The birds were hunched, like...

Song Sparrow, Melospiza melodia

The sky was gray, the wind was sharp and there were still traces of snow in the ditches when I heard my first Song Sparrow this spring on March 13th. It sang from a hay field, what T. S. Roberts called “the sweet cheery song,” one of the first songsters of the new...