Spring is a week away and the signs of the season are everywhere. Crocuses are blooming all over New York City. The cardinals seem suddenly more active and vocal. Same for the blue jays. They seem busy and preoccupied. I’ve been able to get close enough to photograph them, which is unusual. The bees are […]
Tag: Jay
How the robin’s red breast could be the key to colours that never fade
Sheffield scientists now know why kingfishers catch fire, robins are red, and jays are blue: the pattern of colour on a bird’s wing may have nothing to do with pigment, and everything to do with feather structure on a scale of billionths of a metre. The research has a potential pay-off for fabric manufacturers and […]
Video: Gamekeeper jailed in Scotland for killing bird of prey
A gamekeeper who trapped and killed birds of prey has been jailed for four months. George Mutch, 48, was sentenced at Aberdeen Sheriff Court after being convicted of laying illegal traps and killing a goshawk by hitting it with a stick. It is the first custodial sentence for the crime of persecuting raptors, or birds […]
Spring Birds in Winter
Remember the polar vortex winter we had last year? This robin came to my window every cold morning of it with his feathers so puffed up he looked downright chubby. I fed him raisins for breakfast straight through until spring. He’s back! He (or so…
Wildlife Licences: Can’t Shoot Robins, but Egyptian Geese are Game
Landowners wanting to be allowed to shoot robins, pied wagtails, starlings and other favourite birds seen eating their crops have been rebuffed by the government. But shooters will be able to legally kill or destroy the nests of Egyptian geese and trap and release protected birds like song thrushes, blue tits and dunnocks found foraging […]
H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald – review
The arcane world of falconry is infamous for a snobbery that dates back to the medieval period, when different raptors were pegged to a hierarchical list of feudal stations. So the noble peregrine was for princes, the dainty merlin was milady’s bird, and – as we know from Barry Hines’s novel – it was just […]
Male Eurasian Jays Surprise Ornithologists
Male Eurasian jays, Garrulus glandarius, are able to disengage from their own current desires to feed female food that she wants, says a group of scientists led by Prof Nicola Clayton from the University of Cambridge, UK. The ability to disengage from our own desire to cater to someone else’s wishes is thought to be […]
Well hello there.
It’s about that time. Last week I saw this red-shouldered hawk pair getting to know each other. Right time, right place. I was taking photos of yellow-rumped warblers and the female flew in pretty close and on an exposed snag’s branch. Lucky me! I have a few more photos of the whole thing that I’ll […]