A bird that I’ve come to associate with early spring is the blue-gray gnatcatcher (Polioptila caerulea) , a woodland sprite that returns
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When I first became a serious birder while living in northern Virginia, I heard friends talk about the Amercian woodcock (Scolopax minor)
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One of the pleasures of winter birding is the search for wintering waterfowl. Ducks that have bred in wetlands at more northerly
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Recent spells of arctic weather have left many of our natural areas seemingly bereft of birdlife. Except for a crow here and
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Twice during the first week in October I received messages and photos from friends about little birds they had spotted in the
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On a recent bird walk at Beverly Lake in Spring Creek Forest Preserve, our group stood for several minutes in the parking
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For most birds that spend the summer in our area, August is a relatively quiet month. Courtship, nest building, incubation, chick-raising are
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One of our local summer bird residents, despite its dazzling appearance, is so small it often goes unnoticed. Several times in June
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I probably would not have chosen the black-billed cuckoo (Coccyrus erythropthalmus) to profile in Birds of Barrington for some years (when I
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This time of year I eagerly await the arrival of local nesting birds which have wintered elsewhere. One such returnee, a short-distance
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Even with this relatively mild winter, local ponds and lakes have retained ice cover during January and February. But as March brings
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For the month of Valentine’s Day, it seems fitting to focus on a bird that incorporates the color red. The red-bellied woodpecker
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For many people in northern temperate zones, the primary place they watch birds in winter is at feeders outside their homes. The
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Should you be out at dusk these brisk December days, especially near a woodland, you might well hear the hu-hu-hu-WHO! WHO! of
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October brings to local ponds, lakes, and rivers large numbers of waterfowl, most of which have bred in northern wetlands and are
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