The Killdeer is a sentinel bird, one especially alert to predators. They can see you — or a fox — from a long distance. They keep out of harm's way while warning all the other Killdeers in the area of your presence. Black-necked Stilts and American Avocets also sound alarm calls. Loud…

Shorebirds such as these Pacific Golden-Plovers have a built-in map and a built-in compass. Many night-flying migrants use star patterns to orient themselves, and the fact that the sun always sets in the west makes it a compass point for a bird about to take off on a night flight. Perhaps…

Why are bluebirds blue? Unlike many other bird colors, blue is not a pigment but a color produced by the structure of the feathers. Tiny air pockets and melanin pigment crystals in each feather scatter blue light and absorb the other wavelengths. The even finer structure of the feather…

Uncle Remus told us how Br’er Rabbit fooled Br’er Fox by pleading, “Pleeeeze don’t throw me in that briar patch.” Many birds, like this Song Sparrow, thrive in dense, thorny blackberry thickets. Other birds that make these thorny thickets home include California Quails, wrens, and many…

The soft whistles of this Great Tit, a common European bird, can be hard to hear over city noises. So these birds now sing at a higher pitch and faster than normal. This song carries better over the traffic noise of the city. A bird singing at a higher range is better able to declare its…

Twice each day, the tide surges past Point No Point on Washington State's Olympic Peninsula, causing the upwelling of cold, nutrient-rich water. These nutrients support clouds of tiny plankton that feed vast schools of herring and sand lance. They in turn attract fish-eating birds, which…

During the winter of 2009-2010, thousands of Brown Pelicans washed ashore on Pacific beaches, wet, cold, starving. Fierce storms, thought to be more frequent because of global climate change, probably made it difficult for the birds to feed. And storm-water runoff washed oil and pollutants…

How do Black-capped Chickadees manage to survive the rigors of winter at high latitudes? For survival, chickadees have three things going for them: they're insulated, they're active, and they have a good memory. Thanks to a half-inch coat of feathers, the Black-capped Chickadee maintains…

Thousands of hummingbirds - including these Ruby-throats - are now in southward migration. Hummingbirds that summer in the western US will arrive in the mountains of southern Arizona. (Ruby-throats take a more easterly route.) Countless hummingbird feeders provide continuous nectar in this…

When you encounter a flock of wild guineafowl anywhere from Senegal to South Africa, they will usually be running, squawking as they go, obviously panic-stricken about something. Guineafowl are funny-looking birds, and their actions and calls are even funnier. These are calls of alarm…