There is an element of luck in birdwatching, and sometimes that luck is mostly bad. Just for a LARK, MARTIN and JAY decided to have a SWALLOW.
One piercing, cheerful yelp catches your ear.
It has a pleasing and rhythmical song, which it sings even in winter.
A Red-tailed Hawk soars on broad, rounded wings, the epitome of effortless flight.
Suddenly a flock of hundreds of birds rises from the ground beneath the apple trees, swarming in tight formation, wing-tip to wing-tip.
Like our flu, there are many commonly occurring avian types. Sitting about three feet tall, the Bald Eagle has a wingspan of more than six feet. Quick and agile in rushing white water, they dive to the bottom of mountain streams for food, and use fast-flowing rivers for breeding. The Wild Turkey, from which the domestic variety has been bred, is native to North America.
The finches nest high in the mountains in summer, and roam the countryside in large flocks in winter.
Washington's population nests on Wrangel Island in Russia, northwest of the Bering Strait, and winters on the deltas of the Samish, Stillaguamish, and Skagit Rivers. The evidence and theories are complex. Only a few are harmful.
The call of the Common Loon brings to mind a summer visit to northern lakes with sunny blue skies. As the winter sun sinks over the Coulee Lakes, hundreds of Gray-crowned Rosy-Finches suddenly appear, an undulating cloud that swarms into the upper levels of the basalt cliffs.
In the Amazon, heat and humidity weigh upon you and a cacophony of birdcalls surrounds you.
Some, like the Harlequin, squeak.
The male Willow Ptarmigan sounds like he might be laughing, or at least doing his best to make others laugh.
The finches nest high in the mountains in summer, and roam the countryside in large flocks in winter.
Putting out a feeder is easy. In the Amazon, heat and humidity weigh upon you and a cacophony of birdcalls surrounds you.
The expected winter birds flutter past: chickadees, juncos, robins, even the lovely Varied Thrush.