birds

As far as I can tell, icebreaker exercises are meant to help those awkward obligatory group events like staff development days or office team retreats feel even less comfortable. I recall one workplace training where we had to inform the group what animal best represented our personality. I was going to say “squirrel” but got distracted looking at something out the window, and forgot. In retrospect I should have chosen the yellow-bellied sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius), since I spent much of that same event straightening business cards and brochures at the conference center. This will make sense (I hope) in a moment. [Read more…] about Sapsuckers and Other Insults

Plenty of backyard birdwatchers consider blue jays (Cyanocitta cristata) the villains of the avian world. Mark Twain best summarized anti-blue jay sentiment when he compared the bird’s principles to that of an ex-congressman. In Native American lore, blue jays are portrayed as thieves and tricksters. Understandably, this songbird generates antipathy for its nest marauding, birdfeeder bullying, and generally aggressive attitude. Boisterous and colorful, blue jays are seen as unrepentant by their detractors. [Read more…] about The Benevolence of Blue Jays

This time of year is when the foliage begins to turn and when birds are more regularly seen in flocks, rather than individually, as they perch on a wire, forage in a field or fly across a road.

The territorial nature and belligerent behavior exhibited by adults toward neighbors from early spring through the end of the breeding season now fades like the chlorophyll in leaves during the latter weeks of September. Thus, a more gregarious lifestyle develops among the members of the same species and results in the formation of flocks for resting, foraging, traveling, and roosting at night. [Read more…] about Birds Of A Feather Are Flocking Together