Owl pellets aren't poop, and they're not vomit either. Here's how to tell a pellet from a dropping, what's actually inside ...

Dapperly dressed in black, white, and glacial gray, the Northern Shrike might pass as any other songbird. But don’t be fooled ...

A beautiful small gull of the far north, named after the great Arctic explorer James Clark Ross. Breeds mainly in remote stretches of northern Siberia, spending other seasons among the ice pack of the ...

The sharp whistled call of the Black Phoebe is a typical sound along creeks and ponds in the southwest. The birder who explores such areas is likely to see the bird perched low over the water, slowly ...

An odd little diver, the main North American representative of the group of stiff-tailed ducks, with spiky tail feathers that are often cocked up in the air. Usually, the Ruddy Duck is lethargic and ...

Although it is patterned like a sparrow, its shape, actions, and callnotes all reveal that this bird is really a goldfinch in disguise. After nesting in the conifer woods, Pine Siskins move out into ...

Widespread on Pacific Coast from Alaska to California, but more local in the east, being found mainly off eastern Canada. This large auk sits upright on sea cliffs, looking like a northern version of ...

Not a bird of open prairies, the Prairie Warbler nests mainly in young second growth scrub and densely overgrown fields in eastern North America. Such habitats are often temporary, and colonies may ...

In open country of the west, the Western Kingbird is often seen perched on roadside fences and wires, flying out to snap up insects or to harass ravens, hawks, or other large birds that stray too ...

Cowboys sometimes called these owls 'howdy birds,' because they seemed to nod in greeting from the entrances to their burrows in prairie-dog towns. Colorful fiction once held that owls, prairie-dogs, ...

A common bird of western forests. Steller's Jay is most numerous in dense coniferous woods of the mountains and the northwest coast, where its dark colors blend in well in the shadows. Except when ...

Despite its plain appearance, this flycatcher is often a favorite among eastern birdwatchers. It is among the earliest of migrants, bringing hope that spring is at hand. Seemingly quite tame, the ...