Also in this Issue: Hummingbirds' Spring Arrivals | Birds Incubating Rocks?
| The Joy of Birds | March 2024 | | | | |
| Learning as much as possible about a bird's behavior is key to capturing memorable photos. But sometimes, a bird does something so utterly unexpected that it makes us do a double take! Enjoy this batch of surprising moments from Royal Terns to Great Blue Herons, captured via the 2023 Audubon Photography Awards. Browse the gallery | | | | |
| Clark's Grebes. Photo: Binh Nguyen/Audubon Photography Awards | | | | |
| Spring has sprung, which means many hummingbirds are buzzing back to North America! But, with changing bloom times of nectar plants and earlier arrival of spring on their wintering and breeding grounds, it can be tricky to predict when your favorite flying gem will appear. Here's your guide to current hummingbird migration patterns for various regions of the country, as well as some tips on the different feeding strategies you can use to attract them. Learn more | | | | |
| Male and female Anna's Hummingbirds crowd a feeder to refuel. Photo: Charles Melton/Alamy | | | | |
| Last spring, a Bald Eagle at a wildlife rehabilitation center, mistook a rock for an egg. Murphy the Bald Eagle incubated the smooth stone for weeks while unknowingly becoming an online sensation. From stones to bones and other random objects, birds have been found to incubate seemingly anything that looks like an egg. But why? Read on to learn more about this quirky nesting behavior. | | | | |
| Murphy, a Bald Eagle at World Bird Sanctuary in Missouri, incubating a rock. Photo: World Bird Sanctuary | | | | |
In celebration of World Water Day, here's a quiz to test your water bird ID skills. Using the silhouetted image above and the three hints below, can you name this bird? - Clue #1: This bird's rich yodeling and moaning calls, heard by day or night, are characteristic sounds of early summer in the north woods.
- Clue #2: Unlike most birds, this mystery bird has nearly solid bones, which makes it heavier and helps it dive for fish.
- Clue #3: This bird is born with brown eyes, which start to turn red later in its first year.
Here's a bonus hint: this bird's four-letter banding code, or nicknames researchers use as shorthand for species' names, is "COLO." Click here to reveal the answer and learn more about our mystery bird. | | | | |
| Photo: Laura Nijssen/Audubon Photography Awards | | | | |
| Supporters like you power our work to protect birds and the places they need. We appreciate your thoughts about the content you receive from us. Please consider taking this short survey which should only take a few minutes to complete, but will have a lasting impact on our work. Take the survey | | | | |
| Black-capped Chickadee. Photo: John Lehew/Audubon Photography Awards | | | | |
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