A Cozy, Birdy Care Package For You

Fascinating Bird Behaviors, Guess the Bird, and A Bird-Based Color Dictionary.

                                                               

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Joy of Birds | January 2025

11 Fascinating Photos of Birds Being Birds Birds never cease to delight and inspire us with their endlessly entertaining antics. That's why every year, the Audubon Photography Awards receives an abundance of striking images that capture birds just living their lives. From a cuddle of coots to one determined nuthatch, check out our favorite fascinating bird behaviors submitted to last year's awards. If you're feeling inspired, be sure to enter your own photos into the 2025 Audubon Photography Awards!

Prothonotary Warbler and Brown-headed Cowbird. Photo: Chao Wang/Audubon Photography Awards

Guess This Bird With Only 3 Clues! The new year calls for a new round of "Who's That Bird?" Using the silhouetted image above and the three hints below, can you name this bird? Clue #1: This bird is one of the most abundant and cherished songbirds in North America. Clue #2: This bird has a lot of colloquial names depending on the region, including: Red-bird, Crested Redbird, Top-knot Redbird, and Virginia Nightingale. Clue #3: This bird's name is inspired in part by the crimson robes and caps worn by leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. Here's a bonus hint: this bird's four-letter banding code, which researchers often use as shorthand for species' names, is "NOCA." Click here to learn more about our mystery bird and reveal the answer.

Photo: Tiger Rotenburger/Great Backyard Bird Count

The Avian-Based Color Dictionary That Predates Pantone Decades before Pantone's Color of the Year, ornithologist Robert Ridgway was creating his own system for defining colors in the natural world, naming 1,115 shades from Jay Blue to Peacock Green. Learn more about the popular book that helped ornithologists describe birds' shades—and probably helped inspire the color systems of today.

A page from Ridgway's Color Standards and Nomenclature featuring "Peacock Blue" (left); Indian Peafowl. Robert Gloeckner/Audubon Photography Awards

How Do Birds Cope With Cold Winter Weather? Brr, it's cold out there! With harsh winter weather in the forecast, you might wonder if birds are doing alright in these frigid temperatures. Thankfully, birds have evolved a variety of fascinating tactics and behaviors to survive these icy months. Here's a look at seven clever strategies birds use to stay warm and energized.

Eastern Screech-Owl. Photo: Michael Cassella/Audubon Photography Awards

So, What Do You Think? We hope you got some joy from this month's newsletter! Please consider taking this short survey that will help us get to know what you liked and what you'd like to see in the future. Take the survey

Sanderling. Photo: Walker Golder

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