News Blog

Baltimore Oriole at Jelly Feeder

Spring’s Cold Brought Bright Birds to Feeders

A colorful array of migrants—brilliant orange orioles, vivid blue buntings, black-white-and-pink grosbeaks—livened up our springtime backyards.

June/July 2011

Summer Butterfly Census | SPAS “Go Paperless” Campaign | Annual Fund Donors | Conversation News

American Robin

Avian Architects

Raise the family in a birdhouse or on a branch? Birds have their own ideas about what’s best for their broods.

Northern cardinal singing

Call of the Wild

Bird songs are designed to attract a mate or repel a rival, but birds have other things they need to communicate. Pairs need to stay in contact, flocks confer back and forth and a bird that notices a potential attacker will issue a warning. For these and other purposes birds rely on calls—a repertoire of short, unmusical sounds that convey specific information. Unlike a bird’s song, much of which is learned, bird calls are instinctual, an innate means of communicating.

American Robin

Spring is Robin Season

Spring moves toward us at its own plodding pace, “migrating” northward about 15 miles a day, a measure of the rate at which frost leaves the soil.

April/May 2011

“Minnesota State Parks” with Chris Niskanen (April 2011) | “Birds in Flight” by Carrol Henderson (May 2011) | Audubon Volunteers | 2011-2012 Nominating Committee Slate | 2011-2012 Proposed Budget | Spring Outings | Urban Bird Festival | Book Review: The Crossley ID Guide

Horned lark

Horned Larks Coming Through

My wife and I saw our first horned larks in Wabasha County, in southeastern Minnesota, in March 1988. As best we can recall, we were spending the weekend at a bed and breakfast and took an afternoon to drive around the county looking for birds. Neither of us remembers where we stayed, but we both remember the horned larks. What gorgeous birds!

Red-tailed hawk

Highway Hawks

Freeways are corridor cafes for red-tailed hawks as they perch patiently and wait for a roadside meal.

February/March 2011

Sand Country Wildlife, a film by Walter Breckenbridge (February 2010) | Two Centuries of Human Impact on the Upper Mississippi, Daniel Engstrom (March 2010) | 2011 Spring Warbler Weekend Information | Bald Eagle Winter Antics – February Field Trip | 2011 Beginning Bird ID Course | Great Backyard Bird Count | Wild Ones “Design with Nature” Conference | The 67th St. Paul (north) CBC Wrap-up | plus lots more