Why is that Northern Cardinal bald? We all have bad hair days. Birds have bad feather weeks every late summer as they go through molt. Some, like Northern Cardinals, take the process to the extreme. 

This spring Arlington residents who have not spent enough time further away to observe the breeding and nesting cycle of the Common Raven had a rare treat.

Carol Stalun, who is a skilled and talented nature photographer, took photos of an Osprey killing a crow. This is probably the first incident, documented with photographs, of an Osprey killing a wild bird.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s most quoted (and misquoted) poem, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” tells the story of a sailor who shoots a friendly albatross, cursing himself and his crew. As punishment, he is forced to wear the bird around its neck, making the albatross a symbol of his burden and regret. Good omens in life and bad omens in death, albatrosses have become symbols of both good and bad luck. Fittingly, while some real albatrosses have been fortunate, others have had tough luck.

In the 19th century, a curious phenomenon stumped European bird watchers and zoologists. Why did some species of birds disappear and then reappear every year? People back then had no way to track birds as they traveled long distances, so they had to come to their own conclusions.

Brown-headed Cowbirds love cows. True to their name, they can often be found alongside herds of cattle or horses, eating insects that much larger animals flush from the grass. Historically, Brown-headed Cowbirds followed bison herds across the Great Plains, but the spread of livestock farming has expanded their range across North America.