Songbirds are not just frequent visitors to gardens and birdhouses. They are everywhere. Some species, like the dark-eyed junco, are ubiquitous, adapting to various environments. But others have special habitat requirements. For example, marsh wrens need marshes and sagebrush sparrows need sagebrush. A … read more

Lynn and Jim McIntyre’s garden is a bird sanctuary. Cedar waxwings visit each year to feed on red elderberry fruit. Nuthatches hop along the trunks of trees looking for insects. Pileated woodpeckers tear apart rotting wood in search of a meal, and sapsuckers … read more

A little-known fact, outside the world of birding, is that there is no such bird as a “seagull.” Rather, the term “seagull” is an informal name given to any member of the Laridae (Greek for “ravenous seabird”) family. Gulls, as they are correctly … read more

If a hiker in a Kitsap forest were to come upon someone looking through a pair of binoculars, it is only natural to ask what he or she is seeing. If the response is “brown creeper,” some people may think the individual is … read more

Last month, my husband and I visited a small public garden in Southwest Washington called the Wildlife Botanical Gardens. The garden is a project of the NatureScaping organization, devoted to showing homeowners ways to attract birds and other wildlife to their yards by … read more

Depending on their numbers, the popularity of geese can wax and wane. It’s the Canada geese that produce these mixed feelings. Brant geese, their much smaller cousin, is looked at in an entirely different way. Some even think of this goose as “cute.” … read more

At the end of March, birds hunt for suitable nesting sites to raise their brood. It is the time of year to clean out the birdhouses and make them livable, or erect new ones for the next bird couple. Until humans decided to … read more

Pine siskins, American goldfinches and common redpolls are cousins, members of the large finch family. During the winter months, they frequently flock together in the search for food. Flocks of pine siskins can grow into the hundreds at this time. You have to … read more

Counting birds in the middle of winter may not make sense but this is a tradition that goes back over a hundred years. It is a tradition that replaced another one known as the Christmas “Side Hunt.” Before the turn of the century, … read more