Found in prairies, grasslands and fields, the grasshopper sparrow’s tan and brown coloration allows it to camouflage even in wide open areas.
They also, when leaving the nest, run a distance away before flying.
Long-billed curlew are shorebirds that spend their summers breeding in the grasslands of Montana. Smithsonian ecologists are equipping them with GPS trackers to learn more about their movements.
Long-billed curlews nest in large, flat expanses of short-grass prairie.
These handsome diving ducks are a common sight in the northern prairies of the United States and Canada, where they fly each year to breed among semi-permanent ponds and wetlands. As pochards, or diving ducks, they are specially adapted for propelling themselves underwater in search of aquatic plants, small gastropods and mollusks to eat.
Reproduction and Development Many female redheads do not make a nest themselves.
A striking and easy to identify bird, chickadees have a reputation for being chatty busybodies. They are frequent visitors to feeders and backyards and are one of the most studied and well-recognized wild songbirds in North America.
The pair works together to dig out a nest hollow in a dead tree, snag, a rotting
Though wild birds, black-crowned night herons are a common sight at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in the summer, where they have a breeding colony. This is their only rookery in Washington, D.C.
nest in one tree.
Pumpkinseeds are North American freshwater fish that are very similar in appearance to their cousins, the bluegill.
Mating takes place when the pair circle the nest and release the eggs, which are
There are only 135 Guam kingfishers in the world, but scientists around the world are working to change that by breeding the species for release in the near future.
Image: Female Guam kingfisher Giha incubates two eggs inside the nest cavity she
Behind the scenes at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, the sweet tweets of chirping chicks are music to the Bird House team’s ears. While their homestead exhibit is under renovation, the team has been busy researching, perfecting and literally writing the book of North American songbird and shorebird husbandry. The result? A bird baby boom—34 chicks among 11 species, and counting! Hear from curator Sara Hallager and keepers Heather Anderson, Stacy Hill, Kathy Brader and Shelby Burns why summer 2020 truly is for the birds.
As soon as that chick fledged, mom wasted no time in building a new nest.
On the wings of last year’s award-winning baby boom, our Bird House team recently welcomed 27 chicks among seven duck and songbird species! Meet them in this update.
This species usually prefers to nest in tall, secluded grasses, so we were taken
By Lauren Augustine
Unlike our other two Cuban crocodile females, Dorothy digs a hole nest, making it
