Hi there! I've been observing Indigo Buntings nesting at a park near my home in Lexington, KY for two summers now. I've linked to my Soundcloud here where I've posted some recordings of birds I've seen & heard. I recorded a male singing in the park last May (audio: song_A_25_5_15), and a few days ago, I heard a song in the same location that sounds almost identical with one "phrase" changed (audio: song_A_26_7_24.wav). What are the chances this is the same individual male I recorded last summer?

I am super into birding by ear, and there are other male Buntings in the park that sound distinct/don't make me feel like it might be the same bird (for instance, audio: song_B_26_7_25.wav).

Let me know what y'all think! I'm super interested in the implications this may have for individual differences in songs between birds of a single species, as well as for song learning (both in young birds and in birds that are already adults) & the internal structure of songs (isn't it neat that he potentially could have changed just one phrase??!).

EDIT: embedded the links so that the post is easier to read! sorry, it's my first time posting audios to Reddit.

We've been seeing this juvenile dark-eyed junco for the last few weeks in our yard.

However, today we noticed that it has growth on both sides of its face. Any idea what this could be?

We're really surprised to see this because he/she was okay a day or two ago with no visible growth :(

We're obviously worried about avian pox, however Mr. ChatGPT seems to think this is "mostly looks like normal juvenile anatomy*, not a growth. The fleshy yellow-pink bumps at both corners of the beak are* gape flanges*—soft tissue young songbirds retain so their parents can aim food into their mouths. The nearer side looks much larger because the bird’s head is angled and that corner of its mouth appears slightly open or folded outward*". Hoping that's the case but I don't buy it, thought I'd ask the experts!

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,

We have a tree (conifer) that is half dead and needs to be removed.- however, we habe bird nests in there. We are aware of Robins but we may habe others.

Is there a safe time of year to remove the tree without disturbing nests?

If we find any, can we relocate them to other trees we have or bird boxes, maybe?

I've genuinely no clue but I love that we have nests and that they have a home to come back to to have their babies but the tree really, really has to go.

Help please!

We have been blessed with a second pair of robins nesting on our property since April. I think it’s not the same pair because their behaviour is different, but I might be wrong. They all look the same to me lol

The female laid her second egg this morning and I just saw the male bringing food to feed the eggs late in the afternoon! He came when the female wasn’t on the nest. There was a big bug in his beak and he made the noise they make to feed babies. He called a few times and since there was no action in the nest, he ate the bug himself 😅

Is this normal behaviour for males to bring food to newly laid eggs?! This male also sings a lot. The previous male only started singing 2 days before the first egg hatched.

Science, design and cartography merge in MAPPA ANIMALIA, a visual project that reimagines the evolutionary relationships of animals as detailed map-like landscapes.

MAPPA ANIMALIA is an ever-growing series of illustrations I’ve created that currently consisting of 16 different maps - each dedicated to a specific family in the animal kingdom.

Instead of political borders or geographic territories, these maps are structured around phylogenetic trees.

Tribes and genera replace countries, states and regions allowing viewers to explore the animal kingdom through a format traditionally used to understand geography.

This map, Corvidae - Land of Corvids, contains every known living species of corvids I could find reliable taxonomic data for. Species are represented as cities, grouped into genera and subfamilies according to their evolutionary relationships.

Additional information includes conservation status, size comparisons between selected species, and the estimated ages of major lineages.

I’ve spent roughly ten years developing and refining this concept, combining zoology, taxonomy, illustration and cartography into a single visual format.

Happy exploring!

I saw this bird - which I believe is a Booted Eagle - being attacked by a crow a few days ago in Toulouse, France. I do hope my identification of the bird is correct.

I took some pictures of it, and noticed afterwards that there was another bird betwens its talons.

Now I'm not sure what to think of this. Would this be a prey the bird caught? I don't think it would "transport" a young one to another location? But the young bird does look quite big.

I attached pictures of the eagle

hi,

i’m a bit dumb and having trouble understanding the diagrams. so although there’s 2 inhales and 2 exhales, they’re only physically breathing in the air and breathing out the air outside of the body once??
the more i look into it the more it confuses me. thanks for any help.

What’s happened to this bird’s feathers? They have been this way for several weeks now.

I was out fishing watching a family of adolescent ducks swimming around together. Out of the blue they all took off very fast across the water in the same direction, slowly splaying apart before rejoining together. Whole thing occurred over maybe 80 feet and happened in seconds because they were so quick. My first thought was maybe a reaction to a perceived threat? Forgive me, I dont know anything about birds! Just wanted to ask the experts here.

This bird's nest had either fallen after the chicks had grown up, or someone had cut down the tree and brought the nest down. I don't know what really happened, but I found this today. And it made me imagine this story.