birds

Each spring and fall, migrating birds take on journeys that put Olympic athletes in the shade. For example, a Western Tanager weighing-in at around an ounce may fly from Western Canada to Central America.

More than 260 bird species in North and South America will be getting new common names. On the docket for revision are all English eponymous bird names, that is, any bird named after a person.

The common poorwill is a bird of the Southwest deserts and northern and higher elevation woodlands in the West. Unlike many birds that migrate to sunnier spots in winter, this bird employs a unique way of avoiding the cold—by going into hibernation.

New Mexico State University and Los Alamos National Laboratory have announced plans to establish a research program on migratory bird die-off. The move comes two years after New Mexico saw migratory birds literally falling from the sky.

In the fall, large flocks of cliff swallows take wing together, heading all the way to South America to overwinter. But they’ll be back in the spring, ready to breed and claim nesting sites.

Pinyon jays are sky blue birds that live in large flocks in the pinyon-juniper woodlands of the Colorado Plateau. They are not officially endangered, but their populations have plummeted in the last half-century. The Audubon Society has found an unusual way to raise awareness about their plight: specialty brews from the Drinking Horn Meadery in Arizona, and the Bosque Brewing Company in New Mexico.

The Arizona Game and Fish Department, the first known cases of H5N1 have been confirmed in the state.

More than 200 organizations representing Mexico, Canada, the U.S., and Indigenous Nations, came together for a multi-national summit on conserving North America’s Central Grasslands. More than 50 million acres of grassland have been lost in the last 10 years alone as human development and climate change impact conservation efforts.

The Verde River is home to more than two hundred species of birds. It’s the perfect place for longtime birders, and for people who are just getting started in birdwatching, to celebrate Earth Day at next week’s Verde Valley Birding & Nature Festival.

Officials with the Coconino National Forest announced the closure of the southern portion of Peaks Crag near Flagstaff this week in order to protect a pair of nesting peregrine falcons.