What a cactus wren lacks in good looks and pretty songs, it makes up for in home construction. The home is both a nest and a place to live throughout the year. That’s critical for a bird living in the ...

Birds don't waste much time getting down to the business of nesting each spring. I've observed baby rob-ins and bluebirds that are already out of the nest. At home, I have nest boxes occupied by ...

The thunder rolled and lightning danced among the jagged peaks as a summer rainstorm soaked the alpine meadows of California’s Sierra Nevada. Our parkas were zipped tight and heads down as we plodded ...

Along the road the birds’ nests may be well hidden, but near the house, not so. Phoebes are back on the front door lintel; tree swallows are in the bird boxes we put up; barn swallows are in the barn ...

Clean-out doors in the bluebird boxes at Hickory Grove Park were closed earlier in March. They were left open all winter to discourage deer mice and house sparrows from moving in. A few bluebirds hang ...

Q: I didn't know what was going on, but I heard a ruckus outside and found a pair of house wrens harassing a young gray squirrel on my deck. The plucky birds had chased it all the way to the ground ...

Rock Wren is an apropos name for a bird that lives in sparsely vegetated, arid and rocky canyons. These birds breed on talus slopes, scrublands and dry washes, from desert to alpine in western North ...

Brooding clouds were dancing across the tops of the San Ysidro Mountains as an early spring storm swept eastward from the coast. As they have done for eons, the bouldery peaks were blocking the ...

The house wrens that chose our yard for nesting this spring furnished a bungalow. In early July, for their second nest, they pushed and pulled sticks into what has to be considered a mansion. The ...

It’s time for another chapter in our birds-at-home exploration. Today’s familiar companion: wrens. Let’s start at the beginning. Would you know one if you saw one? Wrens are diminutive brown birds ...

In Massachusetts, it's not surprising to observe a plethora of black-capped chickadees flitting about in the tangled underbrush. Chickadees are, after all, the official state bird and have been since ...