The Burrowing Owl is one of the smallest owl species on Earth! (Aside from the Elf Owl, which is the size of a sparrow and the smallest owl on Earth.) They are named for the fact that they nest in burrows underground. They usually don't make these burrows and end up using burrows made by prairie dogs. They live in grasslands in the Western Half of the United States, in Mexico, and in South America. Burrowing Owls usually eat small mammals like mice and large insects. They often store food in their burrows. These stashes can accumulate as many as 200 pieces of food! Unlike many other owls and just like the Snowy Owl, these birds are diurnal, meaning they sleep at night and hunt during the day.
Stats: Size: Robin-like Habitat: Grassland Food: Rodents, Insects, and much more Sounds: Hooting and raspy noises Field Marks: Small size, speckled wings and bright yellow eyes
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This is a reminder for all of our North American Junior Ornithologists: This is the perfect time to put up your bird feeder! Winter is a time when, for most birds, there is less food to be found. While there is almost always enough for the birds to eat, birds will come quickly to a bird feeder filled with Black Oil Sunflower Seeds in Winter because it's an easy way to eat and many birds love Sunflower Seeds. Here's a way to think of it: You are at a grocery store and there is one aisle of bread. There used to be four aisles of bread. The bread tastes alright, but the the prices just went up and now you have to pay $5.99 for just one loaf! Now imagine you turn a corner and discover five aisles of donut boxes. There are a dozen in each box and each costs $1.99! Would you buy the bread or the donuts? That's easy - most people would choose donuts, because they taste better than bread and are now (in our imaginary, strange grocery store) much cheaper. The bread is like the food that birds can get in the wild - it's alright, but tricky to get - and the donuts are like the seeds in a feeder, except that seeds are much healthier than donuts for birds. So, if you have a bird feeder, of want to put one up, now is the perfect time!
Unfortunately, we didn't receive any entries for last week's bird, so don't be afraid to speak up this week, guys! We would love to hear from you, and even if your guess is incorrect, it always makes us so happy to receive responses. But it's time for the big reveal: Last week's bird was the Northern Bobwhite. Check out the bird guide in just a few hours (if you got up early to read this) to see a full description for it, and added stats to other bird descriptions! Now for a real challenge! It's up to you to figure out what the bird above is!
Our new schedule has What Bird every Saturday and Bird Spotlight every Wednesday, and we want to bring back an older type of post for Mondays. Help us pick below!
What post should we do on Mondays?
Below this, you can tell us what kind of game we should create first!
Welcome to What Bird, where we give you an image of a bird and you figure out what kind of bird it is! Try looking through a bird guide or using allaboutbirds.org to figure out what this bird could be, and then send us your answer below! First person to get it right wins and gets the answer with their first name (if they want to) featured in a blog post!
Imagine it's a Fall Day. Or rather, don't imagine, because as I type this, it is Fall. Anyway, you're taking a perfectly ordinary walk, when you see motion in a tree. You look over. In the tree is a raven-sized bird that looks nothing like a Raven. You wonder what it is and think "Oh my goodness, I need someone to help me identify this amazing creature! I need some kind of guide! Someone, some GENIUS to help me!" Well fear not, reader who may or may not have encountered such a bird and thought such a thing! That bird was a Sharp-Shinned Hawk, and I, Rose, have identified it for you! (P.S. This is all hypothetical. If you actually did see a bird like that and don't know what it is, let me know through the contact page. It may or may not have been a Sharp-Shinned Hawk.)
Snowy owls are large white owls that live in Canada and northern United States. Snowy owls are white if they are males, and white with black spots if they are females. All Snowy Owls have black spots when they are young, but males lose theirs when they grow up. Females, however, keep their spots. Snowy owls live in fields, meadows, and other open areas, where they hunt small mammals such as mice and lemmings. Unlike most owls, snowy owls are diurnal, which means they are awake during the day. You can learn more about snowy owls at All About Birds: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Snowy_Owl/id If you've seen a snowy owl, please send in your observation below! Hello and welcome to our post series, What Bird! Every Saturday, an image of a bird is posted and you have to figure out what it is! Here are the rules: 1. Do not search google for the image. 2. Use only allaboutbirds.org or bird field guides to identify the bird. 3. Have fun! Here is this week's bird: The Purple Martin is a cavity-nesting bird that summers in the eastern and middle areas of the United States. The males are a shiny dark blue and the females are brown. These birds are known for using enormous man-made "martin-boxes"- bird houses that can hold tons of nests. these birds really don't care how close another bird nests to their own nest! These birds, like swifts, fly around and catch insects in their mouths while in flight. To learn more about this bird, check out the Cornelll Lab of Ornithology's description of it right here: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Purple_Martin/id Habitat: Most habitats Food: Insects Here are some Purple Martin photos: Here is a picture of a martin-box: If you've ever seen a Purple Martin, please share it with us below! The deadline is May 21st, so please get your observations in by then! - Rose
Check out this bird's new coloring page! Right, now it's black and white, so go ahead and experiment with colors and mixing them to get its brilliant blue!
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December 2016
About RoseI am Rose, a 12 year old birdwatcher and the founder of Junior Ornithologists! I REALLY love birds and have since I was five years old. I also know a lot about birds and, through this website, I hope to share my knowledge with you! About JillHi! I'm Jill, and I like birds just as much as Rose does. The first word I learned to say was bird! My favorite birds are perigrine falcons and snowy owls. I can't wait to share information about birds with everyone!
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