Tag: ornithology

Vanishing Vagabonds: Crossing Paths With Bohemian Waxwings

February 29, 2024

Too often I forget that Nature is more than a postcard: an exotic destination like jungles, deserts, or coral reefs. It’s not a place we visit, but a realm we inhabit. Environmental phenomena can whisk us on journeys even in the humblest urban landscape. Still we chase the thrill of terra nova, like earlier this … More Vanishing Vagabonds: Crossing Paths With Bohemian Waxwings

A Common Redpoll bird pops up from a snowbank, its red cap vibrant against the white snow. Several flakes fly up around its speckled breast.

Bird Joy: Science warms to the idea that birds play in the snow

January 25, 2024

After researching how climate change threatens snowy Arctic biomes, I’ve been spending as much time as I can outdoors in the Alaskan winter. A recent 20-Fahrenheit afternoon felt warm after December’s negative temperatures. My neighborhood stream, artificially heated for utility purposes, burbled along with less ice than usual encrusting its rocks and reeds. Birds took … More Bird Joy: Science warms to the idea that birds play in the snow