Bird of the Week

Black Tern, Chlidonias niger Bill Rowe Of all the birds you can see around our rivers, lakes, and marshes, there is nothing more striking than a Black Tern in breeding plumage, swooping gracefully over the water surface to pick off insects.…

Blue-headed Vireo, Vireo solitarius Bill Rowe Once again, in May we’ll stick with “migrant-only” birds, then move to more of our nesting residents in the summer. This week’s migrant gives us a chance to introduce another whole family: the vireos, of…

Least Flycatcher, Empidonax minimus Bill Rowe Following the plan of “spring migrants in May,” here’s one that is common, likely to show up in your yard or local park, and typical of a group of flycatchers that everyone wrestles with as…

Blackburnian Warbler, Setophaga fusca Bill Rowe Out of the millions of birds headed north through Missouri right now (as mentioned last week), a great many are going to their nesting grounds in the taiga—the great spruce-fir forests of Canada and the…

Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Tringa melanoleuca and flavipes Bill Rowe It’s May, and millions of birds are pouring through the central United States right now, some of them stopping here for the summer to nest, others heading farther north and found here…

Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea Bill Rowe It’s hard to find a bird more charming, by human standards, than the Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, a woodland sprite that rivals the kinglets for its hyperactivity and its tiny size. By overall length, as stated in…

Hermit Thrush, Catharus guttatus Bill Rowe The genus Catharus includes four closely-related thrushes, brown above and spotted on the breast, that migrate through Missouri. All are rather shy forest birds, but as migrants they may show up anywhere, from the woods to your…

Common Grackle, Quiscalus quiscula Bill Rowe The icterids (blackbirds and their relatives) are a large family that is unique to the New World. This week’s bird, the Common Grackle, is one of the most numerous icterids—actually one of the most numerous…

American Kestrel, Falco sparverius Bill Rowe This week we introduce the falcons, a distinctive world-wide group whose relationships to other birds have been in flux for decades. Recently, DNA analysis has finally produced a firm conclusion: that falcons are not just…

American Golden-Plover, Pluvialis dominica Bill Rowe A stunning bird in breeding plumage, the American Golden-Plover makes an equally stunning migration flight each year, from its breeding grounds on the Arctic tundra of Canada and Alaska to its wintering range on the…