Bird of the Week

Orchard Oriole, Icterus spurius Bill Rowe While birding around the edge of a woods, along a hedgerow, in streamside willows, or among old fields with scattered small trees, you may hear a fast, disjointed burst of song coming at you from…

Summer Tanager, Piranga rubra Bill Rowe Last week’s article began “On any summer hike through the woods…” and led one to the Eastern Wood-Pewee calling among the trees. This week we take the same hike and discover a more colorful…

Eastern Wood-Pewee, Contopus virens Bill Rowe On any summer hike through the woods, even in the midday heat, you will surely hear the Eastern Wood-Pewee plaintively singing its name. One of our most numerous forest birds, the pewee wears the modest…

Red-shouldered Hawk, Buteo lineatus Bill Rowe Back in November, we headlined the Red-tailed Hawk as our most widespread and best-known member of Buteo—the genus of large, wide-winged hawks that divide their time between perching and soaring. Now comes our second, and second-best-known,…

Barn Swallow, Hirundo rustica Bill Rowe A true citizen of the world, the elegant Barn Swallow can be seen on six continents, in the Northern Hemisphere in summer and the Southern in winter. You’ll find it in literature about as far…

Common Yellowthroat, Geothlypis trichas Bill Rowe Summer is here, and for the next two months we will focus on summer birds that you might see in the course of your June and July outings. We could fill that whole schedule with…

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…