Great Crested Grebe nesting activity follows an elaborate courtship ritual of displays. Chicks are semi-precocial at hatching, meaning they are able to leave the nest within the first day. The parent birds carry the chicks on their backs as they grow and learn how to dive for food themselves.

Futen in een meerkoet-nest by Jeroen Kransen

Great Crested Grebe Nest 14.05.10 by nottsexminer

Great Crested Grebe by hans s

Great Crested Grebe parents & chicks on Greenland Dock by drplokta

Grebe with chicks on Canada Water by drplokta

Piggyback by jurvetson

Great Crested Grebe chick on Canada Water by drplokta

Grebes Mother and Chick by ahisgett

Pretty cute, right? Be sure to check out our Birdorable Great Crested Grebe t-shirts and gifts!

You can visit the meet pages for each bird to check the colors: Cockatiel, Eurasian Jay and Canada Goose.

Check here for more coloring pages. Subscribe to the Birdorable Blog by RSS feed or by email to get notified when new downloads like this are added.

Have you used our coloring pages at home, in your classroom, or at an event? We’d love to hear about it! Send us photos of the pages in action, or the final result – we may showcase them on our blog!

YardMap is a citizen science mapping project that can help you learn more about the birds that visit your yard, and how to attract more. Participating in the project also helps scientists as they study how birds adapt to disturbed habitats.

YardMap is a project from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Participants identify their yard and then map it out, indicating types of habitat found. Using colors and shapes, items like lawn, grass, trees, and more can be marked. Bird baths, brush piles, and other objects can also be placed, to give a very clear picture of the type of habitat found in the yard. Finally, participant bird sightings are linked in via eBird.

The YardMap site is full of information on how different suburban habitats impact bird populations, and how participants can help birds by making changes or additions to their yards. YardMap is social, too, with a community forum for sharing pictures and stories.

This is a fun and educational year-round family-friendly project that has the added benefit of helping scientists better understand bird habits in your neighborhood! Visit the YardMap site to learn more and get started!

May is Warbler Neck Awareness Month. Warbler Neck (WN) Awareness is promoted with a cerulean blue awareness ribbon, one side of which is transformed into a feather. You can help spread awareness about Warbler Neck among your birding pals with original WN Awareness gear from Birdorable.

There is no known cure for Warbler Neck. While some birders may be more susceptible to the pains of WN, almost everyone who watches warblers will come down with a case of WN at some point.

The only sure way to avoid coming down with a case of Warbler Neck is to avoid birding altogether during warbler migration. Birding abstinence programs are rarely successful, so alternative methods of birding are recommended instead.

A tree full of Birdorable warblers

Warblers at eye level

Looking for warblers in a place where they are more likely to be at eye level is a good solution. Here are some spots where birders can watch warblers without an increased risk for Warbler Neck.

* Montrose Bird Sanctuary and the Magic Hedge, Chicago
* Forest Park in Queens, New York
* Magee Marsh boardwalk, northwestern Ohio

Male and female Black-throated Blue Warblers

Relieve the tension

Some birders swear by post-birding massage therapy. Strong hands kneading away the knots of Warbler Neck may help alleviate the pain after a long day of spring migration birding.

Male Kirtland’s Warbler

Relieve the pressure

Some birders find that using a binocular harness (birder bra) helps alleviate extra stress on the neck muscles and thus lessens the pain of Warbler Neck.

Looking up can be a pain in the neck!

Concentrate on WN-friendly species

While many wood-warbler species can typically be found high up in the tree canopy, other species are likely to be found closer to eye level, or even on the ground. If you target Ovenbirds on your next outing, you’ll be searching low, not high, for these lovely striped birds. You can also mix up your warbler walks with time spent looking for other migratory visitors. Many thrush species spend time searching through leaf-litter for food. Try alternating between warblers and thrushes to minimize the chance of a WN outbreak.

Singing male Common Yellowthroat

Do you have any other tips for your fellow birders? Please share them in the comments below! And have a safe and fun migration season!

May is Warbler Neck Awareness Month. Warbler Neck (WN) Awareness is promoted with a cerulean blue awareness ribbon, one side of which is transformed into a feather, shown here at left.

Gorgeous little warblers in bright breeding plumage migrate through parts of the United States during the months of April and May.

In order to see these colorful winged beauties, birdwatchers often must look high up into the trees, up in the canopy where the hungry birds are most active. Tracking a little moving bird as it forages for insects between the leaves requires patience. And it means looking up, way up, for an extended period of time. All this sky-high searching may result in a big pain in the neck: Warbler Neck.

Birdwatchers by Sugar Pond

The day after your next birding excursion, if you feel aches in your neck, shoulders, or upper back, you can blame the warblers. You’ve got Warbler Neck.

You can help spread awareness about Warbler Neck among your birding pals with original WN Awareness gear from Birdorable.

To learn more about Warbler Neck, check out the following articles: What is Warbler Neck? | Triggers for Warbler Neck and side-effects | Who is most likely to suffer from Warbler Neck?

Wild Turkey Nest with Eggs by frankenstoen

Turkies-2 by kevincole

Turkeys-1 by kevincole

Wild Turkey & Chicks In Our Yard by jjeff

wild turkey poult by USFWS Headquarters

Walk, don’t run! Or fly! by Carly & Art

Wild Turkey Mama & Chicks by OhLizz~Mom passed 3/15,Thank u for all your prayer

Wild turkeys by Carly & Art

Wild Turklets! by Carly & Art

urkey Hen and Her Poults by A.Davey

Pretty cute, right? Be sure to check out our Birdorable Wild Turkey t-shirts and gifts!

In 2011 they became the first group in the world to reintroduce Great Green Macaws back into the wild. With a population of fewer than 4000 individuals and a declining population trend, the successful work by The ARA Project is desperately needed to help the continued survival of the Great Green Macaw.

Unfortunately, The ARA Project recently received an eviction notice on their main breeding facility. The group has secured a new site but desperately needs funding to build a new breeding facility and other infrastructure to keep the organization running. If you would like to help, you can donate to their Indiegogo campaign 180 Endangered Macaws are Being Made Homeless or directly on The ARA Project website using Paypal.

Contributing to citizen Science projects helps our collective knowledge, but it also helps us as individuals learn. We’d like to highlight some citizen science projects in which families can participate. If you know of a project that we could highlight on our blog, please let us know!

Each year the International Crane Foundation encourages citizen scientists to participate in the Annual Midwest Crane Count. In 2013, the count will take place on April 13.

The count covers over 100 counties in Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana. County Coordinators should be the first point of contact for anyone that would like to participate. Visit the Crane Count page to learn more about participating and see past count results.

Researchers at the University of Vienna gave Goffin’s Cockatoos pecan nuts. The birds that waited up to 80 seconds were able to trade up for a more tasty prize: a cashew nut. Here is a video of one of the Goffin’s Cockatoos that participated in the study, Muppet, impatiently waiting for his cashew. To learn more about the study, read further here: These bird brains exercise some self-control.

Black-necked Stilts use scrape-type nests scratched out near or above water. Both parents participate in nest site selection and scraping out the actual nest. Typically four eggs are laid and incubation duties are shared by both adults of the pair. Chicks are hatched in a semi-precocial state – they are covered in down and are able to walk from the nest scrape just 1-2 hours after hatching.

Black-Necked Stilt in nest by mauricholas/ Maureen Leong-Kee

Hidden in Plain Sight by Dan Pancamo

Stilt chick foraging by tibchris

Baby black-necked stilt by donjd2

Baby Black-necked Stilt by donjd2

Baby Black-necked Stilt by New Jersey Birds

Pretty cute, right? Be sure to check out our Birdorable Black-necked Stilt t-shirts and gifts!

A recent study involving Eurasian Jays found that the birds, related to Blue Jays and crows, demonstrate an aspect of intelligence previously thought only to exist in humans.

Male Eurasian Jays present their mates with gifts as part of their natural pair-bonding behavior. In the study, male jays were given the option to present their mates with a gift of a mealworm larvae or a moth larvae. The male would observe the female bird eating either moth larvae or mealworm larvae, and depending on which the female had been eating, the male would offer her the other. The idea is that a “jay that’s gorged on moths will generally prefer to eat mealworms afterwards, and vice versa, just as a [human] satiated by chocolate will next take a slice of cake.”

This type of awareness of the feelings of others is called “theory of mind” and it was once believed that only humans had this kind of knowledge. You can read more about the study and see a short video of the experiment here: Gift-Giving Birds May Think Much Like People.

The birds featured in this design are: African Grey Parrot; Alexandrine Parakeet; Barred Parakeet; Black-cheeked Lovebird; Black-collared Lovebird; Blossom-headed Parakeet; Blue-and-yellow Macaw; Blue-crowned Conure; Cockatiel; Derbyan Parakeet; Eastern Rosella; Eclectus Parrot; Fisher’s Lovebird; Golden Conure; Golden-capped Parakeet; Golden-winged Parakeet; Gray-headed Lovebird; Green-cheeked Parakeet; Lilian’s Lovebird; Maroon-bellied Conure; Monk Parakeet; Orange-fronted Parakeet; Pacific Parrotlet; Rosy-faced Lovebird; Plum-headed Parakeet; Red-headed Lovebird; Red-masked Parakeet; Red-tailed Black Cockatoo; Rose-ringed Parakeet; Scarlet Macaw; Senegal Parrot; Saint Lucia Amazon; Umbrella Cockatoo; White-fronted Amazon; and Yellow-headed Amazon.

Contributing to citizen Science projects helps our collective knowledge, but it also helps us as individuals learn. We’d like to highlight some citizen science projects in which families can participate. If you know of a project that we could highlight on our blog, please let us know!

The 16th annual Great Backyard Bird Count will take place from Friday, Feburary 15th through Monday, February 18th. Participation is free and anyone in the world can contribute! Here is a what is involved, taken from the official GBBC website:

“The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual 4-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are.

Participants tally the number of individual birds of each species they see during their count period. They enter these numbers on the GBBC website.”

The annual count helps scientists understand what is happening with bird populations during a specific period of time each winter. This “snapshot” of current bird activity is monitored over time to look for population trends. Results from previous counts can be seen by participants and scientists alike. This is a great citizen science project for birdwatchers of all ages! Data entry is easily accomplished via the GBBC site; younger birdwatchers may need help with keeping and entering count information.

Learn more about this project and how you can participate by visiting the Great Backyard Bird Count website.

Have you participated in the GBBC before? Will you participate this year?

During a visit to Egypt in 459 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus noted having seen a small bird picking out food from the mouth of a crocodile. The behavior was presumed to be symbiotic, or beneficial to both animals. The crocodile got a nice teeth cleaning, and the bird got an easy meal. The bird named in Herodotus’ account was an Egyptian Plover.

Our first clue that this may not be true is the fact that Herodotus, while often recognized as the world’s first historian, had a nickname of his own: “The Father of Lies.”

The Crocodile Bird myth was later revived by explorers in the 19th and 20th centuries. Two separate personal eyewitness accounts, one by a German zoologist, the other by a British birdwatcher, are widely disputed.

In fact, there is no substantial record of any type of symbiotic cleaning relationship between any crocodilian species and any bird, anywhere.

Despite its questionable background, the nickname Crocodile Bird does make the Egyptian Plover sound kind of cool, don’t you think?

The first citizen science project we’d like to highlight is a big one! eBird is an online bird checklist program that helps you keep track of the birds you see. A great thing about eBird is that data entered into the system by citizen scientists like you also helps scientists study birds!

eBird, a joint project from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, is free and easy for anyone to use. Once registered, you can enter your bird sightings as often as you like, and include as much data as you want, including photos, information on the age and gender of the bird, and more. You can tell eBird what birds you saw in your back yard while having lunch, or enter a long list of the birds you saw when you spent the whole day at the local state park or national wildlife refuge. You’ll be able to see your lists again any time you’d like. eBird data entry is global, so anyone in the world can use it to record their bird sightings.

It’s a lot of fun to look through eBird maps and charts to see how sightings recorded by your fellow citizen scientists look over time and over a large area. For instance, using eBird, you can figure out what kinds of birds you might expect to see next time you visit a relative in another state.

Once you have a few checklists of your own, it’s also a lot of fun to look through what you’ve seen in the past and how your sightings may change or be surprisingly similar year after year. If you saw your first hummingbird of the year on May 5th, 2012, you’ll know to start keeping your eyes out for your little feathered friend in early May this year.

eBird is a fun and educational tool suitable for use by the whole family. eBird tools are used for other citizen scientist projects, too, so don’t be surprised if we highlight a future project that uses eBird data. Visit the eBird.org site to learn more and get started!