NEW CHAPTER IN EASTERN BLUEBIRD CONSERVATION SUCCESS STORY

Eastern Bluebird enjoying a Spring day – in February Decatur Georgia’s Legacy Park (formerly Decatur Methodist Children’s Home) open fields have been replanted with native grasses and bluebird boxes have been added to supplement the natural cavities in tree snags that are safe to leave standing. There are plenty of fence posts and telephone lines, […]

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GLENN CREEK NATURE PRESERVE: A (MY) NEIGHBORHOOD BIORESERVE

Inaugural @rushingoutdoors hosted bird walk to Glenn Creek Nature Preserve. This neighborhood greenspace was formerly a lot that was going to be sold to developers. The Glennwood Estates community and friends and City of Decatur, came together to save this small, but important remnant of old Peidmont forest. It is now a bioreserve and being […]

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BIRD HEALTH FIRST, IMAGE QUALITY SECOND

This is the male of the pair of Barred Owls that call #clydeshepherdnaturepreserve home. After skipping nesting in the preserve in 2020 and then nesting in a large dead tree snag cavity in the front part of the preserve last year that drew a paparazzi-sized crowd, the pair has returned to the owl box deeper in the […]

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IN PRAISE OF LEAF “LITTER”

I will start by admitting that I’ve not always praised dead, fallen leaves ‘littering’ our lawn. I invested (heavily) in a wide range of tools, especially gas-powered, as well as yard crews, so that each Fall we could rid our little ecosystem of unsightly disorder of dead organic material on top of our lawn. Then […]

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PUFFER JACKETS: A CASE OF BIOMICRY?

Male Pine Warbler Puffed Up In Cold Rain

When the cold fronts start moving through the South, the birdwatching web sites light up with posts from many new birders along the lines of: “Bless their hearts, are my poor little babies going to freeze to death?” The answers back are along the lines of: One way birds stay warm is by using their […]

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RED-TAILED HAWK: CLOSE QUARTERS PRECISION FLYING

I’ve seen it hundreds of times. A bird of prey that has been sitting quietly still and unnoticed deep in a tree canopy suddenly explodes into flight. Maneuvers through the branches and limbs of the treetops to take its prey. I’m awestruck every time. This Red-tailed Hawk hunting in our yard on two recent days […]

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