Content tagged with "Birds"

A time traveler from the 1970s or before would be amazed to see so many house finches in Missouri, for they are native to the West. Learn about this now-common backyard bird.

These audacious little birds are favorite spring arrivals, partly because of their bold bursts of song, but also because of their bold habits around people.

Originally, this water bird lived on islands, beaches and sandbars in big rivers, but as these areas have become rare, least terns have been forced to “make do” with dredge islands, dikefields, sandpits and gravel roads atop levees. Because of their habitat loss, they are now endangered.

This robin-sized, gray and white bird has a black eye-mask extending behind its large, hooked bill. It has the unusual habit of hanging its prey items—little birds, mice, frogs and big insects—on tree thorns or barbed wire.