Birds

Where Did Those Bird Names Come From?

Posted on by Edmund McDevitt

I’m a long-time birder. We birders bandy about bird monikers as if they are part of everyday speech: Grebe. Parula. Cormorant. Sandpiper. Vireo. Swallow. Nuthatch. Bunting. Nighthawk, Killdeer, Osprey, Wren. Some bird names have very long standing, going back to languages we no longer speak. Some are echoic (sort of): Continue Reading

Spring Bird Migration 2025 – Cook County

Posted on by Edmund McDevitt

For local birding friends: On the Friday night/Saturday morning preceding our Saturday 4/26 Migration Bird Walk Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s BirdCast service (https://dashboard.birdcast.info) recorded a total of 100 birds flying over Cook County, Illinois, where I live. Despite that low total, we had a very good birding day at a Continue Reading