Brown Creeper The Brown Creeper (Certhia americana) is an inconspicuous and often overlooked member of our local avifauna. This stealthy bird’s speckled brown upperparts camouflage it well, and its high-pitched, quiet call notes hardly call attention to it either. ...
Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker (Sphyrapicus varius) is a colorful, distinctive woodpecker that frequents deciduous wood. Like most of our woodpeckers, adult sapsuckers are largely a patterned black and white, but with a bright red cap and (on...
Located in Hunt-Parker Sanctuary and established in 2009, Bedford Audubon Society’s MAPS station marks its 10th Anniversary this summer. MAPS, which stands for Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship, is a continental-wide research effort that aims to...
Accipiters Each fall, ridgetops throughout the northeastern United States play host to flights of migrating hawks. The most spectacular of these in our area are the flocks of Broad-winged Hawks that pass through in mid-September. But providing the most consistent...
American Crow by Linda Tanner, Creative Commons license
American Crow & Raven The American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) is familiar to everyone. One of the most common and visible birds in our area, this Crow is found in almost every habitat, including towns, forests, fields, and suburbia. A less familiar bird to many...
American Goldfinch by Holly Ellerbusch
American Goldfinch The American Goldfinch (Carduelis tristis) is one of our most familiar birds, especially to those who maintain bird feeders. This common inhabitant of shrubby fields, the edges of woods, and suburban areas is in spring through autumn, the male...
American Kestrel by Tait Johansson
American Kestrel One of the more common fall migrant raptors in eastern North America is the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius). This brightly-colored small falcon is now almost gone from Westchester and Putnam counties as a breeder, but continues to migrate through...
Baltimore & Orchard Oriole One of the most notable avian events of May, a month with no shortage of such events, is the return of our two species of oriole from their Mexican and Central American wintering grounds. The arrival of such tropical-looking birds has...
Barred Owl The Barred Owl (Strix varia) is a common inhabitant of larger forest tracts and wooded wetlands in our area, though it, like many other nocturnal creatures, is seldom seen by humans. This species can be distinguished from our two other most commonly...
Kettle of Broadwing Hawks by Tait Johansson
Broad-winged Hawk The autumn Broad-winged Hawk (Buteo platyperus) migration is an awe-inspiring event. Each September, vast numbers of these birds make their way from their breeding grounds in the deciduous forests to our north to their wintering grounds in Central...
