BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD A scientists’ work is never done. That’s because there’s always another layer to peel away, another stone to turn, another angle from which to view the situation. Case in point — about 200 years ago, Charles Darwin made the connection between the size and shape of a finch’s beak and the availability […]

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD   Like Water Off a Duck’s Back — That tried and true adaptability adage is an apt observation for just about any species of waterfowl, thanks to their liquid-resistant outer contour feathers, but in the case of Mallards (Anas platyrhynchos) it’s also metaphorically germane… because this is one plucky duck. I won’t […]

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD How often do you come across a bird so dee-lightful, so dee-lectable that it captured the attention of characters as disparate as W.C. Fields and Cole Porter? Quite often, actually, because chickadees (Poecile spp) are far from rare in North America. In my own little corner of the world, a historic neighborhood […]

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Thanks to the photographers who granted permission to use their photos, and to those who made their work available through the Creative Commons license: Matt Ward, Richard Gibbons, Robert, Cletus Lee, Ashley Wahlbert (Tubbs), Don Faulkner, and Kieran Lindsey. © 2020 Next-Door Nature. Reprints welcomed with written permission from the author.

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Maybe Bobby McFerrin was a house wren (Troglodytes aedon) in a previous life. This thought popped into my mind when, after listening to On Being’s Krista Tippett interview the singer, I went out for a walk with my canine companion. We hadn’t made it too far down the sunny sidewalk when we […]

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD [Thanks to Lafayette Square residents Jim and Carolyn Willmore for reporting a brown creeper sighting near the Cook Pavilion of Lafayette Park.] On frosty mornings, Mercury is uncharacteristically slow to leave that snug thermometer bulb… and I can’t say I blame him. I’ve been in no hurry to leave my own cozy […]

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD I don’t know what American grade school kids are being taught these days—my days at Oakville Elementary ended a couple of decades ago (okay, fine—several decades ago) so I don’t have direct access to 21st century homework assignments. But I’ll go out on a limb here and bet that most of them […]

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD [In honor of Halloween, a species dressed for the occasion!] Even though our cultural sings the praises of summer, it’s not my favorite season. I always welcome the crisp air, deeper blue (and, admittedly sometimes flat gray) skies, and red-orange-yellow leaf palette that arrives after the autumnal equinox. My appreciation of fall […]

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD It seems to happen once each century. In 1775 the Redcoats showed up in Boston, the Beatles made a big splash about 200 years later in 1964, and in the sweet-spot in-between the House Sparrows (Passer domestics) arrived. It’s difficult to believe, given current controversies and political grandstanding, but for a long time […]

BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Last Sunday morning I unexpectedly found myself sitting ringside for a brief but furious brawl. Two male red-bellied woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) were having a boundary dispute that started with an argument over some shrubbery, then escalated into a full-on aerial assault. Colliding mid-air, they grasped one another by the feet and were […]