by Kieran Lindsey | Sep 30, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD “He sure does have a chip on his shoulder!” That statement is a metaphor… … except when it isn’t. Taken literally, this idiom for describing someone looking for a fight may also refer to the ornamental insignia on a...
by Kieran Lindsey | Sep 16, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Sometimes, what may appear as indolence, indecision, or timid reluctance is, in fact, a strategic decision to bide one’s time until the moment is right. Consider, if you will, the Belted Kingfisher (Megaceryle alcyon). These stocky...
by Kieran Lindsey | Sep 2, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Hey all you Blueberry Hill Jacks and Jills! Check out this crazy crooner and his backup chicks with their keyboard-themed threads and choreographed grooves! Good Golly, Miss Molly, this nifty summer act is a blast! Give the Black-and-White...
by Kieran Lindsey | Aug 15, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Shhhhh! Don’t make a sound or you’ll blow his cover. Just sit quietly and watch. Butorides virescens, aka the Green Heron, is a master of stealth and stillness. He* doesn’t work for the CIA or MI6; he’s a...
by Kieran Lindsey | Aug 5, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Do you remember being 15 years old and walking out the door of your local DMV with a learner’s permit in your sweaty hand? Perched on the edge of your family-of-origin nest with wings outstretched, ready to fly into the unfettered sky of...
by Kieran Lindsey | Jul 22, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD I wonder if Henry knew that not everything that shoots into the air falls back to Earth. I’m not denying the sovereignty of gravity but if the arrow is a male common nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) hoping to impress a potential mate...
by Kieran Lindsey | Jul 8, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD We can argue until the chickens come home to roost about which 19th century influencer said it first, industrialist Andrew Carnegie or author and humorist Mark Twain, but there’s little dispute that most birds wholeheartedly agree...
by Kieran Lindsey | Jun 11, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD Lately, when I’m feeling especially stressed or anxious, I find it comforting to escape reality by watching a sitcom episode, or three, from “the before-times” (shorthand for “everything prior to the first quarter of...
by Kieran Lindsey | May 28, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD If the stranger hoped to slip into the Square unnoticed he went about it all wrong. Sure, choosing a plain white top beneath an unadorned black waistcoat might sound like a reasonable way to avoid detection, especially when one is hanging...
by Kieran Lindsey | May 7, 2020 | Birds, Wildlife
BY KIERAN LINDSEY, PhD All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. An astute observation by the Bard, but a bit misleading. Had Will but ventured beyond the Globe Theater’s door he may have realized that humans aren’t the only animals who...
