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Scientists put tiny loggers on 13 Common Swifts. Some took off in August, flew to Africa and back, and didn't land once in 10 months. A space station crew usually stays about 6 months. J. G. Keulemans painted this swift clinging to a rock in 1873. #birds #BirdArt

Color plate of a Common Swift clinging to a gray, mossy rock face with its tiny hooked claws. The bird is sooty brown all over except for a small whitish throat patch, with a short black bill and a dark eye. Its long, narrow, scythe-shaped wings are folded and reach far below its body. Behind it, a pale sky washed with yellow and gray. Lower left: "Keulemans ad nat."; lower right: "P. W. M. Trap, exc."

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 16/10/2026

In 2006, scientists wore a rubber mask to catch and band 7 crows in Seattle. The crows yelled at that mask for 17 years, and taught their chicks to do it too. Audubon painted this American Crow on a black walnut branch, with a hummingbird nest below. #birds #BirdArt

Engraved, hand-colored plate of an American Crow on a black walnut branch. The glossy black crow perches in the middle, leaning forward and looking down to the right, its feathers with a blue sheen. Around it hang long compound leaves and clusters of round green walnuts speckled with brown. On a low twig sits a tiny, lichen-covered hummingbird nest holding two white eggs. Printed at the bottom: "American Crow, Corvus Americanus, Male." Top right: Plate CLVI.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 14/10/2026

In 1999 a falconer jumped out of a plane at 17,000 feet with his peregrine, Frightful, to time her dive. A chip on her tail clocked her at 242 mph (389 km/h). For scale: the fastest Formula 1 Grand Prix speed on record is 231.5 mph (Guinness). The painting is Edward Lear's, for John Gould.

Painting of two Peregrine Falcons on a leafy oak branch. In front, an adult with a slate-blue back, a black hood and moustache, a white throat and finely barred peach underparts, with yellow feet. Behind, a brown, streaked young bird. Hand-colored plate by Edward Lear for John Gould's Birds of Europe.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 14/10/2026

On Oct 14, 1907, Theodore Roosevelt set aside Three Arch Rocks off Oregon for native birds: the first wildlife refuge west of the Mississippi. It's still Oregon's biggest Tufted Puffin colony. Audubon called them "Tufted Auk." John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38) #birds #BirdArt

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 13/10/2026

Canada's "loonie" almost had a canoe on it. In 1986 the master dies for that design went missing on the way to Winnipeg, so the Mint picked a loon instead. The Goulds called it the "Northern Diver." John and Elizabeth Gould, The Birds of Europe (1832–37) #birds #BirdArt

Hand-colored lithograph of two Common Loons on calm water near a reedy shore. In front, a bird in breeding plumage swims to the right: glossy green-black head with a red eye, a long dagger-like black bill, a striped white necklace, and a black back checkered with white squares and dots. Behind it is a second loon in plain plumage, gray-brown above and white below, with a brown eye and a paler bill. Dry reeds and grasses rise behind them, and one dark webbed foot shows below the water.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 12/10/2026

"Oh sweet Canada, Canada, Canada": that's the White-throated Sparrow. Or it was. A new "Can-a, Can-a" ending spread about 1,900 miles east across Canada in roughly 20 years. Look for them under shrubs now. John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38) #birds #BirdArt

Engraved, hand-colored plate of two White-throated Sparrows on a dogwood branch with large white four-petaled blossoms and green leaves. The lower bird, numbered 1, faces left: black-and-white striped crown, a yellow spot in front of the eye, a crisp white throat, gray breast, and a rich chestnut-and-black streaked back. The upper bird, numbered 2, is duller with a brownish head pattern and clings to a stem below the flowers. Printed at the bottom: "White throated Sparrow, Fringilla Pennsylvanica," "Male 1, Female 2," "Dog-wood, Cornus florida," and "Engraved by W. H. Lizars."

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 11/10/2026

Most Hermit Thrush songs favor the simple pitch ratios behind many human musical scales, a 2014 study found. If you keep a life list, we print it as a hardcover, each bird beside a classic painting: mybirdfolio.com John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38) #birds #BirdArt

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 10/10/2026

Happy World Migratory Bird Day! That robin pausing on your lawn may be listening. In a 1997 experiment, robins found buried mealworms they couldn't see, smell or feel, and did worse when scientists played white noise. John and Elizabeth Gould, The Birds of Europe (1832–37) #birds #BirdArt

Hand-colored lithograph of a single American Robin perched on a pale, broken branch, leaning forward and looking down. Its back, wings and long tail are slate gray and the head darker, with a broken white eye-ring, a black-and-white streaked throat and a yellow bill. The breast is warm rusty orange. Two olive-green leaves hang from a thin twig below, against a pale blue-gray background.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 09/10/2026

After the last Ice Age, oaks spread north as fast as trees with light, windblown seeds. With heavy acorns? Partly Blue Jays, researchers argue: in one Virginia study, jays carried off and buried 133,000 acorns, 54% of the crop. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Birds of New York (1910–14) #birds #BirdArt

Color plate of a Blue Jay perched on a diagonal brown branch, holding a round brown nut in its open bill. It has a blue crest, a black necklace across a pale gray-white face and throat, a purple-blue back, and bright blue wings and tail barred with black and edged with white. Behind it is a misty green woodland, with two smaller Blue Jays in flight showing white patches in their wings and tails. Signed Louis Agassiz Fuertes at lower left; caption: "Blue Jay, Cyanocitta cristata cristata (Linnaeus), 2/3 nat. size."

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 08/10/2026

Up to 12 eggs in one nest, and the whole clutch can weigh as much as the mother. That's the tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet, flicking its wings in shrubs this month. Audubon called it the "Ruby crowned Wren." John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1827–38) #birds #BirdArt

Engraved, hand-colored plate of two Ruby-crowned Kinglets on a slender branch of sheep laurel with clusters of pink cup-shaped flowers and narrow gray-green leaves. The upper bird clings to the stem with its head tilted up, showing an olive back, yellow-edged wings and a bright red-orange crown patch. The lower bird perches at bottom left with its bill open as if calling, a small red mark on its crown. Printed at the bottom: "Ruby crowned Wren, Regulus calendula," "Male 1, Female 2, Summer plumage," "Kalmia angustifolia." Top right: Plate CXCV.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 07/10/2026

Before a Ruby-throated Hummingbird crosses the Gulf of Mexico, it almost doubles its weight, from 3.25 to 6 grams. Then it flies about 500 miles nonstop in 18-20 hours, and could beat its wings 3,860,000 times without a break. John Gould, A Monograph of the Trochilidae (1849–61) #birds #BirdArt

Hand-colored lithograph of two Ruby-throated Hummingbirds beside a flowering branch. On the left, the male perches on a leaf stem facing right: shimmering green back, glowing ruby-red throat, white chest and a long straight black bill. Below right, the female hovers with wings spread toward a spray of pale pink and cream tubular flowers; she is green above and pale below, with white tips on her dark tail. Large green leaves, some turning reddish-brown, frame the scene against a soft blue-gray sky.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 06/10/2026

The juncos at UC San Diego evolved right on campus. A small group moved in from the mountains in the early 1980s, and after only several generations, the campus males had about 22% less white in their tails. John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1840–44) #birds #BirdArt

Hand-colored lithograph of two Dark-eyed Juncos on pale twigs. The lower bird, numbered 1, is a male with a slate-black hood, back and wings, a crisp white belly, a small pale bill, and white outer tail feathers; he perches above a sprig hung with dark purple-black oval berries. The upper bird, numbered 2, is a softer brownish-gray female on a higher twig. Cream paper; a script title is cut off at the bottom edge.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 05/10/2026

Before the 1890s, Evening Grosbeaks were almost unknown east of the Great Lakes. This fall they're already on the move, with reports from California to North Dakota. Fuertes painted the pair: golden male, silver-gray female. Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Birds of New York (1910–14) #birds #BirdArt

Color plate of two Evening Grosbeaks on a bare twig. On the left, the male sits upright: dark brown head with a bright yellow band across the forehead and over the eye, a heavy pale yellow-green bill, golden-yellow body, and black wings with a large white patch. On the right, the female leans down to peck at a dried, shriveled fruit hanging below the twig: she is silvery gray with an olive wash, with black wings and tail marked in white. Plain cream background. Signed Louis Agassiz Fuertes at lower right.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 05/10/2026

Tack sharp right out to every splayed wingtip. Griffons even have a spy record: in 2016 one brought from Spain to Israel flew into Lebanon, where villagers saw its GPS tag and held it as a suspected Israeli spy until UN peacekeepers got it home. Gould made it plate 1 of The Birds of Europe.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 05/10/2026

Full flaps, perfect flare. Audubon's plate shows the lacy breeding plumes that nearly finished this species: by 1903 they sold for $32 an ounce, about twice the price of gold. The outcry built the Audubon movement, and a Great Egret is still its emblem.

Engraved, hand-colored plate of a Great Egret in full breeding dress, bent low with its long neck curving down and its yellow bill aimed at a horned lizard on the ground. Long, lacy white plumes trail from its back past its tail. Tall green grasses and stony mounds behind.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 05/10/2026

Audubon would have recognized this! On John Bulow's Florida plantation, imported goldfish kept vanishing from a walled pond. Bulow shot the culprit, a Great Blue Heron, and inside was the last goldfish.

Engraved, hand-colored plate of a life-size Great Blue Heron bent almost double to fit the page: wings half raised, blue-gray back with long pale plumes, rusty thighs, a black-and-white crown with a trailing plume, and a long yellow bill pointed down at the water among tall grasses.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 05/10/2026

Keulemans painted both head patterns on one plate: a bird with dark stripes, and a white-headed one just like yours. Their nests are tiny domes of moss and lichen bound with spider silk, lined with over a thousand feathers.

Hand-colored plate of two Long-tailed Tits on a mossy oak twig with lobed leaves. Above, one hangs head-down: white face with a broad dark stripe over the eye, black back, pink shoulders and a very long black-and-white tail. Below, a second bird with an all-white head holds a small insect in its bill.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 04/10/2026

Love the open wings! Fun fact: this bird is named after Anna Masséna, Duchess of Rivoli. Her husband, a bird collector with 12,500 specimens, got one too: Rivoli's Hummingbird. Gould's top bird has a few red throat feathers like yours. John Gould, A Monograph of the Trochilidae (1849–61)

Hand-colored lithograph of three Anna's Hummingbirds at clusters of blue flowers: two males with glittering rose-red heads and throats, and one hovering above with just a few red throat feathers.

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Birdfolio @mybirdfolio.com · 04/10/2026

Fun fact: a Clark's Nutcracker can bury 30,000+ pine seeds in one fall, carrying up to 90 at a time in a throat pouch, and find them again in winter. Audubon painted a male (1) and a female (2). John James Audubon, The Birds of America (1840–44) #birds #BirdArt

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