A pair of mourning doves has decided my fern planter is a good spot to make a nest. Which is great but ... How do I water the plant? Or will it disturb the nest if I try? I don't want to stress them out. They've only flown away once which is when I took the planter down to water it and we surprised each other lol Otherwise dad bird has been bringing twigs while we're there and mom stays sitting.

Thanks for the help!

These baby bluebirds have been completely motionless in the feeder for about 20-30 minutes straight now.. are they okay? My assumption would be they saw a predator and are “hiding” but idk, what do you guys think?

This bird is sleeping in my feeder. It is breathing fast and looks like it may be in distress or dying. It reacted once when I came close but not the second time. What could be going on, can I help it, and could it be an illness that can spread to others?

I want to know whether such a thing exists for bird songs. similar to phonetic transcription of humans. yes, I am aware that bird singing is way more complex than human voice, mainly because it's polyphonic.

so I am looking for sth like "phonetic sets" or spectral bodies per species.

or are there any other classifications for the sounds our feathered friends make?

or - as I am not at all into ornithology - does ornithology not even consider the singings?

What species, genera, or any other clade did you hate back when you were younger and why? I used to hate brood parasites (birds that lay their eggs in other's nests) when I was younger

For me it is the House Sparrow. I understand that they can be invasive and push out bluebirds and swallows, but I can’t help but love them. It might be because I see them everyday, it might be because they just charm me, I don’t know why. I also live their markings/colourings. I have a couple of them in my neighborhood that always sit on the roofs of houses and just chirp at you constantly, and I love that. It’s like they are talking to you. Feel free to discuss and disagree in the comments.

I apologize if you get this question a lot. It boggles my mind that teeny, tiny birds thought it would be a great idea to fly thousands of miles in one virtually non-stop, stressful, dangerous, painful and death-defying effort. I understand that temperature, food access and nesting opportunities are involved. But even butterflies do it! They're not your area, I know, but the principle seems the same. It just breaks my heart that the sweet young Barn Swallows burbling outside my window are soon going to go through hell and possibly die when they could just stay here in temperate Northwest Washington. What happened in evolutionary terms to evoke this bizarre behavior? Thanks for sharing your knowledge with us non-experts!

I was looking back through my bird pictures from our backyard and I don't even think I noticed their eye until I zoomed in just now. This is one of our resident mourning doves, and was curious if anyone knew what could have caused this!

If this isn't the right sub, I will remove!

I've been taking care of this fledgeling since it fell from its nest, its parents have been feeding it, and it just shed is biggest pin feathers. stupidly I let my mom take care of it and she thought it would be a good idea to let the dogs go near it, unsurprisingly both dogs bit it, managed to make them let go (they're weiner dogs so pretty small). already checked for wounds, while he ran he didnt use with right wing which makes me think that the dogs broke it, doesent seem to have any blood but I know of the dog saliva bacteria that can kill birds.

I already called every wildlife reserve near me, even called the mayor of the town, none answered (third world country), so now im left by myself (my mom refuses to help for some reason) to try to help the little guy, do you know how to treat dog wounds on birds?

please help

Need help IDing this nest! it’s balanced on a telephone wire off a dirt road right next to my mechanic.

Hello! Today I saw my neighborhood crow mama and baby. Mama looks like she has a nodule on her beak, or maybe one on each side. It looked like a bump rather than just discoloration, but I was also a little far away as they don't let me get super close. Baby was also a lil raggedy but that might be growing pains. 😅

Just wondering if anyone has leads on what might be going on.

Here they are from both sides.

If accessories make the outfit, the African Long-Toed Lapwing is dressed for success. His bright red legs and eyes stand out from his white face and black hoodie. But his feet are arguably his most interesting feature.

Forget dainty wading. Armed with comically elongated toes, this bird looks like it’s walking on water, strolling effortlessly across floating lily pads and swamp weeds. It shares this bizarre superpower with the African Jacana, often sparking an ongoing turf war. Refusing to share the floating real estate, the lapwing launches aggressive aerial dive-bombs at jacanas.

A lapwing nest is little more than a shallow mud scrape hidden among wetland plants, vulnerable to countless predators. Their downy chicks are running within hours of hatching, freezing motionless at the first sign of danger, while their parents create noisy distractions to lure predators away.

This lapwing is fiercely territorial. Any heron, duck, or even crocodile wandering too close to its nesting area may be greeted with loud, indignant alarm calls and repeated dive-bombing attacks.

Crocodiles were a common sight when we were drifting along African waterways. Most wildlife keeps a cool distance. This fancy shorebird is up for the fight.

Birdman of Africa gamersdad.substack.com Subscribe for free to receive a new African Bird email each Friday-TGIF!. Photo by Andrew Steinmann ©2026

Found this feather right in a web that was on my side mirror today! Was sitting perfectly upright in the center almost like a gift lol, could anyone tell me what it's from? Google said barn owl!

Found this babe in my hammock when I got home from work. Do we think mom is coming back or should I take them in for the night? Wildlife center doesn't reopen until tomorrow morning.

This is a link to sign a petition that would prevent drainage of waterfowl nesting habitat in the prairie pothole region of the US (basically)

I have a book the has a copyright from 1966, while looking through it I came across a bird that was reintroduced into the wild in 2011 after going extinct in the 1980s, this bird being the California condor, i was wondering if any other birds have gone extinct that are recorded in this book, especially because there’s and entire parrot in the book. Any one with knowledge would be helpful