Most Delightful Hat

It’s obviously been a hard year, so I’m particularly grateful to be able to celebrate the seventh anniversary of this project. Keeping the blog going has been a challenge, but also helpful to me during all the current chaos. I hope it has been at least a tiny bit helpful to some of you too. As I say every year, thank you all for your support. I hope everyone reading this has a safer and better time in the year to come.

Found only in central China, these small parrotbills inhabit temperate and mountain forests and shrublands. They forage at low levels of the forest in flocks of up to 15 birds outside of the breeding season. The specifics of their diet are unknown, though most other parrotbill species feed primarily on seeds. Pairs build cup-shaped nests from leaves, bark strips, and grasses in shrubs.

Found in parts of Costa Rica, Panama, and Nicaragua, these flowerpiercers live in shrubby areas, forest edges, and gardens. Usually foraging in pairs, they feed on nectar, using their hooked bills to pierce the bases of flowers to reach it with their brush-like tongues. They also eat some small insects, capturing them in flight or picking them from the foliage. Females build large cup-shaped nests from moss, leaves, plant fibers, and other materials, usually in shrubs, and incubate the eggs alone.

Don’t forget to vote <3

New comic: How To Stop Birds From Hitting Your Windows. It’s easier than you think! I made this with my friends at FLAP Canada. Their Global Bird Rescue event starts October 5.

Found in parts of China, South Korea, Russia, Taiwan, Vietnam, North Korea, and Mongolia, these parrotbills inhabit forests, shrublands, and wetlands. They eat seeds, flowers, fruit, and insects, foraging in large flocks. Breeding between April and August, pairs build deep cup-shaped nests from grasses, reeds, dry leaves, bamboo, bark, twigs, and other materials in shrubs, reeds, bamboo, vines, or small trees. Both parents incubate the eggs and care for the chicks. Pairs often raise two broods in a season.

Found only on New Caledonia’s main island and Ile des Pins, these doves inhabit humid forests and savannas. They eat fruits and berries, including figs. Breeding between August and November, they build flimsy platform nests from twigs in trees and shrubs. They are classified as Near Threatened by the IUCN due to hunting and habitat degradation caused by mining, logging, fires, and fire suppression.

I’d love some opinions! (I hope at least a few of you would follow me over there?)

These parrots are found in forests in parts of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. They eat fruits, seeds, berries, and nuts, foraging alone, in pairs, or in flocks of up to ten birds. Their breeding season begins in March and females lay clutches of three or four eggs.

(Thanks to my dad for this ridiculous idea of a ds9 shitpost. New meme format?)

It was spring’s birthday and all the robins remembered

I’m excited to be celebrating another year of Bird Studies! I always look forward to adding more birds to the cake and taking a look back at the year’s drawings. I want to thank all of you, as always, for your support. It’s amazing to be sharing this project with so many people.