Friday Feathered Feature
Showcasing a different bird species each week
Without the attractant of bird feeders in suburban areas, the Sharp-shinned Hawk might be a much rarer sight. As it stands, the bird is occasionally seen at feeders, but it’s not there for the bird feed. Instead, it’s songbirds that feed the Sharp-shinned Hawk, making up 90% of its diet.
Photo by Mick Thompson
On the southern edge of its range in Wisconsin, the Boreal Chickadee lives in characteristically wet and boreal environments with fun names like bog, muskeg, and tamarack, black spruce, or balsam fir swamps. These cold and damp ecosystems, with conifers, allow a unique assemblage of birds to thrive.
Photo by David Mitchell FCC
Neil Paprocki, PhD student at the University of Idaho, is gathering data for a project called Differential Migration in North American Rough-legged Hawks (Buteo lagopus). Almost 150 Rough-legs have been outfitted with GPS backpack transmitters since 2014.
Photo by Neil Paprocki
