Archive: Thoughts about birds
December 19, 2018 | Jeff Wells
One of my delights as a teenager growing up in Maine was to watch the stream of Cliff Swallows that darted from their gourd-shaped nests under the eaves of the barn to search for the insects they fed...
June 29, 2018 | Dr. Jeff Wells
Recently an elder from the Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation in the Northwest Territories of Canada arrived in Maine after two days of traveling. Why did she endure all that grueling travel? She was...
February 22, 2018 | Dr. Jeff Wells
The years 1914 to 1918 are an abstraction for most of us. But those years played a pivotal role across much of the world. A small regional conflict and a series of political miscalculations drew in...
February 13, 2018 | Dr. Jeff Wells
Early one fall morning more than 22 years ago, together with perhaps 8-10 of my colleagues from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, I piled into a large white van. We rode south from Ithaca, New York for...
February 5, 2018 | Jeff Wells
The deep sea may be what we know least about when it comes to the planet we call home. Until recently, bird migration wasn’t too far behind it. Thanks to incredible advancements in technology in...
November 15, 2017 | Jeff Wells
Boreal woodpeckers, namely American Three-toed and Black-backed Woodpeckers, are known to respond to the intensity and severity of natural disturbances, such as forest fires. These species are also...
November 3, 2017 | Dr. Jeff Wells
When it comes to birds, Quebec plays a critical role not just within Canada but across most of the Western Hemisphere. In large part thanks to its sizable amount of Boreal Forest—which has been...
October 6, 2017 | Dr. Jeff Wells
For birds besieged by habitat loss and climate change across much of the globe, descending into a lush landscape where pristine lakes, rivers, wetlands, and woodlands unfold as far as the eye can see...
September 22, 2017 | Dr. Jeff Wells
It's been recently reported that birders had spotted a Great Blue Heron in Hay River, a town along the southwest shore of Great Slave Lake in the Northwest Territories. In southern Canada and the U.S...
August 23, 2017 | Jeff Wells
As millions of people across North America flock to swimming holes at nearby lakes and rivers to escape the heat, so too do billions of migratory birds. But for the birds, these waterways represent...
