43 posts
Great blue herons frequent creeks and marshes all around Berea and are typically year-round residents. With a wingspan of more than 6 feet, and sometimes reaching a standing height of nearly 5 feet, great blue herons are the largest herons in North America. They can hunt during the day or
October 12, 2025
Brown-headed cowbirds were so named because they follow herds of grazing animals, such as buffalo and later cows, eating the insects disturbed by the herd. But today cowbirds are best known for being “brood parasites.” They don’t build nests. Instead, they lay eggs—often dozens of eggs in a
October 05, 2025
Carolina chickadees often hang upside down to gather berries, seeds, and insects under branches. They may hide, or cache, food for times of scarcity, tucking seeds and insects under bark, or leaves, or even house shingles. Chickadees are known to modify their signature chickadee-dee-de-dee call by adding more “dees” at
September 28, 2025
The northern yellow-shafted flicker is a colorful feast for the eyes with bright yellow feathers under its wings and tail and a body adorned with patches of red, gray, tan and black. The northern flicker is a woodpecker but prefers to forage for ants and beetles on the ground with
September 21, 2025
Cedar waxwings are sleek, elegant birds with their black masks and yellow tipped tails. They are named for the small red drops of wax on the tips of secondary feathers on their wings. Cedar waxwings love to eat fruit and may descend in large numbers on berry-laden trees. They have
September 07, 2025
The cooing sound of mourning doves often conjures up memories of expansive summer days, even though these birds are year-round residents in Kentucky. Mourning doves mate for life and one pair may raise 5 or 6 broods of young in a year. Mourning doves are also known for the distinctive
August 31, 2025
These photos capture the 2-week transformation of an individual caterpillar into a monarch butterfly. Monarchs lay eggs on milkweed plants because milkweed is the only food baby caterpillars eat; and this hungry caterpillar ate every leaf before forming its chrysalis. By eating milkweed, monarchs ingest cardenolides, steroid compounds that make
August 24, 2025
Brown thrashers are year-round residents in some parts of Kentucky and offer loud, lively, and varied songs. Watch them wildly forage for insects in dried leaves and it is easy understand how they earned the name “thrasher.” If you get close to one, you can’t help but marvel at
August 17, 2025
During the summer, it’s easy to spot robins hopping, and sometimes running, across the grass busily foraging for insects. Both parents diligently bring food to their young and can nest up to three times during the summer. Yet robins still find time to usher in the day with their
August 10, 2025