Category: Birdwatching

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is one of North America’s most widespread, familiar, and well-loved songbirds. Although homesick settlers named it after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, the two species are not closely related. The American Robin is a thrush, related to the Wood Thrush, Swainson’s Thrush, and Hermit Thrush, while the European Robin is a flycatcher.

Despite being a classic sign of spring, not all American Robin populations migrate, and some may actually stay near their breeding grounds year-round. However, this large, stately-looking thrush is a

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

Don’t let its plain-sounding name fool you: The Gray-bellied Comet is dazzling. In the right light, the upper sides of this large hummingbird shimmer with greens, blues, and bronzy oranges. Males have a violet-blue throat (gorget), and both sexes have long tails similar to those of the Swallow-tailed Hummingbird and Violet-tailed Sylph.

This hummingbird is so local and uncommon that sightings of it were infrequent for many years. It was re-found in the early 1990s and is now spotted regularly within its limited range, which consists of five fragmented populations

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

With inky, jet-black plumage and crimson eyes, the male Phainopepla (Phainopepla nitens) shines in the desert scrub of the southwestern U.S. and Mexico. Often described as a “black cardinal with a red eye,” the Phainopepla is actually unrelated to the Northern Cardinal. Instead, it belongs to the Silky-flycatcher family, a small group of lustrous-plumaged, mainly fruit-eating birds found only in the southwestern United States and Central America. The Cedar Waxwing is a close relative and was only recently split into its own family, the Bombycillidae.

But unlike its relatives, the