What a cactus wren lacks in good looks and pretty songs, it makes up for in home construction. The home is both a nest and a place to live throughout the year. That’s critical for a bird living in the ...

Brooding clouds were dancing across the tops of the San Ysidro Mountains as an early spring storm swept eastward from the coast. As they have done for eons, the bouldery peaks were blocking the ...

It was a game of cat and mouse, and this cat was not about to win. I was chasing a cactus wren through a prickly patch of cholla with high hopes of getting a good photo. But the wren just kept darting ...

Lately I have been a “peeping Tom” in a nearby eco-reserve, monitoring the breeding behavior of coastal cactus wrens, a bird whose population is in steep decline throughout Southern California. The ...

When the United States declared independence in 1776, choosing state birds was not high on the priority list. In fact, nearly 150 years passed before Kentucky stepped up and named the first state bird ...