Val Cunningham

Latest from Val Cunningham

How and where to spot owls in the metro area? Listen up.

Plus homely cardinals, missing goldfinches and a life-and-death battle between a hawk and a snake.
December 4, 2025
A barred owl on a tree branch in daylight.

What food can we offer dark-eyed juncos? Think small.

Plus sparrow shout fests, more robins sticking around in winter, turkeys love acorns and how to prevent window strikes.
November 14, 2025
A junco perches on a large branch.

Does treating ashes for borers harm birds?

Plus: Can birds decide not to migrate? Why are jays persnickety? Where can you see cranes in Minnesota?
October 30, 2025
A red-bellied woodpecker perches on the side of a tree.

Why don’t blue jays stay on Park Point? They avoid merlins.

Plus: How to avoid weeds from feeder seeds, what makes hummingbirds so feisty, and cleaning hummingbird feeders.
October 16, 2025
A blue jay perches amid vines

Eagles are indeed eagle-eyed

Plus: What’s behind gathering of flickers, can hummingbirds sing, are feeders bad?
October 2, 2025
An eagle touches down to water level to snatch a fish.

Loons you see in summer may be casing the joint

Plus: Cormorants, Cooper’s hawks and how to find scarlet tanagers
September 18, 2025
Five loons float on the water close together.

If you can attract an osprey nest once, chances are you'll see them again

Plus: Why don’t birds sleep in their nest? How much do birds sleep?
September 4, 2025
Two young osprey birds on a manmade platform nest look up expectantly, bills open, as its parent flies to the nest with a fish in its talons.

Attempt to rescue an injured pileated woodpecker turns into a saga

A man sets off on a rescue mission when he finds an injured bird in the street.
August 14, 2025
A pileated woodpecker with a large red crested head and prominent beak perches on a tree by a rectangularly shaped hole. A shard of wood can be seen falling away in the background.

Woodies and hoodies: Why were these ducklings hanging out together?

A reader saw a mixed brood of ducklings following a merganser and wondered why there were two "woodies" in the group..
July 31, 2025
A mother duck on the water closely followed by a string of seven ducklings, two of which are a different species.

Parent birds work overtime in nesting season

Birds like blue jays and robins make excellent helicopter parents, mutually raising their broods during the summer.
July 17, 2025
An adult blue jay at the nest with young nestlings.

Young cardinals are brown but will molt into red feathers

Why are big flocks of geese flying north in late spring after migration?
July 3, 2025
A bright red male cardinal perches on a white fence with a seed in its beak to feed one of the two brownish young cardinals waiting to be fed. They are mostly brown with hints of rust color on their body.

Canada geese often provide day care for other parents

Plus: Why did the robin try to keep up two nests?
June 19, 2025
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