Birders, when not outside watching birds, can be observed inside plotting their next big trip. I was one of them last month, attending the 30th annual San Diego Bird Festival.

Until recently, listening to a podcast was a now-and-then thing for me. Now I can’t get enough. Podcasts about birds and birding are my new toy.

There are roughly 750 kinds of birds in the United States. So, what are the chances that one of them, Horned Lark, would grace the covers of two major birding magazines this month?

As 2025 comes to a close, “Words on Birds” columnist Jeff Reiter takes a look back at the year in birding.

Columnist Jim Slusher: Reading the news or following events on broadcast or social media can often seem to consign Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous line from the poem “Happy Thought” to the realm of quaint naivete. But then, there is Thanksgiving.

Brash, blue and beautiful, the charismatic Blue Jay livens up backyards and forest preserves like no other songbird.

Glen Ellyn's Jeff Reiter, a birding "evangelist" and longtime Daily Herald columnist, has put together his best “Words on Birds” in one nine-part book.

In Jeff Reiter’s new book, “The Best of Words on Birds,” a central theme is that we should bird the way we want to, the way that feels best. Find your style and enjoy every experience.

Denis Kania of Naperville is fairly obsessed with hummingbirds. He’s been to 30 countries and has seen 237 of the 367 hummingbird species.

The DuPage Birding Club is still flying high after 40 years of welcoming fledglings and veteran birders alike. The secret? Fresh ideas and rotating leadership.