This Birdorable American flag is made of Blue Jays, Northern Cardinals and White Doves. A great design for patriotic birdwatchers and bird lovers across America. The design is shown here on a Ladies Fitted Long Sleeve t-shirt.

Birdorable U.S. Flag

African Penguin fame

A new bird recently added to Birdorable is the African Penguin. The African Penguin lives on the southwest coast of Africa. The species is also called Black-footed Penguin and is the only species of penguin to breed in Africa. African Penguins have pink glands around their eyes which become darker or lighter depending on how hot the bird is feeling. Dark glands indicate the bird is hot; more blood is being routed there to be cooled. It's like a built-in air-conditioner/temperature gauge!

Birdorable African Penguin

One particular African Penguin became very famous in the late 2000's when he suffered feather loss. Pierre the penguin was living at the California Academy of Sciences at the time of his 2004 molt, which seemed might be his last. The loss of feathers threatened Pierre's life, not to mention his social standing among his fellow penguins. To help Pierre, scientists and wetsuit manufacturers devised a penguin-sized neoprene wetsuit for the bird. The wetsuit saved Pierre and eventually the lost feathers grew back. Here's a short video that chronicles Pierre's situation.

You can pick up unique Birdorable African Penguin swag in our shop. Here's a sampling of what's available.

Crazily crested cutie

One of our newest Birdorable birds is the Great Blue Turaco. This species is the largest bird in the turaco family. Like most turacos, the Great Blue has a head crest. And what a crest it is! Thick and dark, the crest, along with the striking red-dipped yellow bill, makes this bird a total knockout!!

Birdorable Great Blue Turaco

A non-threatened species across its range of central Africa, Great Blue Turacos feed on fruit, leaves and flowers. In some parts of Africa they are hunted for meat and for their beautiful feathers. These beautiful birds are rarely found in captivity. The San Diego Zoo has one in their collection, which happens to be the largest collection of bird species in the whole United States. The zoo in Antwerp also has a pair. Here is a short video from Antwerp.

Like all of our cute Birdorable birds, our Great Blue Turaco illustration is available on a wide variety of apparel options and novelty gift items. Pictured here are two t-shirt styles; visit the Great Blue Turaco product page in our shop for more gift ideas.

Sage Grouse have elaborate courtship rituals and the male's strutting display are somewhat of a spectacle for birders to view every spring. Males perform in leks for several hours in the early morning and evening during these spring months. This new design features our male Birdorable Sage Grouse showing off, while a female looks the other way.

Sage Grouse Love T-shirt

Proud of our Peacock

Birdorable Indian Peafowl

We are so pleased to introduce our newest Birdorable bird: the Indian Peafowl! The Peacock has been one of the most suggested birds here at Birdorable. This gorgeous species is the national bird of India, and we've added a Peafowl of India design to the shop, as well as products featuring the Peacock by itself - including cute custom shoes pictured below.

Peafowl appear countless times in Indian mythology and popular culture. During our travels in India, we often came across Peacock imagery, like at the City Palace of Jaipur:

Peacocks

We also saw several of them during our visits to natural parks, and once were even so lucky to find a male in full breeding splendor!

Peacock

Peacocks appear not only in Indian art and nature, but in advertisements too:

Peacock Brand
Peacock Brand by Meanest Indian

Peacocks are indeed striking when in full breeding plumage. They sport about 150 long display feathers, which are not tail feathers but elongated upper tail coverts. These are shed each year during their annual molt and often collected afterward due to the prized decorative value of the feathers. Here are some more photos of this gorgeous species.

Nice peacock!
Nice peacock! by Tambako the Jaguar
Peacock dancing in the wild
Peacock dancing in the wild by Tarique Sani
A peacock  #02
A peacock #02 by *higetiger

Here are two new Birdorable coloring pages for some more coloring fun! They are the Piping Plover and Broad-winged Hawk! Go to Coloring Pages to download these and other PDFs and check the Meet the Birds page to check the colors.

Birdorable Coloring Pages: Piping Plover and Broad-winged Hawk

These downloads will be available until 15 May 2010. Check here for more coloring pages. Subscribe to the Birdorable Blog by RSS feed or by email to get notified when new downloads like this are added.

Birdorable Bourke's Parrot

Our latest Birdorable parrot is the Bourke's Parrot or "Bourkie", a colorful grass parrot from Southwestern and Central Australia, where they are endangered due to overstocking and rabbit plagues. In some parts of Western Australia populations have recently increased after grazing was scaled down, allowing vegetation to return. If you like our Birdorable Bourkie don't forget to check out our 50+ other parrots and parakeets.

This week's featured design is this Union Jack UK Birder with the Flag of the United Kingdom and six of our Birdorable birds that are found around the UK. Long-tailed Tit, European Robin, Great Tit, Chaffinch, European Goldfinch and Tufted Duck are perched around the flag above the word "Birder". This t-shirt will make a great gift for birdwatchers in the UK.

Birdorable UK Birder T-Shirt
Birdorable Northern Fulmar

The Northern Fulmar is a petrel that lives in the northern oceans, across the Atlantic and Pacific. It is abundant in Alaska and the Canadian Arctic, but few people ever see them there as they tend to breed in remote places. In contrast, around Iceland, the Faroe Islands and British Isles they have undergone a spectacular increase in their population in the last two centuries and they are commonly seen as a result. They are one of the longest-lived birds, with an average life span of about 32 years. In Scotland, birds that were banded in 1951 were still found breeding in 1990 at ages likely greater than 50 years!

Fýll Northern Fulmar(Fulmarus glacialis)
Photo by diddý (source: Flickr)

It is similar in appearance to a gull, but stockier with a thick neck and more rounded wings. They have a short, thick bill, with a little tube on top. Fulmars come in many different colors, referred to as light morph, intermediate morph and dark morph, but also in every gradation in between. There is no generally accepted explanation for this variety.

Northern Fulmar Morphs

Here is a picture of a dark morph Northern Fulmar:

Northern Fulmar
Photo by Glen Tepke (source: Flickr)

If you like our cute Northern Fulmar, check out our other 233 Birdorable birds.