We at Birdorable are proud to have provided use of our cute Andean Cock-of-the-rock image to The Field Museum's 24th rapid inventory team that traveled to the Kampankis mountains of Peru this summer. A few months ago, we were kindly contacted by one of the conservation biologists working on the survey. We were asked if our Andean Cock-of-the-rock could be used for the team's t-shirt, and we were happy to comply! The survey was done in northern Peru, in an area where Andean Cocks-of-the-rock are abundant. Below is a photo of some of the team members when they recently arrived in Tarapoto after the survey. If you look closely, you'll find at least five Birdorables in the photo!

These surveys are huge team efforts and entail adventure and discovery. For example, the above photograph was taken during an earthquake after a multi-day weather delay. If you'd like to learn more about the high adventure and about the fascinating work done during the rapid survey of the Kampankis mountains, check out the rapid inventories of remote regions blog.

Get ready to dress up your pumpkins this Halloween with some cute Birdorable birds! Below you can download four different cute bird pumpkin carving patterns of varying skill levels as free downloads. Two of our patterns are simple bird cut-outs, and two are inverted designs where the area around the bird must be carved away. Just click on a pattern thumbnail to download the PDF and get carving!

Birdorable Bird Pumpkin Patterns

  • Our first free pumpkin carving pattern is a cut-out Birdorable chickadee. Chickadees love Halloween, you know! After all, they are always singing, "Trick or treat-treat-treat-treat," aren't they?!
  • Next, our free spoonbill pumpkin pattern is another cut-out, though a bit more involved. You know, I bet that spoon-shaped bill would be very handy at cleaning out pumpkin guts this time of year!
  • Our cute owl pumpkin cut-away pattern has the owl looking out from inside the pumpkin, how adorable! Owls own the night - even on Halloween - and this little cutie is no exception.
  • Finally, we have our cute Birdorable Tufted Titmouse pumpkin pattern. This is another cute-away job, and requires a steady hand to leave enough pumpkin to keep the bird afloat. Be careful carving that wing, too!

Have you used any of our free printable downloads at home, in your classroom, or at an event? We’d love to hear about it! Send us photos of the pages in action, or the final result – we may showcase them on our blog!

Birdorable Roseate Spoonbill

The Roseate Spoonbill is one of the newest birds to join the Birdorable family. Here are some fun facts about this unique species.

1. The collective noun for spoonbills is bowl. Have you ever seen a bowl of Roseate Spoonbills?

2. Roseate Spoonbills get their pink color from their food! They feed on crustaceans who in turn have fed on algae.

3. In parts of their range, especially in Florida, Roseate Spoonbills are sometimes confused with another large pink wading bird: the flamingo.

4. There are six species of spoonbill in the world; the Roseate Spoonbill is the only one with pink plumage. Roseate Spoonbill

5. The Roseate Spoonbill is also the only spoonbill species found in the Americas.

6. The beaks of chick spoonbills are straight; the spoon-shape grows as the chick develops.

7. Spoonbills use their specialized bills to feed. They sweep their open bills through the water, and when a prey item like a fish or insect comes between the mandibles, the bill snaps shut.

8. The oldest wild Roseate Spoonbill was discovered in the Florida Keys in 2006. The bird had been banded in 1990, and was an amazing 16 years old. The previous known longevity record for the species was seven years.

9. Roseate Spoonbills are highly social. They feed with each other and with other wading birds. They also nest in colonies and fly in flocks.

10. The Roseate Spoonbill was added to Birdorable on September 6th, 2011. Be sure to check out our great collection of Roseate Spoonbill t-shirts & gifts!

International Vulture Awareness Day (IVAD) may be tomorrow, but we here at Birdorable love vultures all year, and we can't wait to introduce our newest Birdorable bird: the Lammergeier, or Bearded Vulture.

Birdorable Lammergeier

Lammergeiers like to eat dead things (just like people, if you think about it!), but they are a bit picky when it comes to their favorite treat: bone marrow! While they can easily swallow some bones, very large bones require a bit more work. Lammergeiers are so smart, they have a great trick to get at the bone marrow inside the bones of very large carcasses: they drop them on rocks! The bird will hold the bone and fly up high above a rocky area. At just the right moment, it will drop the bone so that it is broken or shattered by the rocks below. The Lammergeier then proceeds to chow down on the bone fragments along with the nutritious marrow inside. To help you celebrate IVAD, please have a look at our free fun vulture downloads, including an all-new Lammergeier coloring page. And check out our cute Lammergeier gifts.