Happy 2010!

We (Amy and Arthur) at Birdorable wish everyone a very happy new year. May 2010 bring you much happiness, lots of love, fine friendships and good health for you and your loved ones. Quiz for fun: In the following picture 95 different Birdorable birds make up the year "2010". Only one species is shown twice. Can you find it? Click the picture to embiggen.

Happy 2010 from Birdorable

This week's highlighted t-shirt features two of our Keel-billed Toucans, because Toucans Are Better Than One! Show your love for these beautiful and colorful birds with this cute Birdorable design, shown here on an ultra-soft EDUN LIVE Genesis t-shirt for men and women.

Toucans are better than one

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating today! Be safe and have fun. :)

Merry Christmas from Birdorable

This week’s highlighted t-shirt is our nine Birdorable backyard birds design featuring common European birds. They are: Great Tit, Goldfinch, Magpie, House Sparrow, European Robin, Chaffinch, Winter Wren, Jackdaw and Eurasian Nuthatch.

Nine European Backyard Birds

This week's highlighted t-shirt is this Plovers Love design featuring our Birdorable Piping Plover sitting on the word "PLOVERS" with "LOVE" in red. Plovers are found around the world and there are about 40 different species. Who doesn't love these adorable little wading birds?

Plovers Love

This week's featured t-shirt is this new Owl Fan design featuring five of our Birdorable owls: Great Grey Owl, Barn Owl, Barred Owl, Burrowing Owl and Saw-whet Owl. This will make a great Christmas gift for your owl-loving family and friends.

Birdorable Owl Fan

Birdorable Saw-whet Owl

Birdorable Northern Saw-whet Owl

Today we've added one of the cutest birds I've ever seen: the Northern Saw-whet Owl. At 7 to 8 inches (17.8 to 20.3 cm) this is the smallest owl of Eastern North America. This cute little fellow got its name by accident when a member of the National Audubon Society heard the call of a Barn Owl, which is said to resemble a saw being sharpened, and mistakenly attributed it to the smaller owl. Since 1997, the Ned Smith Center in Pennsylvania has been leading research in the movements and ecology of the Saw-whet Owl. Each autumn, a team of trained researchers and volunteers harmlessly catch, band and release hundreds of these small birds at three banding stations in central Pennsylvania. Throughout the years they've banded more than 5,000 owls and helped map the movements of this secretive species. For more information about this great project check out the Saw-whet Owl Research Blog.

Peek-a-boo
Photo by Steve Gilchrist (via Flickr)
Saw-Whet Owl
Photo by zhakora (via Flickr)

For more Birdorable owls see Meet the Birds: Owls.

Who's that?

Can you guess what bird species this is? We'll add this new Birdorable to the site this week. Hint: This North American bird usually nests in abandoned woodpecker holes.

Mystery bird in hole

Earlier this year, teacher Danielle asked us if we could provide her with images of our Birdorable birds to use in her classroom at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. Of course we were happy to oblige! The class is using a Birdorable bird for each letter of the alphabet. The birds are used to decorate the "Brainy Birds" classroom. A Resplendent Quetzal welcomed the students to the class at the start of the school year.

Welcome to the Nest

Colorful Birdorable birds placed on the floor with contact paper help the students to stand together in a proper line.

Birdorable on the Floor

Here the students show the Scarlet Macaw representing the letter S.

S is for Scarlet Macaw

Thank you Danielle - for asking to use our birds in your classroom and for sharing these photos with us!

An Ivory Gull has been seen around Cape May recently. These birds usually only hang around in the arctic, so this is a rare visitor for New Jersey. We wish all Ivory Gull twitchers the best of luck this weekend! Here's a souvenir for when you get back. ;)

Here are some photos of the (actual) bird ... what a beauty!

Ivory Gull
Photo by Peter Burke (via Flickr)
Ivory Gull
Photo by bluedasher (via Flickr)