It is a sure sign of spring, here in Florida, when the iconic outline of Swallow-tailed Kites can be seen overhead once again. These graceful black-and-white birds, with their deeply forked tails, breed near the coast from Texas to Florida and spend the winter in South America. They are just now starting to arrive in the United States again and we saw our first one this week.

Every morning they take to the sky on thermal drafts and never seem to land, always soaring like a kite and rarely flapping their wings. The bird is one of the most acrobatic flier of all raptors, being able to make sharp turns and quickly rotate its tail to trace tight circles in the sky. Swallow-tailed Kites need their mad flying skills to snatch small animals off the top of trees, which they frequently eat on the wing. In this way it catches most of its diet, which consists mainly of large insects and small birds, reptiles, mammals and amphibians who dare to sit in tree tops.

We love these beautiful birds and are looking forward to seeing them soar overhead in the coming months. Check out these cute Swallow-tailed Kite gifts from our Birdorable shop.

Photo by Artur Pedziwilk (CC BY 2.0)

Best known for their elaborate mating dance, Greater Prairie-Chickens once thrived across large parts of North America. Hunting and habitat loss over the last century has drastically reduced these beautiful birds to near extinction. Once so abundant they were a main food source for pioneers settling in the west, the birds have become extremely rare and have disappeared in much of their range.

Prairie-chickens are of great significance to Native Americans and many tribes have prairie-chicken dances. The grassland birds are well-known for their mating ritual, in which male birds defend their 'booming grounds' by perform a display in hopes of attracting females. The dance involves inflating air saces on the side of their neck and snapping their tails. The strange booming sound gives the bird its nickname "Boomer".

There are three subspecies of this bird:

• The Heath Hen was originally found along the Atlantic coast, but became extinct in 1932.
• The Attwater's Prairie-Chicken is highly endangered and restricted to small coastal areas in Texas and Louisana. Around the year 1900 over a million Attwater's Prairie-Chickens lived in the gulf coastal prairie and huge numbers of males gathered to perform their elaborate courtship ritual. Now, less than one percent of the original coastal prairie habitat remains. Less than 100 Attwater's Prairie-Chickens are left in the wild, all resulting from release of animals raised in captivity. In 1967 the species was listed as federally endangered and in 1973 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service established the Attwater’s Prairie Chicken National Wildlife Refuge in Texas.
• The Greater Prairie-Chicken nominate subspecies is threatened, but remains numerous enough to still be hunted in four states. The bird went almost extinct in the 1930s due to hunting and habitat loss and now lives only on small parcels of managed prairie land. In states such as Iowa and Missouri, where Greater Prairie-Chickens were once abundant, only hundreds remain.

Greater Prairie Chicken Range Map by Cephas (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Read more about these amazing birds and prairie-chicken conservation efforts on the following websites:

• Attwater’s Prairie-Chicken Recovery Programme
• Friends of Attwater Prairie Chicken Refuge
• Greater Prairie-Chickens in Iowa
• Missouri Department of Conservation
• Minnesota Prairie-Chicken Society
• Save the Last Dance, book by Noppadol Paothong
• The Conservation Fund

Did you know that Birdorable is on Facebook? You can follow us at facebook.com/birdorable to keep up-to-date about all things Birdorable. We post new birds, fun graphics, news stories, coupons and new products from our shop. So whether you're a birdwatcher, backyard birder, parrot pet owner or you just love cute birds, head on over to our Facebook page and click "Like" to get all our latest updates.

At first glance you may think that there are two different species of parrot in the above picture, but these are actually two Eclectus Parrots, with a male on the left and female on the right. The technical term for this is "sexual dimorphism", which in birds is often manifested in size or plumage differences. In birds of prey the female is usually bigger, and in ducks the male often has a much more colorful and complicated plumage than the female. With most birds in the parrot family the sexes are similar, but not in the case of the Eclectus Parrot. Males have a bright emerald green plumage and females are mostly bright red with some purple/blue plumage. Even the bill color is different.

The Eclectus Parrot is the most sexually dimorphic of all parrot species. The difference is so pronounced that the first European ornithologists to see Eclectus Parrots in the wild on their visits to South-East Asia and Australia mistakenly thought that they were two distinct species. In fact, males were first described in 1776 and females not until 61 years later. It wasn't until the early 20th century that they were finally considered one species.

Photo by raider of gin (CC BY 2.0)

If you live in North America and you love birds then you are probably familiar with the Belted Kingfisher, which can be found across the continent from coast to coast. This cute design features a pair of Birdorable Belted Kingfishers. Can you tell the difference between the male and the female? Both have the cute shaggy crests and are colored blue and white, but females have rufous across the upper belly.

The design is shown here on a blue women's Hanes Nano long sleeve t-shirt, which is made of ultra-light and ultra-soft 100% cotton fine jersey knit.

We've added the state of Vermont to our State Birdorable Birds series. The official state bird of Vermont is the Hermit Thrush.

Hermit Thrushes are known to breed in all of Vermont's counties. Most birds leave the state for warmer climates to the south after breeding season, but each year a few hardy Hermit Thrushes are found in Vermont during the winter (often during the Christmas Bird Count).

The Hermit Thrush was named the official state bird of Vermont in 1941. Apparently during the debate over naming the state bird, some legislators favored other birds, including the Blue Jay, which is resident year-round in Vermont. Also mentioned were "crow" and flying squirrel. Yep, a non-bird was floated as a possible official state bird to represent Vermont!

Everybody loves plovers, they are the cutest thing on the planet, and you can't spell Plovers without "Love". Happy Valentine's Day to everyone and if you're looking for some cute heart-themed gifts for your special birder then check out the designs with customizable products in our love and hearts section.

A Barred Owl in Bush's Pasture Park in the town of Salem, Oregon, has been stealing hats from joggers. The hat-loving owl swoops down and snatches hats right off the heads of unsuspecting runners. At least four people have been victimized in the last few weeks and are now forced to buy new hats.

One of the runners named Hilliard told Reuters that he was not hurt in the assault but "just dumbfounded". He said: "It was kind of amazing how it just swooped down and grabbed my hat like that. It just pulled it right off my head like it was nothing!"

The Stateman Journal, a local newspaper, asked their readers to send in names for the now-famous owl and they received more than 100 different suggestions. Our favorites are Hoodini and Owlcapone. The story of the Salem owl has been covered in the news across the country and even made it on the Rachel Maddow show where viewers were challenged to design a new owl warning sign.

The bird is believed to be collecting the hats to build a nest. Owls can be territorial and aggressive during nesting season. A new sign in the park now warns people to use caution from dusk to dawn and recommends people to wear a hard hat.

This week we'd like to highlight one of our newest designs featuring our home state and a bird that is very close to our heart. The Florida Scrub-Jay is the only endemic bird of the state of Florida and, with only a few thousand breeding pairs left, considered vulnerable to extinction. Show your support for this highly intelligent and beautiful bird. The design shows our cute Birdorable Florida Scrub-Jay in front of a faint outline of the state and the text "Save the Florida Scrub-Jay", shown here on a green unisex American Apparel t-shirt, which is made of 100% fine jersey cotton and made in the USA.

This week, we're celebrating the gulls of the world!
Today we're wrapping up the week with a little bit of gull humor!

What do you call a gull when it flies over a bay?

A bagel! (bay-gull)

"Haha! That's funny! Tell another!" (photo by Amy Evenstad)

What do you call a gull that works online?

An eagle! (e-gull)

"Wait, what? I don't get it." (photo by Amy Evenstad)

What did the gull say to the cat when its alarm clock went off?

"Kittiwake!" (kitty wake)

"Grooooaaaan!" (photo by Amy Evenstad)

Do you know any gull jokes? Let us know in the comments.