Today’s new addition to Birdorable is a colorful species in the dove family. The Pink-headed Fruit Dove joins our Birdorable Pigeons and Doves!

Pink-headed Fruit Doves are easily recognized by their pinkish purple heads and green backs. Their breasts have a spiffy white and black border stripe between the pinkish-purple above and the light grey below. Males, like our Birdorable version, have bright colors; females are similar but with duller vibrance.

They are native to Indonesia, where they live in forest habitat and feed on fruits, figs, and berries.

Pink-headed Fruit Doves are also known as Temminck’s Fruit Pigeons. Coenraad Jacob Temminck was a Dutch zoologist who had a hand in describing and naming over forty species for science, including many birds (Temminck’s Hornbill) and mammals (Temminck’s Flying Squirrel).

Tomorrow we’ll add a very rare stork to Birdorable. The species is named after an explorer, not a weather event. Can you guess the species?

Today’s new bird is a small species of macaw. We welcome the Blue-winged Macaw to Birdorable!

Blue-winged Macaws are found in forest habitat in parts of Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. They feed on a variety of plant-powered foods, like seeds, fruits, and nuts. They can be recognized by their namesake blue wings and a small red patch at the forehead.

Blue-winged Macaws are popular in aviculture, where they are known as Illiger's Macaw. This name comes from the German Johann Karl Wilhelm Illiger. As pets, they are known to enjoy interaction with their owners. They are also known for their intelligence.

Tomorrow’s new species is found in Indonesian forest habitat. Common birds in their family are typically mostly grey, but these birds are colorful, as well as cute. They are named partly for their coloration and partly for their favorite food. Can you guess the species?

Today’s new species is the Fieldfare, a large species of thrush in the same family as the American Robin. They resemble their Yankee cousins in build and size, and in the way they hunt for worms in the soil.

Fieldfares are Old World birds, and highly migratory. They breed across forests in the north of Europe and Asia. Their winter range extends across much of Europe, down into northern Africa and parts of the Middle East.

Fieldfares can be recognized by their grey heads, ruddy brown upperparts, and spotted fronts. They also have distinctive yellow bills with a black tip.

Tomorrow’s new species is a small macaw named for the color of one of its body parts. These gregarious birds live in forest habitat in parts of South America and have a different name when referring to the species in aviculture. Can you guess the bird?

Today’s new Birdorable species is a tiny type of hummingbird found in northeastern parts of South America. Look at the crazy plumage of the Tufted Coquette!

There are 11 species of coquette in the genus Lophornis. All of these tiny hummingbirds are native to Central and South America. Six other types of coquette have crests like the Tufted Coquette, though their ranges don’t typically overlap, making identification of Tufted Coquettes fairly easy. In these birds, the males have the outlandish crests (and the wild neck tufts as seen in the Tufted) while the females have a typically lower profile (ie, less flashy plumage).

Tufted Coquettes feed on nectar, favoring Orange Milkweed and pigeon pea flowers, among others. Like other hummingbirds, they will also take small insects as prey as available.

Tomorrow’s new bird is closely related to the America Robin, but lives on the other side of the world. Do you know this spotted, migratory bird?

Today’s new species is a type of wading bird found in parts of sub-Saharan Africa. The African Jacana is easily recognized by its unique chestnut plumage, its blue beak and facial shield, and by those toes. Look at those crazy long toes!

African Jacanas feed on insects and other small organisms they glean from aquatic vegetation. Their long toes allow them to move across floating wetland vegetation by spreading their weight over a large area. Jacanas have precocial young, meaning chicks are able to walk around on their own shortly after hatching. You better believe they have long toes too, so they can follow dad around as he points out food to them.

Yes, they follow dad around – African Jacanas have a sort of complete role reversal when it comes to breeding. Males care for the eggs and raise the chicks completely on their own.

Tomorrow we’ll add a tiny South American hummingbird with a crazy plumage, including tufts on the head and the neck. Do you know the species?

Today we’re introducing the Bar-headed Goose to Birdorable! This mid-sized species of Anser goose is easy to recognize due to the namesake black bars found on the back of the head.

Bar-headed Geese are known to be one of the highest flying species in the world. They spend the breeding season on high altitude lakes and migrate across Asia to reach their wintering grounds to the south. Using tracking data, Bar-headed Geese have been recorded at flying at altitudes of up to 21,000 feet! They have also been noted to fly over Mount Makalu at over 27,000 feet, and even over Mount Everest at over 29,000 feet! Wow!

Tomorrow we’ll introduce an African species with crazy long toes. Is this clue and the silhouette enough for you to guess the correct bird?

Today’s new species is found in scrubland habitat in parts of Argentina and Bolivia. Welcome the Birdorable Grey-hooded Parakeet!

This cute species is known by other names in aviculture: Aymara Parakeet or Sierra Parakeet. Aymara refers to people local to part of the birds’ range, in the high plateau region around Lake Titicaca. A Sierra is a chain of mountains, again referring to the type of habitat where these parakeets are found in the wild.

Grey-hooded Parakeets feed on plant material, including seeds, fruits, nuts, and berries.

Tomorrow we’ll introduce an extremely high-flying species of goose found in parts of Asia. This bird is named for a pattern found on the back of its head. Can you guess what it is?

Today’s new bird is an Australian wading species, native to the island nation and now widespread across a variety of habitats. Our second bird in the 2020 Birdorable Bonanza is the Australian Ibis!

This species is also known as the Australian White Ibis. Like other ibis species, this bird has a long, down-curved bill. Its white plumage is highlighted by fluffy black feathers over the tail, which are actually secondary wing feathers.

Australian Ibis feed on aquatic prey, like frogs, fish, and mussels. They also eat worms and, having adapted to living in areas near human habitation, will also feed on carrion and even food scraps found in trash.

Tomorrow we will reveal a new species of parrot found in high elevation scrubland in parts of South America, including around Lake Titicaca. Can you guess the bird?

Today we start our 2020 Birdorable Bonanza with a bang! Actually… make that an IRRUPTION! We’re kicking off 29 days of new birds by dropping four finches in this “finch invasion” winter season. A bright spot in 2020, many birders are delighting at seeing these and other finches visit their feeders for the first time in many years or for the first time ever.

Northern finches follow the food, and when they have a good season, large flocks of them might congregate farther south than in other years; their gregarious groups are a delight to see.

Today’s new Birdorable finches are the Pine Siskin; the Red Crossbill; the White-winged Crossbill; and the Purple Finch.

Pine Siskins are extremely gregarious and may be found in feeding flocks of hundreds of individuals. Wow!

Crossbills are named for their specialized bills, crossed at the tip, which allows them to feed on conifer seeds by stripping cones down to reach the food inside. Different crossbills specialize in different kinds of conifer seeds. Isn’t that neat?

Male Purple Finches have a beautiful bright raspberry red, streaky plumage. Females and juveniles are duller, with little to no red, though you can see the same face mask pattern on adult females.

Find our new finches in a variety of new designs on a great assortment of apparel and other products, available in our shop.

Tomorrow our 2020 Birdorable Bonanza will continue with a bird native to Australia with a long, curved bill and a bare head. Birds of this family are found nearly all around the world. Can you guess tomorrow’s new species?

Recently the American Birding Association announced their Bird of the Year for 2020. The Cedar Waxwing holds the honor for the first year of this new decade.

The Cedar Waxwing is an excellent choice to be a "bird ambassador" for the ABA in 2020. These gregarious birds are known for their beauty, with striking plumage that includes a dramatic black mask and wax-like red tips to their secondary wing feathers.

These migratory songbirds can be found in much of North America -- summer-only across parts of Canada and only in the winter across roughly the southern half of the continent. Here in Florida, we enjoy flocks of them feasting on berries throughout the late winter and early spring.

The Cedar Waxwing is the 10th Bird of the Year from the organization. Previously honored birds are as follows, with links to our Birdorable version when available.

• Red-billed Tropicbird (2019)
• 'I'iwi (2018)
• Ruddy Turnstone (2017)
• Chestnut-collared Longspur (2016)
• Green Heron (2015)
• Rufous Hummingbird (2014)
• Common Nighthawk (2013)
• Evening Grosbeak (2012)
• American Kestrel (2011)

If you want to learn more about Cedar Waxwings, have a look at these links:

• Cool Facts about Cedar Waxwings
• Cedar Waxwing All About Birds Profile
• 2020 Bird of the Year
• Free Cedar Waxwing Coloring Page