Contributing to citizen Science projects helps our collective knowledge, but it also helps us as individuals learn. We'd like to highlight some citizen science projects in which families can participate. If you know of a project that we could highlight on our blog, please let us know!

The first citizen science project we'd like to highlight is a big one! eBird is an online bird checklist program that helps you keep track of the birds you see. A great thing about eBird is that data entered into the system by citizen scientists like you also helps scientists study birds!

eBird, a joint project from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, is free and easy for anyone to use. Once registered, you can enter your bird sightings as often as you like, and include as much data as you want, including photos, information on the age and gender of the bird, and more. You can tell eBird what birds you saw in your back yard while having lunch, or enter a long list of the birds you saw when you spent the whole day at the local state park or national wildlife refuge. You'll be able to see your lists again any time you'd like. eBird data entry is global, so anyone in the world can use it to record their bird sightings.

It's a lot of fun to look through eBird maps and charts to see how sightings recorded by your fellow citizen scientists look over time and over a large area. For instance, using eBird, you can figure out what kinds of birds you might expect to see next time you visit a relative in another state.

Once you have a few checklists of your own, it's also a lot of fun to look through what you've seen in the past and how your sightings may change or be surprisingly similar year after year. If you saw your first hummingbird of the year on May 5th, 2012, you'll know to start keeping your eyes out for your little feathered friend in early May this year.

eBird is a fun and educational tool suitable for use by the whole family. eBird tools are used for other citizen scientist projects, too, so don't be surprised if we highlight a future project that uses eBird data. Visit the eBird.org site to learn more and get started!

Dive into the world of chickadees with these fascinating and fun facts! Known for their playful nature and delightful chirps, chickadees are more than just tiny birds flitting through your backyard. Here we go:

• There are seven species of chickadee in the world. Chickadees, along with titmice, belong to the family Paridae. This family of songbirds also includes birds known as tits.
• The Black-capped Chickadee is the state bird of both Maine and Massachusetts. It is also the provincial bird of New Brunswick.
• The Grey-headed Chickadee is also known as the Siberian Tit. Strangely, it does not have a grey head.
• These little birds are known as "chickadees" because of their alarm call. This type of name is onomatopoetic -- the word is the sound that it describes.
• The more "dee" notes at the end of a chickadee call indicate increasing levels of agitation. For instance, a chickadee may end their call with just one "dee" when a known person fills a favorite bird feeder. An owl roosting near the feeding station would warrant many more "dee" notes.
• This is what the call of the Black-capped Chickadee sounds like:
   
  
• While some species may move seasonally, for the most part chickadees are non-migratory. Passing migrant species may seek out feeding flocks of chickadees (finding their "chick-a-dee" call familiar) as they stop along their migration route. As flocks of chickadees attract migratory birds, they also attract birdwatchers!

• Chickadees are known to store food items like seeds or insect larvae in times of abundance. The cached food may be retrieved in leaner times. The Mexican Chickadee is the only chickadee which does not cache food.
• Chickadees are cavity nesters. They use old woodpecker holes or excavate their own cavities in rotted or soft wood. They will also use birdhouses.
• Chestnut-backed Chickadees like to line their nests with animal hair, with fur from animals like coyotes, skunk, rabbits, and others making up to half of the nest's materials.
• A group of chickadees can be called a banditry of chickadees. This collective noun probably refers to the mask-like appearance of chickadee species.
• The range of Black-capped Chickadees overlaps with that of Carolina Chickadees. They look so much alike that even the birds themselves may have a hard time telling each other apart - they hybridize! Offspring of a mixed pair sing a song that is three notes long. That's one less note than the Carolina parent, and one more note than the Black-capped parent!

Five species of chickadee found in North American can be found right here on Birdorable! See the following species pages:

• Black-capped Chickadee
• Boreal Chickadee
• Carolina Chickadee
• Chestnut-backed Chickadee
• Mountain Chickadee

Florida birders have been treated to a rare sight this winter. Hundreds of Razorbills have been seen off both coasts of the state; the birds have been seen as far west as Pensacola along the Gulf of Mexico! The normal winter range for the Razorbill, which is a type of auk, extends down to the coast of North Carolina.

Razorbills breed along rocky habitat on coastal northeastern North America.

The big question is: why have the Razorbills moved so far out of their normal range? Several reasons have been speculated. Superstorm Sandy may have affected the usual food supply of Razorbills. Access to food, abundance of certain types of fish, and even water visibility may all play a factor. Razorbills may have had a banner breeding year, which means there are more young Razorbills competing for food and space. These factors and others may all have driven Razorbills further south than they normally venture, or other things not yet considered may play a part in this season's unprecedented Razorbill invasion. If you love Razorbills, you'll love our updated Birdorable Razorbill cartoon. Find swimming or flying Razorbill merchandise here: customizable Razorbill gifts.

Happy New Year and best wishes for 2013! We added almost 100 new birds on Birdorable last year, and updated many others. In the picture below you can see all the new bird species we added in 2012, from lovebirds to vultures. Click to embiggen.

African Pygmy Falcons live in dry bush in parts of eastern and southern Africa. These little cuties measure just over seven inches long, making them the smallest bird of prey found in all of Africa.

African Pygmy Falcons, also known simply as Pygmy Falcons, have a unique way of nesting. They use empty compartments in large Sociable Weaver nest structures, or abandoned nests made by other weaver species. Pygmy Falcons are also known to nest in polyandrous groups, with more adult birds than just the breeding pair caring for nestlings and chicks. The African Pygmy Falcon was added to Birdorable on April 25, 2012. If you can't get enough of these adorable little raptors, be sure to check out our range of unique Pygmy Falcon t-shirts and gifts!

Stuck inside on a cold or snowy day? Have some cute bird fun with our free Birdorable Coloring pages! We've got six holiday-themed pages plus thirteen other single-bird drawings ready for your creative coloring skills! Each of the single-bird coloring pages has some fun basic facts about the species - so you'll learn a bit about the birds as you color them in!

Have you used our coloring pages 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!

The Corn Crake is a migratory species of rail that breeds across temperate parts of Eurasia and winters in southern Africa. When they return to their breeding grounds in the spring, male Corn Crakes call out to establish territory and to attract a mate. The call sounds like this:

This may not be the most melodious song, but it is remarkable due to the fact that it can be heard from up to a mile away and repeated more than 20,000 times a night! That's a lot of sound coming from an 11-inch tall bird. The Corn Crake (also known as Corncrake) was added to Birdorable on August 21, 2012. If you love these little loudmouths -- er, loudbeaks -- be sure to check out our collection of cute Corn Crake t-shirts and gifts!

Add Birdorable birds to your Christmas gift wrapping this year for some cute holiday cheer! Here are two fun ideas that combine our cartoon cuties with your own creativity!

Free Birdorable labels to print out and color

Print out our free downloadable PDF holiday labels. Use watercolor paint, crayons, markers, or colored pencils to color the birds. Cut out the finished birds and use tape or glue to attach them to your wrapped holiday gifts! Choose from Northern Cardinal, Tufted Titmouse, or screech owl.

Use Zazzle's tools to design your own Birdorable gift labels

Here are step-by-step instructions you can use to design personalized Birdorable gift label stickers for purchase. In this example, we'll design gift labels featuring one of our favorite birds, the Red-breasted Nuthatch. 1. Pick your bird! Visit Birdorable.com, click on Meet the Birds, and use the search box to find the Red-breasted Nuthatch species page. 2. Choose your design! Look at the Birdorable designs featuring the Red-breasted Nuthatch. For this example, we'll use Nuthatch Santa. 3. Start with a sticker! On the page featuring Nuthatch Santa apparel and gifts, find a sticker. Any sticker will do to start. Click on the square sticker to bring up the product page on Zazzle.com. 4. Customize it! Click on the orange Customize it! button to make changes to the sticker. Customization tools allow you to change things like the background color and design size and placement. The below video shows how customization works for some of these attributes.

You can make these kind of creative changes to all of our customizable stickers. So get creative and have fun! Happy holidays!

Our American friends are preparing to celebrate Thanksgiving tomorrow, which means that the holidays are just around the corner! We'd like to highlight just a few new products, popular products, and new designs that would make perfect gifts for the bird-lover on your holiday gift list.

Gifts For Owl Lovers

There's no doubt that owls are a hot design trend this year. Cute cartoon owls are especially popular. There are a lot of pastel or brightly colored owls on the market, but here at Birdorable we pride ourselves on designing cartoon birds that are totally cute and naturally accurate - though we aren't against adding a little whimsy to our designs. Case-in-point: our most popular seller this year has been Owls are Cool, which features a Birdorable Barred Owl wearing a cool pair of shades. Have a look at all of our cute owl gifts.

For Your Holiday Gift Exchange: Shop by Price

We have improved the shop-by-price function on Birdorable.com. In the upper left corner there is a handy box which lists gift recipients and gift price ranges. If you click on one of the price range links, you can see a list of all products within that range. The new functionality allows for searching for specific products and/or birds within a price range. For example, you can search for Barn Owl t-shirts priced between $25 and $35, Christmas ornaments priced $15 to $20, or Bald Eagle gifts from $7 to $13.

Fun Ideas for Backyard Birders

If you have someone on your list who loves feeding birds, let them show off their hobby with a cute t-shirt! We've got designs for sharing Backyard Bird love plus a special design for those across the pond who feed their garden birds. If your recipient has a special favorite bird, browse through our species pages to find the perfect gift!

Think Green with Sustainable Gifts

Promote conservation at home with reuseable water bottles and cloth grocery and tote bags.

NEW! Smartphone Cases for Everyone

We have cases for iPhone 5 cases; iPhone 4 cases; iPhone 3 cases; Droid RAZR phone cases; HTC Vivid cases; Samsung Galaxy S3 cases; Samsung Galaxy S2 cases; and Blackberry cases. Some of these cases are brand new in our shop and have not been added with all of our designs so far. If there is a case you want with a certain design, let us know and we'll add it as soon as we can!

Pictured: One Day I'm Going To Be The Pope! iPhone 3 case; Philippine Eagle HTC Vivid case; Four Color Warblers Blackberry case; Puffin Prowess iPhone 4 case; Leach's Storm Petrel iPhone 5 case We've got accessories for other electronic devices, too. Check out our growing collection of iPad cases & folios; iPod Touch cases; iPad mini cases; and Kindle Keyboard cases We've also got new apparel options, plus brand new birds will be added each week right up until the end of the year. We're really gearing up for Christmas! As you prepare for the coming season, we wish you and all of our Birdorable fans tranquility, peace, and love during this season, and all throughout the year.

Bohemian Waxwings are on the move this winter! A poor berry crop in their northern range may be driving them outside of their usual winter haunts. Flocks have been seen around southern Lake Michigan and individuals have been reported in many northeastern states in the U.S. The birds have also been reported in the Netherlands, where they rarely make an appearance.

Bohemian Waxwings aren't the only northern birds showing up further south this winter. Evening Grosbeaks, crossbills, Red-breasted Nuthatches, redpolls and other finch species are irrupting all over. Have you had any special winter visiters at your feeders so far this season? The Bohemian Waxwing was added to Birdorable on November 13, 2012. If you love these beautiful birds, be sure to check out our fun and cute Bohemian Waxwing t-shirts and gifts!