Like the American Robin, the European Robin is a bird of yards and gardens. But it’s not much bigger than a chickadee. The robin’s likeness turns up everywhere from Mother Goose rhymes, Peter Rabbit stories, and whiskey labels to postage stamps and Christmas cards. On at least two occasions, the “Robin Red-Breast” has won the popular vote to become the UK’s unofficial national bird. And as for its breast color — one account has it that when the robin visited souls in Purgatory to refresh them with water, its breast was scorched to its current shade.

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Snow Geese nest from far northeastern Russia to Greenland, in the arctic and subarctic. They winter in large flocks on the deltas of rivers in northwestern Washington, areas along the Eastern Seaboard, and throughout the Mississippi Flyway. Watching Snow Geese in flight, author and naturalist Barry Lopez described them, "as if the earth had opened and poured them forth, like a wind, a blizzard, which unfurled across the horizon above the dark soil ... great swirling currents of birds in a rattling of wings..." To see if Snow Geese winter near you, visit Cornell's All About Birds. Be sure to watch the amazing video by Barbara Galatti, below!

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A Merlin hunts boldly from a high perch. A Peregrine Falcon dives on a hapless pigeon, with an air speed approaching 200 miles per hour. The Gyrfalcon can fly down even the fastest waterfowl in a direct sprint. A Prairie Falcon blends in with its background. And the smallest North American falcon of all, the American Kestrel, hovers a field, watching for a mouse or large insect. You can find out where to find these birds at Cornell's All About Birds.

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