Rethinking the Dodo, ice age bird carvings, and a hunt banned after 500 years

Hello Life List Friends,

The dodo has been synonymous with foolishness for four centuries, but new research suggests it was clever, and possibly the only nocturnal bird in its family.

In a cave in Germany, ice age carvings roughly 40,000 years old show humans were already studying bird behavior.

Also in this issue: a rarely seen Northern Cassowary that stands six feet tall, evidence crows track which humans are trustworthy, the centuries-old Guga Hunt called off for the first time, and eighteen things hummingbirds do at a feeder that reveal how much calculation is involved.

There’s much more too, including upcoming trips with Hillstar Nature and Alvaro’s Adventures that still have spaces available.

Listen to our latest podcast episode. Pollinators for birds: Tips and traps with Doug Tallamy.

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February 12 - 18, 2027 with Phil Chaon

There aren’t many countries where you can hope to see all the endemic birds in about a week, especially while birding at a fairly relaxed pace. But then they don’t call it “The Island of Enchantment” for nothing. Join us for a quick getaway, see some tantalizing tropical birds, all while still on US soil.

✅ A great way to enjoy birdwatching is by going to festivals - they’re organized to get you to well-known birding spots at the right time of year, and they’re a perfect way to meet people: Birding festivals and events.

✅ The Mauritian Dodo - a global symbol of human-caused extinction and one of the world's largest pigeons - may not have deserved its reputation as a silly simpleton and may have been the only member of its group to live in the dark: Dodo birds more clever than we thought.

✅ The roughly 40,000-year-old figures show that humans were already watching bird behavior: Ice Age bird figurines discovered in German cave.

✅ Seven-year-old Khalib Townsend hikes in the rain along the Audubon Discovery Center's nature trail. He's all suited up in a bright blue waterproof jacket, holding in his small hands a pair of binoculars that hang around his neck. We asked a first grader to interview his hero: A bird scientist.

✅ The famed archipelago may be home to a smooth hammerhead shark nursery: Mysterious shark spotted near the Galápagos Islands for the first time in over 20 years.

March 15 - 24, 2027 with Joshua Covill

The sleepy southwest and the Pacific slope of Costa Rica’s Talamanca mountains feature a number of bird species that are tough to see elsewhere. This 9-night trip we hone in on key sites to seek special birds in a less visited part of this iconic birding country.

Darwin’s finches, famous for inspiring evolutionary theory in the Galápagos, actually belong to which bird family?

Hint: They are part of a diverse family spread throughout the Americas but with almost no representation in the United States and Canada.

Find the answer toward the bottom of this newsletter.

🪶 The Barking Owl is a striking-looking hunter found in Australia’s woodlands. Compact, powerful and yellow-eyed, it spends the day roosting in foliage before emerging to hunt mammals, birds, reptiles and insects as the light fades: It barks like a dog and howls like a human – and is a silent, deadly hunter.

🪶 These birds may be judging your character more carefully than some people you know: Animal cognition suggests crows recognize honest and dishonest human behavior.

🪶 Conservationists hope a vulture photography competition can help improve the public’s perception of the animals, which play an important ecological role by disposing of carrion. Nature’s cleanup crew: Stunning photos show vultures in a different light.

🪶 Before the first true birds spread their feathers, vast winged reptiles called pterosaurs had already mastered powered flight, evolving into everything from tiny insect hunters to giants as tall as giraffes: 10 fascinating prehistoric creatures that ruled the skies before birds.

🪶 American robins have been on the menu for far longer than they’ve been off. While we associate their round, chubby bodies with pure cuteness, all early European settlers saw was a filling dinner: This small bird was once a dinner staple.

🪶 Seven-year-old Miles came up with the idea while feeding Eastern Rosellas at his grandparents' house on Raymond island, Australia: Earworm formula behind viral hit Eastern Rosellas.

🪶 Every single visit is packed with split-second decisions, silent threats, and calculated bets: 18 peculiar things hummingbirds do around a feeder.

February 20 - March 4, 2028 with George Armistead & Surya Ramachandran

Immerse yourself in one of the most unique places on earth. Blessed with extraordinary habitats that change drastically with altitude and proximity to the coast, the richness of species and the diversity of habitats have led to its classification as one of the top ten biodiversity hotspots on the planet.

Tanagers (family Thraupidae). The birds called tanagers in the US and Canada such as Scarlet, Summer, Western, etc. are not in this family. They belong to genus Piranga, now classified under Cardinalidae, closer kin to cardinals than to true tanagers.”

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