Mourning Doves in Iowa

Image by Irene K-s from Pixabay

The mourning dove is the most abundant game bird in Iowa with the highest numbers in the southern half of the state and the Loess Hills. But they are abundant in all 99 counties. These birds are the brownish-gray birds you see at feeders quite frequently. When they eat seeds, they don’t eat them right Read More »

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Purple martins are the largest swallow in the U.S.

a male and female purple martin

A colony of white, gourd-like houses hang on a large pole outside of the Dickinson County Nature Center. Around them flies dozens of gliding, floating, flitting dark birds — purple martins. Local birder and owner of Bird Haven in Spirit Lake Wendell Hansen has cared for the purple martins for many years, and last June Read More »

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Nine Fun Facts About Woodpeckers

Graphic with photos of woodpeckers

There are birds at your nut feeder with black, white and red. What are they? The safe answer is, it’s a woodpecker. Adult males of six of the seven species of woodpeckers in Iowa have some combination of black, white and red, in fact. It might be a red-headed, red-bellied, downy, hairy, pileated woodpecker or Read More »

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