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Green-tailed towhee pairs may attempt to renest four times or more during the breeding season if a nest fails. They will initiate a nest as late as mid-July, even though many leave the breeding grounds for their winter range by mid-August.

Virginia’s warblers in Arizona nest in drainage bottoms in unusually dry years, instead of their usual nesting sites in drier, higher elevation areas. Nest predation and nest mortality are greater for birds nesting in the drainage bottoms. This could negatively impact populations if climate change leads to increasing drought conditions and more Virginia’s warblers nesting in wetter areas.

Although capable of killing large prey, golden eagles primarily hunt rabbits, hares, ground squirrels, and prairie dogs. It takes a juvenile bird four years to reach adulthood, juveniles typically don’t have territories and don’t migrate far from their natal territories (where they hatched). They disperse and ”hang around” the region for several years.

Although western bluebirds form a monogamous pair during the breeding season, many bluebird nests contain young that the resident male did not father. A pair of western bluebirds may also have helpers at the nest, who are thought to be assisting their supposed parents after their nests have failed.

Male common nighthawks are known for their dramatic “booming” flight display. When flying above the trees, a male will dive towards the ground and abruptly pull out of the dive, sometimes just above the ground. As he flexes his wings downward, the air rushes across his wingtips, making a booming or whooshing sound. The male may dive to impress a female or scare intruders, such as people.

To survive cold nights, pygmy nuthatches huddle together in tree cavities and let their body temperature drop down into hypothermia. They are one of two bird species in North America that uses this combination of energy-saving mechanisms; the other being the Vaux’s Swift.

Male prairie mole crickets form aggressions or leks which are easy to locate from the loud call of the males. During the spring mating season, males call to flying females attracting them for mating from specialized acoustic burrows that are shaped like a bicycle horn and greatly amplify the sound of their calls. The male rubs its wings together after positioning itself with its head toward the back of the chamber, starting around sunset and ending at darkness.

Red-headed woodpeckers eat the most insects of any woodpecker, sometimes caching grasshoppers alive in a tree crevice so they can be eaten later. Red-headed woodpeckers are also one of the few woodpeckers to store food for later and is the only one known to cover stored food with wood or bark. They may also store nuts and acorns in human structures, like in gate posts and under roof shingles.

Naturalists in the 1800’s reported red-cockaded woodpeckers as very abundant throughout their range. Between 1970 and 2014, the red-cockaded woodpecker declined in numbers by 81% based on Breeding Bird Survey and Christmas Bird Count information.

The golden-cheeked warbler is the only bird to breed in Texas exclusively. Males will return to the same nesting territory year after year and will often breed with the same partner in subsequent years.