The American Kestrel is only 8 1/2 inches long and is in the Falcon family. Falcons chase and catch their prey in flight or on the ground after an aerial dive. They eat smaller birds, small animals, and insects.

They do not build nests. They nest in tree cavities, other birds stick nests. While not endangered, their numbers have been dwindling due to lack of nesting places. In Bedford, we have four American Kestrel bird houses: two at Huckins Farm, one at Jordan, and one at Little Meadows conservation areas.

The Barred Owl is a medium-sized owl with vertical barring on its belly. It is 16-25 inches tall. Owls are nocturnal predators. .

A Barred Owl will use a perch, from where it dives upon its prey because it cannot catch birds in mid-air. Its main prey are voles, shrews, and mice. It can catch young rabbits, squirrels, birds, small fish, snakes, turtles, and frogs. Prey is usually devoured on the spot. Larger prey is carried to a feeding perch and torn apart before eating.

They mate in February and breed from March to August. The mates engage in mutual preening and mutual feeding. They use abandoned nests and care for their young about four months, longer than most other owls.

To read more about Barred Owls, click here.

Bluebirds are a member of the Thrush family and are related to robins. They prefer to live in open meadows and pastures. They nest in old tree cavities and will readily use nesting boxes. Their nesting places are dwindling because of the lack of dead trees. The majority of their diet is insects. They also eat seeds and suet, berries, and fruit.

For more information about Bluebirds, click here.

Blue Jays are related to crows. They are found in most forests and scrub habitats. They eat smaller birds, birds eggs and fledglings as well as seeds and acorns. They often bury seeds and acorns. They sound an alarm in the forest when danger is near with their raucous jay-jay, harsh cries, and have a rich variety of other calls, including musical calls and soft cooing, They can mimic the call of hawks to scare smaller birds.They will also mob a predator and have been known to chase cats.

They make a sloppy nest coarsely built of sticks, lined with grass, concealed in a crotch of a tree, usually a conifer. Occasionally, one of their fledglings may fall out of the nest. At one residence in Bedford, a mother Jay came to the back door to get assistance for her fledgling who had fallen from the nest. They are monogamous and may mate for life. In the fall, they migrate in large loose flocks but birds from the north replace local populations in winter. In Hartwell Forest, you can see flocks of Blue Jays in winter.

The Cardinal is a medium-sized songbird about 8 3/4 inches. It lives in thickets and brushy areas, edges, and clearings. Cardinals have loud clear songs and females will sing a duet with the male.

The Cardinal eat seeds, leaf buds, flowers, berries, and fruit. Up to one-third of its summer diet can be insects. It does not migrate. Its winter diet is mostly vegetable matter, such as large seeds. Cardinals tend to cluster into flocks in winter.

Gray Catbirds are found in shrubby areas along forest edges and near streams. They forage on the ground for insects, including ants, beetles, spiders, and millipedes. When feeding on the ground, they toss leaves aside with their bills to get prey hidden beneath. In summer, fruit makes up more than half of its diet. They also eat honeysuckle, buckthorn, ilex, grapes, dogwood, and poison ivy.

Although their typical song sounds like a meow, they are also able to make a variety of sounds and mimic other birds. Following the nesting season, they usually stop singing.

Their nests are usually between 3 and 10 feet above the ground hidden in vines and thickets. The nests are built of twigs, grapevine bark, and grasses. Females incubate eggs while the male stands guard nearby. He occasionally feeds his mate.

The Black-Capped Chickadee is the Massachusetts state bird. It roosts in evergreen forests, eating insects and sees. Chickadees store or cache some of their food for later, especially for winter when food supplies are scarce.

They are well known for their "chick-a-dee-dee" chatter. They have one of the most complex systems of bird calls. Depending on slight variations in the phrases, the call can be an alarm call or can give information about an individual's identity or indicate that they recognize a particular flock.

The Great Horned Owl has large, staring yellow-range eyes and is 18-25 inches long. The oldest Great Horned Owl on record was 27 years old. It lives in dense forests. In Bedford, Great Horned Owls have nested in Hartwell Forest.

They eat prey ranging in size from mice to skunks but also eat insect larvae, small frogs, or insects attracted to lights. This owl may take prey 2 to 3 times heavier than itself. They usually swoop down to catch prey but can also hunt by walking on the ground or wading into water to snatch frogs and fish. Rodents and small rabbits can be swallowed whole while larger prey are carried off and ripped apart at feeding perches or at the nest.

They may retain the same mate year after year until one dies. Females are 10-20% larger than males.

To read more about Great Horned Owls, click here.

Ruby-Throated Hummingbird

The tiny Ruby-Throated Hummingbird is only 3 1/2 inches long and weighs 1/8 ounces. Its wings beat about 40-80 times a second.

They return from migration in April and early May and are attracted to the color red. They are easily attracted to feeders and may become territorial and aggressive protecting the feeder from rival hummingbirds, and even insects such as bees and butterflies. Their tiny nest is built by the female attached to a tree limb with spider web. The outside is covered with lichen and the inside is lined with danelion, cattail, or thistle down. The nest stretches to accommodate the growing fledglings and may be reused the following year.

The Mourning Dove is approximately 12 inches long. It is the most widely hunted and harvested game bird. These doves produce up to six broods per year, more than any other native bird. They make nest in many places from an evergreen tree to a clump of grass.

Mourning Doves feed primarily on the ground, eating grain and weed seeds. Their crops fill quickly with seeds and digestion, aided by swallowed grit, occurs while the birds are resting, perched in trees. Mourning Doves feed their fledglings crop milk, which is secreted by the crop lining. and regurgitated by both adults.

The Red-Tailed Hawk has a large broad russet red tail and a wing span of 56 inches. It is generally found in grasslands but can also live in forests.

It has a scream that is most commonly heard while hovering overhead at a high altitude. Its keen eyesight spots the slightest movement in the grass below. It is aggressive and vigorously defends its territory, especially during the winter months when hunting is difficult

Its eats small rodents, rabbits, snakes and lizards included. Its talons are its main weapons. Mating and nest building begin in early spring, usually in March and continue through May. Hawks may mate for life and use the same nest year after year.

Red-Winged Blackbirds breed in cattail marshes, like Great Meadows in Concord. After breeding, they forage in nearby fields. They eat mostly insects when breeding, fruits and seeds when they are not breeding. Orioles have strong bills with a sharp tip. This allows them insert their bill in soil, mud, or bark to get insects. The male may defend a territory and defend several females that he has mated with. Females in polygamous situation will not chase off other males but will chase off other females. Males do help feed the fledglings.

The robin is about 12 inches long and is a member of the thrush family. It is noted for its cheery voice and for pulling worms from lawns. They are often one of the first birds to sing in the morning.

In summer their diet shifts to berries such as mulberry, sumac, grape, viburnum, and cedar, as they shift from their breeding season diet of insects and earthworms to become wholly vegetarian.

In the fall, they migrate to the southern states.

As early settlement of Massachusetts progressed, hardwood forests were cut down, removing Wild Turkey habitat. In 1960, Mass Wildlife re-introduced 22 Wild Turkeys into the Quabbin Reservation.

Turkeys can now be found in forests or fields. They are active during the day and roost at night for protection to avoid predators. They primarily eat vegetation such as leaves, fruit, flowers, nuts, tubers, and seeds. They nest on the ground in a depression lined with dry vegetation and concealed in shrubs or tall grasses. They are short-lived - 1 to 5 years. They are polygamous and the male takes no part in brood-rearing. Wild turkeys live in flocks organized by "pecking order." This pecking order is a social ranking in which each bird is dominant over or "pecks on" birds of lesser social status

The Downy Woodpecker's voice is a quiet pick; also a rapid descending series of notes ( a coarse whinny of sorts). They make their nests in holes in dead tree limbs about 50 feet above ground and line them with wood chips. In winter, each bird digs out its own roost. Spines on the end of their tail act as braces as they climb or drill.