Wildlife Wednesday: Happy Winter Solstice!

It’s the longest night of the year, and that means many birds have migrated south by now. But blue jays often stick around for the winter. Blue jays are champion hoarders: Acorns are one of their favorite foods, and they're known to gather and stash them for feeding later on. One study tracked individual blue jays caching 3,000 to 5,000 acorns in a single autumn! But sometimes they can't eat them all—and their acorn burying may have helped spread oak trees since the end of the last major Ice Age. (Photo: Karen McDonald)

Learn more: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Blue_Jay/lifehistory

Wildlife Wednesday: The Keel-Billed Toucan

Meet the national bird of Belize! The keel-billed toucan makes its home in the tropics, from Mexico to Venezuela and Colombia. Though enormous, their bills are hollow, making them lightweight and perfect for swallowing fruit whole. They're also known for taking care of their families: Keel-billed toucans appear to mate for life, and both parents take turns incubating eggs and caring for the young during the eight to nine weeks it takes them to leave the nest. (Photo: Keel-billed toucan perched in an African tulip tree in Panama, by SERC ecologist John Parker)

Read more about the keel-billed toucan  

SERC ecologist Laura Logozzo prepares to study the new species Spearow, which made its first recorded appearance in Maryland eight days ago. Origin: Unknown. Key distinctive traits:  Short wings, fast but limited flight capacity, and a loud cry that can be heard up to half a mile away. Preferred diet: Bugs and massive quantities of cell phone battery life. (Photo: Jocelyn Mendez)

‪#‎FunFactFriday‬: Hummingbirds are one of the only birds able to fly backwards, but their feet are so small they can barely walk! At best, they can scoot sideways as they perch. Lighter feet enable them to be more efficient flyers. But small size comes with another cost: Their tiny bodies lose heat extremely quickly. Hummingbirds have to consume their own weight or more every day to maintain their body temperature - giving them the fastest metabolism of any bird.

(Photo: Ruby-Throated Hummingbird at the SERC Reed Center , by education volunteer Sally Moran Parker)

The Smithsonian’s 12 Days of Ecology: Day 7

Welcome to Day 7 of 12 Days of Ecology! Did you know the largest single cell in the animal world today is an egg? Ostriches lay the largest eggs of any bird alive (about 7 inches long), though some species of dinosaurs laid larger ones in Earth’s prehistoric past. (Photo: Dutch National Archives. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/nl/deed.en)

A blue heron in Muddy Creek. Photo by @josiefeen #SERC #ChesapeakeBay #MuddyCreek #bird #blueheron #heron #nature (at Muddy Creek Marsh)

Found: unoccupied bird nest on the brick wall of #SERC's butterfly garden. (at Smithsonian Environmental Research Center)