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Burgess Birds

  • Mourner, the Mourning Dove

    Mourner, the Mourning Dove

    We have the tendency to overlook animals that we see often, and that includes Mourning Doves. I’ve heard people confuse them for Pigeons, and that’s okay! Let’s get a few things right about them. Thornton W. Burgess actually clears up some things about Mourner in Chapter 34 of The Burgess Bird Book for Children. Peter…

  • Chicoree, the American Goldfinch

    Chicoree, the American Goldfinch

    American Goldfinches are a great bird to try and attract to your backyard bird feeder. They love seeds, especially nyjer and sunflower seeds, which makes it easy for them to be year-round in many places around the United States. One thing that Peter Rabbit picks up on in The Burgess Bird Book for Children are…

  • Linnet, the Purple Finch

    The name Linnet and why Burgess would choose it, caused me to pause and think this morning. Amazingly in my research, I discovered that it comes from Welsh, French origin and means “songbird.” I am always encouraged by Thornton W. Burgess’ thoroughness when delivering natural history to children. To think about how much thought and…

  • Indigo, the Indigo Bunting

    Indigo, the Indigo Bunting

    Why are Indigo Buntings blue? Do you have any idea? If a bird is blue it’s because it doesn’t have blue pigment. Isn’t it so interesting how that works? As Cornell Lab tells us, Their jewel-like color comes instead from microscopic structures in their feathers that refract and reflect blue light, much like the airborne…

  • Chewink, the Eastern Towhee

    Chewink, the Eastern Towhee

    We find Peter Rabbit having to make a brave choice as he sees Chewink, the Eastern Towhee for the first time in The Burgess Book for Children, by Thornton W. Burgess. As he is observing Chewink scratch along the ground for food, he sees Reddy Fox preparing to capture Chewink. Peter doesn’t want to be…

  • Veery, the Veery

    Veery, the Veery

    Veery, the Veery… it just rolls off the tongue. But what exactly is a Veery? In his classic, The Burgess Bird Book for Children, Thornton W. Burgess mentions that Veery has been named Wilson’s Thrush and Tawny Thrush as well. Veery has this name now because of his call, which you can sample here. I…

  • Hermit, the Hermit Thrush

    Hermit, the Hermit Thrush

    In The Burgess Bird Book for Children, Burgess doesn’t go into great detail about the Hermit Thrush except to say a few things. He comments that his song is even more lovely than Melody’s. If you want to hear it for yourself, you can check here. Although he doesn’t go into detail, if you live…

  • Melody, the Wood Thrush

    Melody, the Wood Thrush

    In Chapter 31 we happen upon Peter at the time of dusk, listening to the birds sing themselves to sleep. He hears one voice after the others have stopped, very clearly in the wood, from a tree just back of him, there poured fourth a song so clear, so sweet, so wonderfully suited to that…

  • Mocker, the Northern Mockingbird

    Mocker, the Northern Mockingbird

    I grew up in the DFW area in Texas from the age of six until I was out of college. I was aware of birds, but I really didn’t pay attention to them. I was keen on words, however, and the word Mockingbird was all around me. There was an elementary school in my town,…

  • Brownie, the Brown Thrasher

    Brownie, the Brown Thrasher

    In Chapter 30 of The Burgess Bird Book for Children, Jenny Wren asks Peter if he has seen her bigger cousin. If you know the size of a House Wren, you would be just as surprised as Peter was at her question. This larger super family that she is speaking of as her second cousins…

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