Author: Marcus Ellery

Geese honk, hiss, bark, grunt and peep, and each sound has a job. Here is what every goose call means, when you hear it, and what to do when one hisses at you.

The shoebill stork fires off bursts of bill claps that sound like automatic gunfire. Here is how it does it, plus the US birds most often mistaken for the same sound.

Snowy owls boom, bark, cackle and hiss, but almost only on the Arctic tundra. Here is every call, the season it belongs to, and the owl you are really hearing at night.

Eagle droppings are a liquid white splash, not a pellet. Size, color, contents, where to find it, and the three birds it gets confused with.

One magpie means sorrow in Britain and good news in Korea. Here is what magpie symbolism means by tradition, by situation and in dreams.

Nightingale symbolism across Greek myth, Christian devotion, Persian poetry and folk belief, plus what hearing one at night is traditionally said to mean.

Every common cockatiel sound explained, from the piercing flock call to beak grinding, with the trigger behind each one and the time of day you hear it.

A heron means patience, self-reliance and thresholds. The Native American, biblical, Irish and East Asian readings, plus what each kind of sighting means.

The hen’s rising oo-eek squeal, the drake’s thin jeeb whistle and four more wood duck calls, with the season and time of day for each.

Crow droppings are white capped splashes of 0.5 to 1 in with visible seeds and insect parts. How to tell them from raven, pigeon and starling poop.