Heavy flooding along Kauai's north shore have driven endangered birds, including the 'alae 'ula, or the Hawaiian moorhen, to crossing busy roads while attempting to find food and move their young to higher ground. According to the Honolulu Star Bulletin, however, several 'alae 'ula have been killed by cars, and in at least one instance the driver purposefully swerved to hit a bird.

The Hawaiian moorhen has been critically endangered since 1967, and today there are fewer than 300 remaining. Drivers should exercise caution in the Hanalei and Wailua River valleys, where most of the birds are concentrated. Anyone who sees deliberate harming of the birds should report the incident immediately to local authorities.

Drivers are often a threat to waterfowl, birds of prey and even songbirds feeding along the side of the road. Be a safe driver for yourself and the birds: slow down, watch carefully and never bird while driving!

Hawaiian Moorhen
Photo © tgreyfox

This week's spotlight bird is a highly desirable backyard guest: the Baltimore oriole. With its bright orange, yellow and black plumage and warbling song, this oriole is a beautiful spring and summer bird, and its sweet tooth makes it a joy to feed as it scoops out oranges or dabbles in the grape jelly. At the same time, Baltimore orioles love insects, making them resident pest control for lucky backyard birders.

Do you have Baltimore orioles that visit your yard? Share your oriole feeding tips and experiences in the comments!

Baltimore Oriole
Photo © Nick Saunders

Too often birders only pay attention to local or regional birds, forgetting that there are more than 10,000 bird species in the world. Maj. Randel Rogers of the Ohio Army National Guard will bring international birds to the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge in northern Ohio with his presentation "Birding from the Trenches" at 2 p.m. Dec. 13, according to The News-Messenger. While stationed at Al Asad Airbase in Iraq, Rogers saw more than 120 species of birds and participated in a local Christmas Bird Count.

The program, part of the refuge's "Naturally Speaking" seminar series, is free and open to the public. Visit the Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge for details.

Interested in adding international birds to your life list? Check out different birding tour companies to plan exciting birding travel.

Maj. Randel Rogers
Photo © Army Environmental Update

Any birder can tell you that corvids, the group of birds that includes crows, ravens, magpies and jays, are highly intelligent, but new observations from Israel have revealed cooperative hunting behavior that has been previously unknown from groups of birds, according to BBC News. Brown-necked ravens were observed to band together to hunt Egyptian Mastigure lizards with tactics including lookouts, blocking the lizards' escape and maintaining guards until the lizard is dead. Individual birds and pairs of birds were participating in these hunts, but aside from hunting the birds did not flock together.

Tactics like this demonstrate that the birds are able to recognize the hunting situation, analyze what roles are needed and work together to be successful. Other species of corvids have demonstrated the ability to make tools to retrieve food, cache food for later use and deceive other birds about where their food is stored.

What feats of intelligence have your backyard birds demonstrated? Share your experiences in the comments!

Brown-Necked Ravens
Photo © Lip Kee Yap