Birders and bird lovers worldwide are encouraged to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count Feb. 16-19, with several local events offered to mark the weekend. 

Haywood County Recreation is hosting a series of events throughout September. Here’s a look at what lies ahead

The Franklin Bird Club leads weekly birding walks along the Little Tennessee River Greenway in Franklin at 8 a.m. Wednesday mornings, with the public welcome to join.

Go birding at Buck Spring along the Blue Ridge Parkway with an expedition meeting 8 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 17, at Jukebox Junction in Bethel.

Howard Browers will lead the walk. Loaner binoculars are available. Cost is $10. Sign up at bit.ly/haywoodrec.

A bluebird has been knocking at our door this week — at the glass storm door, that is — and at the transom over the door and the windows nearby.

Help scientists band birds this summer with the “A Bird’s Eye View” program at Highlands Biological Station June 22, July 3, July 12, July 25 and Aug. 2.

The Highlands Biological Foundation will kick off its annual Zahner Conservation Lecture Series at 6 p.m. Thursday, June 15, with a talk from biologist Allen Hurlbert titled “Birds, Big Data and Citizen Science: Understanding the Impacts of Global Change.”

Explore the love-hate relationship between birds and insects during a talk from Balsam Mountain Trust Executive Director Michael Wall at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 16, at the Jackson County Public Library in Sylva.

Birds were little more than nondescript flitting things to me that afternoon in January 1973, when I lay down on my bunk to sleep. It was on the second floor of a rundown WWII barracks at a Marine Corps airbase in southern California. I needed sleep because I worked nights in the base’s cavernous warehouse, Building 313, where my job was to find whatever parts the flightline mechanics needed to keep jet fighters and other military “birds” ready to bomb and strafe. But that afternoon not jet roars but soft, high-pitched, beckoning whistles came through the open door at the end of the barracks and woke me up. I walked out onto the stairway landing.

Writers of fiction find themselves under several obligations. First and perhaps foremost, they must entertain their readers, enticing them to keep turning the pages. Doing so means creating believable characters who must get past some challenging hurdles, whether those involve love, war, nature, or other obstacles.