Making the City That Never Sleeps Safer For Birds

New York City is at the center of a political fight over dimming nighttime lights that attract and kill migrating birds

The spotted bird looked out with big curious eyes, held in the deft hand of wildlife rehabilitator Tristan Higginbotham. It was found days earlier, dazed and unable to fly on the sidewalk in Williamsburg, Brooklyn after smashing into a building. Higginbotham gently released the bird near the floor, and we waited eagerly to see if it would pass the fly test. In a flurry of flapping wings, it took off and settled on a branch near the ceiling.

Supreme Court Ruling is Bad News for Birds and Everyone Else, Too

The court's ruling in the West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency case limits our ability to respond to the climate crisis and could have other serious implications.

“This ruling by the Supreme Court directly threatens our ability to protect birds, people, and the places we need,” said Marshall Johnson, chief conservation officer, National Audubon Society. “Birds are telling us that the climate is changing and more action is needed. Stripping agencies like the EPA of their ability to respond to these real and urgent threats puts our communities, birds, and other wildlife at greater risk.”

Swamps Can Protect Against Climate Change, If We Only Let Them

Wetlands absorb carbon dioxide and buffer the excesses of drought and flood, yet we’ve drained much of this land. Can we learn to love our swamps?

It can be hell finding one’s way across an extensive boggy moor—the partially dry, rough ground and the absence of any landmarks let the eye rove helplessly into the monotype distance. Everything undulates, the rise and fall share the same muted palette, and the senses dull. But a swamp is different: in it, in addition to water, there are trees and shrubs, just as reeds and rushes are the hallmarks of a marsh.

Bird Poop: The Next Frontier of Avian Conservation

Far from waste, a splotch of feces contains valuable information about a bird’s diet.

Birds, as the saying goes, are what they eat. And knowing exactly what they eat can help conservationists protect critical food sources and track environmental change. But until recently, sussing out birds’ grocery lists was cumbersome, requiring close observation to determine which type of berry a songbird snatched up or what kind of fish dangled from a seabird’s bill.

A Study of Published Research Suggests Both Brain Size and Brain-to-Body Ratio Are Factors in Intelligence in Birds

An international team of researchers has found evidence that both total brain size and the size of a brain in relation to the body are factors that determine intelligence in animals. In their paper published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, the group describes their study of published papers involving research on intelligence in animals. Prior research and some anecdotal evidence has suggested that brain size plays a major role in how intelligent a creature can be—humans and other primates have very large brains, for example.

Why Woodpeckers Don’t Mind Hitting Trees With Their Faces

The birds hammer away, yet they don’t get concussed. Scientists found that assumptions about the animals’ impact-absorbing skulls were wrong. Watching a woodpecker repeatedly smash its face into a tree, it’s hard not to wonder how its brain stays intact. For years, the prevailing theory has been that structures in and around a woodpecker’s skull absorb the shocks created during pecking. “Blogs and information panels at zoos all present this as fact — that shock absorption is occurring in woodpeckers,” said Sam Van Wassenbergh, a biologist at the University of Antwerp.

Acorn Woodpecker a.k.a. The Hoarder

HOARDING: the practice of collecting or accumulating something (such as money or food) -Merriam-Webster.

The Acorn Woodpecker has one of the more obvious names in the avian world. This striking bird with an almost comical face has a thing for acorns. A group of these birds is called a “bushel,” a perfect description for this Western woodpecker with a most unusual habit. Although they eat insects, sap and fruit, they depend on acorns to a large extent and have a unique solution to maintaining their food source. They store acorns in granaries or “storage trees” by drilling holes and then hammer the acorn into the hole with enough force to knock out us humans. Lots of acorns!

Birds of Ocracoke: The Least Tern, Resilient and Feisty

I have sometimes mused how I would end my Birds of Ocracoke profile series with: Last, but not least, is the Least Tern.

Sometimes called a sea swallow, the Least Tern (Sternula antillarum) has a graceful, fast, buoyant flight pattern with rapid wing beats.

Careful observers will notice they are capable of suddenly putting on the skids, hovering above water, then quickly plunging to grab a small fish, their prey of choice.

A Duck Needed Help Saving Her Ducklings. A Police Rescue Ensued.

A Maryland police officer lowered himself into a storm drain to pick up the ducklings one by one as the mother kept watch. People walk in to police stations for all kinds of reasons — to file a report, to ask an officer a question or maybe to check on a case. At 11 a.m. Wednesday, someone walked into a Montgomery County police station in Olney, Md., with an unusual request for help: A duck was acting strangely by a storm drain. Could the police check it out? The duck, the person said, had been walking on a sidewalk atop the storm drain for about an hour, making a distress noise that sounded like crying.

Neonic Nation: Is Widespread Pesticide Use Connected to Grassland Bird Declines?

Neonicotinoids are America's most used class of pesticides, found in the vast majority of the nation's corn crop and nearly half of soybeans. Given such pervasive use, their effects on songbirds—impacting critical functions like metabolism, reproduction, and migration—are troubling.

Sixty years ago this summer—in June of 1962—the first of a three-part serialization of Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was published in The New Yorker.

What's In a Bird Name?

More than 100 North American birds carry the names of people, some of whom were enslavers, supremacists, or grave robbers. A growing movement aims to do away with honorifics all together and bestow monikers that reflect each species' unique qualities

There is something remarkable about looking for birds at last light. When pandemic lockdowns began, I took daily walks around a placid lagoon in a park in downtown Santa Cruz, California. The verdant reeds and towering silver-barked trees glowed in the hours just before sunset.

Birdwatching Tips: It’s Summer… Where Did The Birds Go?

In the dog days of summer, birds seem to disappear—the dawn chorus wanes and an odd silence takes hold in woodlands. Many birds look bedraggled, no longer sporting their bright breeding colors. A lot of birders hang up their binoculars until fall migration. (July and August are typically the two lowest months for eBird checklist submissions.) But there’s no reason to stop birding. The birds are still there, they’re just keeping a low profile, because they’re replacing their feathers. Knowing what’s going on in the post-breeding lives of birds can help you keep finding species late into the summer.

A Walking Tour of Manhattan's Audubon Mural Project

Two warblers peeped over the scaffolding. Our guide pointed out the vibrant orange coat and black crown of the Blackburnian warbler and the gold neck and white “eyebrows” of the yellow-throated warbler.

The warblers weren’t in trees, though. They were in murals.

Viewing bird murals in Manhattan is not entirely dissimilar from birding: You never know exactly what you’ll find. A mural could be hidden by scaffolding, or a new one may suddenly appear, or one you expect to see may be gone.

Birds of Lake Los Carneros Short Film

One of Goleta’s gem locations is the stunning Lake Los Carneros. Now there is a newly released 7-minute short film, Birds of Lake Carneros, shot at this special location available to view. The Santa Barbara Audubon Society (SBAS) and filmmaker Michael Love recently released the short film which is rich in bird conservation, local history, and ecology.

The film celebrates local and migrating birds at Lake Los Carneros, raises awareness about the importance of this open space for providing critical habitat to avifauna and other wildlife, and inspires community environmental stewardship and nature conservation.

10 Tips for Capturing Incredible Photos of Birds

The most important aspect of capturing sharp, action packed photos of birds actually happens before you leave home, Knoot says. With any form of photography, knowing the ins and outs of the camera is helpful to photographers, but this might be most important for bird photographers. “With bird photography, having the ability to capture an image in the blink of an eye is crucial,” Knoot explains. “You may only have a half a second to capture the perfect shot, so knowing how to make lightning fast adjustments on your camera is a necessity.