Louisiana Wildlife Federation Promotes “Lights Out Louisiana” Initiative to Protect Migrating Birds

The Louisiana Wildlife Federation is calling on building owners, businesses and residents to turn off unnecessary lighting from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. to help an estimated 500 million migratory birds pass through Louisiana safely.

LWF member Charles Williams says migratory birds navigate by the light of the moon and stars, but bright lights can lead to fatal collisions.

Free As a Bird

Chill vibes and a focus on observing and preserving nature have students flocking to UNLV's Birding and Conservation Club.

For the 20-plus members of UNLV’s Birding and Conservation Club, the popular saying “birds of a feather” is more than an idiom, it’s a way for students, faculty, staff, or even community members to “unplug,” connect with nature, and practice conservation alongside those who share a similar enthusiasm for observing birds.

Bird Walks Bring Students and Community Together on Campus

The first Bird Walk of the 2025-26 school year kicked off on Sept. 25 for the third year in a row.

Bird Walks happen once a month on a Thursday, guided by our campus’ own bird experts, going around campus to see different species of birds. Dr. Laurissa Hamilton, host of the Bird Walks and professor in the Biology department, was excited to start another year. She shared that the event is more than simply going out and looking for birds.

What to Grow in Fall If You Want Migrating Birds to Stop in Your Garden

As summer fades away and fall settles in, birds in North America begin preparing for the cold season—and your yard can become a vital fueling station for these feathered visitors. 

By planting the right flowers, plants and shrubs you can support migrating and overwintering birds while also enjoying a colorful, wildlife-friendly landscape.

Spending Time With Birds Has Health Benefits

In the days that followed the Sept. 11 attacks our soundscape changed. The ever-present thrum of aircraft was silenced, and the shift was eerie and uncomfortable. I had never realized how many airplanes I could hear even when they weren’t visible. They had just always been there and suddenly the world sounded wrong. A few days later the planes returned, and I felt a little less on edge. I think it was this realization that the world could sound off kilter that made me start paying more attention to bird songs and how they affected me.

Saving Puget Sound’s Puffins: Bringing These Ocean Ambassadors Back From the Brink

Hundreds of seabirds clung to Williamson Rocks, a guano-covered cluster of stone and grass rising just above the high tide line in Burrows Bay, near Anacortes, Washington. The spectacle drew a flurry of shutter clicks from photographers on a passing tour boat. The islet brimming with cormorants and gulls was missing at least one photogenic element, though.

Where Have All the Backyard Birds Gone?

Backyards that once erupted with the chatter of sparrows feel quieter. Fields that used to ring with the calls of blackbirds and meadowlarks now sit in an uneasy silence. Even the evening skies, once alive with the swooping swallows chasing a nighttime snack, seem strangely empty. Since 1970, nearly 3 billion birds have vanished from North America’s skies — almost one in every four. And most startling, it isn’t the rare species being lost first; it’s the sparrows, swallows, jays and thrushes that once seemed too abundant to ever fail.

Rare Bird Sightings Are on the Rise in Texas—But Why?

Texas birders have been treated to an unusual streak of sightings this year, including species that rarely, if ever, make an appearance in the state. In September, a double-striped thick-knee was spotted in South Texas—just the second recorded sighting of a Central and South American bird in the state since 1961. More recently, a northern jacana, a tropical shorebird from Mexico and Central America, turned up at a wildlife refuge in the Lower Rio Grande Valley for the first time in nearly a decade.

Male Condor Knocks Mate Off Cliff During Courtship Display

The adult condors on our new California Condor cam broadcasting from Southern California put on a show for us over the weekend!

After arriving to the nest area together, they moved out toward the rocky edge, whereupon the male stretched out his wings and began performing a courtship display called the “wing-out” display for the female. He was so enthusiastic that she ran out of room and had to fly off, with him in hot pursuit.

When the Rio Runs Dry

Audubon Southwest's efforts to provide refuge for wildlife on the Rio Grande.

The Rio Grande in New Mexico has had a rough year. A record-low snowpack this past winter, combined with limited storage capacity due to ongoing upgrades at El Vado Dam, left the river’s water reserves nearly empty. More than 75 miles of the river dried up this summer, including the Albuquerque stretch.

Birds and Climate Change

The most critical threat to birds and our planet at large, Climate Change affects all habitats in different ways. Rising sea levels are particularly ominous for coastal communities of both birds and people, but many non-coastal bird species may also be adversely affected by rising temperatures. According to National Audubon’s climate report, Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink, two-thirds of North American birds are at increasing risk of extinction from global temperature rise

A Tiny Seabird Faces Growing Threats in the Forest

Nesting often high in the redwoods’ canopy, the marbled murrelet faces new and longstanding risks.

Russian fur traders settled at Fort Ross on the rock-studded California coast in 1812, felling a grove of towering redwood trees for lumber to build a fort, homes and a church. More than two centuries later, the fort is a state park, and the redwood grove has regained the shady, canopy feel of old-growth forest, with a fern-bedecked floor and a creek purling beneath.

So Many Birds Are Migrating That They’re Appearing on Weather Radar

Up to half a billion birds are migrating southward each night. Researchers can use weather radars to track them.

Hundreds of millions of birds are taking to the skies each night, southward-bound in search of warmer weather — so many that you can spot them on weather radar. It’s data that researchers can use to estimate how many birds are in the skies and where they’re going.

Why Birds Sang After a Total Solar Eclipse, According to New Research

The total solar eclipse in North America on April 8, 2024, temporarily reset the biological clocks of some bird species, according to new research.

The eclipse created a dramatic spectacle as the moon moved between Earth and the sun, plunging midday into a few moments of total darkness along a path from Mazatlán, Mexico, to St. Johns in Newfoundland, Canada.

A Mystical Ornithology

“To let that cacophony wash over you, you almost have to divorce your mind from identifying anything. You just let everything that is, be what it is.”

This week, we bring you a film that spans the three themes we are exploring in print. It offers a taste of the larger frame that holds together our new issue, and the paradoxical ways we are entwined with the seasons through requiem, invitation, and celebration, each a thread we will unfurl in the coming months.

Blithewold’s Big Bamboo Birds Meant to Send Message of Conservation

It used to be possible to see an eastern bluebird or a sandhill crane around the gardens at Blithewold Manor on an average day, but now there are two gigantic examples of the two species perched on the grounds all the time. The big bamboo birds are a part of an installation of sculptures dotted around the 100-plus-year-old property created by artists Andy Moerlein and Donna Dodson, aka Mr. & Mrs. Myth Maker. The married couple have collaborated for 15 years, creating large-scale outdoor art.

Classical Music (is) for the Birds

Q: What do you call birds who don’t know the song lyrics?

A: Hummingbirds.

Cheeky blog title aside, there are many examples of classical composers who have been inspired by birds, bird legends, and of course, bird songs. While clucking chickens and elegant swans and others in the avian world aren’t necessarily limited to springtime appearances, I thought it would be fun to put the birds front and center now that it’s the season we start to spend more time outdoors.

California Condors

Hosted by US Fish and Wildlife Service

Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge, CA

This year’s California Condor Cam experience focuses on not only a new nest, but a new wildlife refuge. This year’s nest is in Orchard Draw located on the Bitter Creek National Wildlife Refuge, featuring #328 (male), #216 (female), and #1379 (chick).

White-breasted Nuthatch

Do you have a bird feeder in your backyard? Then it’s likely you’ll see this perky little visitor, a distinctive gray, black and white bird that is common in United States where its nasally call can be heard all year long.

Because the White-breasted Nuthatch wedges its excess food into tree bark crevices, it's often spotted in densely wooded areas or open spaces with large trees. While often seen at bird feeders, during the summer the White-breasted Nuthatch feeds on insects like beetles, ants, and caterpillars.

Momentary Meditations are published every Monday to awaken what Rachel Carson called “the sense of wonder” and what Albert Schweitzer called “a reverence for life.” Looking deeply into our interdependence with all life on earth helps us know what we must do. In our harried world, these meditations are meant to serve as a renewable resource for compassion and love.

Hope Lifts - “We grow up, but the world remains a child...” -these words by Rainer Maria Rilke settled into me as I watched this pair of ospreys rebuild a nest created by older birds who once sang and are now still.