Some birds require habitats created by other animals. Two such landscape shapers were the American bison and the prairie dog. With the extermination of millions of bison and prairie dogs, species such as this Mountain Plover and the Burrowing Owl, which require barren ground, greatly…

Many birds look for islands when they want to find a great nesting site, because islands are often protected from mammalian predators. Some of the best places to find islands are oxbow lakes, like many of the ones protected by the National Wildlife Refuge System.

The climate of the earth is changing rapidly, and birds are responding accordingly. Of the 305 species found in North America in winter, nearly 60% have shifted their ranges northward by an average of 35 miles. As some places become unsuitable for the birds now living there, new areas will…

Migratory birds connect the Northern Plains with many parts of the Western Hemisphere. Barn and Cliff Swallows, Thick-billed Longspurs, this Lark Bunting, and many other birds winter from Central to southern South America. But their reproduction depends on the bounty of the prairie spring…

Gordon Orians, BirdNote science advisor and blackbird expert, believes we should appreciate nature “simply because of its intrinsic wonder.” He says, “Often people would ask me, 'What good are blackbirds?’ and I would sometimes answer by saying, 'Well, what good is a symphony orchestra?'…

It won’t be long before North America’s largest swallows, Purple Martins, will be looking for places to nest. They’ll be arriving from as far away as Venezuela and Brazil. In eastern North America, where most martins breed, they nest almost exclusively in human-made houses - like the one…

The wetlands surrounding Teshekpuk Lake provide a food-rich haven for Arctic-breeding geese during the late weeks of summer when they cannot fly. The birds are molting, replacing their worn-out flight feathers. To survive this dangerous time, they must find a place rich in food and safe…

On January 1, 2011, residents of Beebe, Arkansas awoke to find hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds lying dead on their lawns and in the streets. Birds in a nearby roost had all taken off at 10:15 PM, when fireworks shook the windows of nearby houses. They died by colliding with wires, trees…