Rasheena Fountain studied environmental science and worked at her local Audubon Society. Now she writes about nature and diversity in the outdoors. And what got her interested in the first place? It all started in kindergarten, with a teacher named Miss Beak and the first robin of spring.

Kelsen Caldwell drives a bus in and around Seattle for King County Metro. As a bus driver, sometimes there’s downtime if your bus is moving too fast. What do you do with all that extra time? If you’re Kelsen, you fall in love with birds.

The 2020 wildfire season burned more than 8 million acres in the West, including some of the most important habitat for the Greater Sage-Grouse in Washington State. Ashley Ahearn visited a lek she’d seen in the spring with biologist Michael Schroeder to understand the scope of the damage…

The 2020 wildfire season burned more than 8 million acres in the West, including some of the most important habitat for the Greater Sage-Grouse in Washington State. Ashley Ahearn visited a lek she’d seen in the spring with biologist Michael Schroeder to understand the scope of the damage…

The 2020 wildfire season burned more than 8 million acres in the West, including some of the most important habitat for the Greater Sage-Grouse in Washington State. Ashley Ahearn visited a lek she’d seen in the spring with biologist Michael Schroeder to understand the scope of the damage…

In the Red Desert of Wyoming, Erik Molvar takes us up close and personal with a Greater Sage-Grouse mating site, known as a lek. “Anybody who’s ever been to a singles bar will recognize this scene,” Erik says. “The males are puffing out their chests, strutting around, trying to catch the…

In the Red Desert of Wyoming, Erik Molvar takes us up close and personal with a Greater Sage-Grouse mating site, known as a lek. “Anybody who’s ever been to a singles bar will recognize this scene,” Erik says. “The males are puffing out their chests, strutting around, trying to catch the…

Matt Holloran has been studying Greater Sage-Grouse for more than 20 years, assessing how oil and gas extraction affects them. His favorite lek, or mating site, is an important place for Matt. He and his wife met here doing research. They named their first daughter Sage. Over the years, he…

Matt Holloran has been studying Greater Sage-Grouse for more than 20 years, assessing how oil and gas extraction affects them. His favorite lek, or mating site, is an important place for Matt. He and his wife met here doing research. They named their first daughter Sage. Over the years, he…

Wilson Wewa, an elder of the Northern Paiute tribe of the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon, remembers the first time he saw a sage-grouse lek … hearing their otherworldly sound. “As a little boy of about five or six years old, I got scared!” Wewa says. “I didn’t know what it was.” [Hear…