A city lake is one of the most prized places in a fast, growing environment. It’s also often difficult to distinguish all of the bird calls from each other. With a splash of a beak, a glide of a wing, and an eye of a predator — listen closely, and then again to sharpen your bird ear…

In spring and summer, Yellow Warblers sing from treetops to stream sides. While their beauty and songs commonly light up our most vibrant months, they face imminent challenges. Yellow Warbler populations have adapted genetically to their local climates. That makes them vulnerable to…

Tropical rainforests are stunning places. Despite covering a small part of the Earth’s surface, they support half of the world’s biodiversity. The variety of lifeforms stands out visually in stunning color, and in sound through the strange and beautiful calls of birds. Today is World…

The Umatilla Chemical Depot in Oregon, a landscape dotted with a thousand concrete bunkers, may not look like an ideal haven for birds. But the site has taken on a new life — as a luxury subdivision for Burrowing Owls. That’s thanks in part to David H. Johnson, the founder of the Global…

Burrowing Parakeets excavate deep nest tunnels in sandstone and limestone cliffs in Argentina and Chile. The colony’s many tunnels zigzag and interconnect, creating an intricate labyrinth. Their nesting colonies are among the largest of any parrot — one in Argentina has 70,000 birds…

In 2022, ornithologists recognized the Chihuahuan Meadowlark as a separate species rather than a subspecies of the Eastern Meadowlark. Named after the northern region of Mexico where they're easy to find, Chihuahuan Meadowlarks live in dry desert grasslands. They form a distinct population…

The Magellanic Plover is known for being a bit of an oddball. These shorebirds have a round body like a dove and even feed their young with milk produced in a part of their digestive system called the crop — a rare trait they share with doves. But genetic data revealed that Magellanic…

While many birds have hollow bones that make flying a breeze, diving birds are built differently. The bones of divers such as Common Loons are denser than those of songbirds and other expert fliers. With a lightweight skeleton, they’d be too buoyant to dive and chase fish. Instead, loons…

Project FeederWatch is a community science project studying over 100 species of birds that spend their winters in North America. From November through April, people count the birds they see at a bird feeder, whenever and wherever they’re able, and submit their bird list to the project.

Vahé Alaverdian of Falcon Force, along with his Harris’s Hawk named PacMan, have partnered with the San Francisco Municipal Railway to deter pigeons from El Cerrito del Norte Station, where the situation had gotten dire. This form of pest management involves having a trained bird of prey…