Jan 25

News

ABC Birding: Barba Azul Nature Reserve, Bolivia

https://youtu.be/WYLcpn14_4A Lay of the Land Barba Azul Nature Reserve is located in northern Bolivia, in the northern part of a rich and remote region called the Beni Savanna. Habitats within the reserve include seasonally flooded grasslands, gallery forest, palm islands, marshes, and riverside wetlands. “Barba azul” is Spanish for “blue… Read more >>

Jan 24

News

A Tale of Two Marsh Birds

Imagine keeping your eye on birds across 1,500 miles, from the mangroves of Puerto Rico to Maine marshes. That’s the purview of the Atlantic Coast Joint Venture (ACJV), a partnership formed in 1988 that coordinates marsh-bird conservation along the entire U.S. East Coast and beyond. The ACJV brings together dozens… Read more >>

Dec 20

News

Growing Coffee in Partnership with Nature and Community

During a trip to the Central Andean region of Caldas, Colombia, Erica J. Sánchez Vázquez, ABC’s Multimedia Producer, learned how resident and migratory bird species benefit from habitat improvements on local coffee farms. This is Part 2 of her report on the work of Paisajes Sostenibles (PaSos), a multi-partner sustainability… Read more >>

Dec 19

News

Coffee, Birds, and Forests in the Colombian Andes

The Canada, Cerulean, and Golden-winged Warblers are three declining species that the Paisajes Sostenibles project is working to conserve. Photos by Ray Hennessy/Shutterstock. It’s a chilly November morning on Marino Cifuentes’s coffee farm in the Central Andean region of Caldas, Colombia. His home is one of our stops on a… Read more >>

Dec 14

News

Birds Mean Business in Ecuador's Andes

How winged creatures provide wonder, inspiration, and prosperity in one of the world’s birdiest regions. Sword-billed Hummingbird. Photo by Michael J. Parr. Straddling the Andes and equator in northern Ecuador, Pichincha Province resembles a jagged swift gliding east across the map. In an area smaller than Connecticut, the province hosts… Read more >>

Oct 31

News

Common Backyard Birds of the United States

American Robin. Photo by Jeff Rzapka/Shutterstock. If you’re just getting interested in birds, identifying the ones that live in your backyard or neighborhood is a great place to begin. With a little guidance and patience, most people can quickly learn to recognize these common birds by sight and sound. To… Read more >>

Sep 21

News

Nests of Rare South American Birds

In South America, the nests and breeding behavior of many secretive species remain shrouded in mystery. This offers exciting opportunities for ornithologists and birders to fill in knowledge gaps. In recent years, a few individual researchers, like Harold Greeney in Ecuador and Gustavo Londoño in Colombia and Peru, have made… Read more >>

Sep 16

News

Fertile Grounds: How Seabird "Waste" Benefits Land and Sea

“You work on seabird colonies? How can you stand the smell?” That’s a common reaction when I mention my work as a field biologist. While it’s true that guano can be pungent, it’s also a key source of nutrients — and the more researchers tease out seabirds’ contributions to both… Read more >>

Sep 08

News

A Question of Habitat: Saving Rare Birds Large and Small

The Pale-headed Brushfinch was rediscovered in a dry inter-Andean valley in west-central Ecuador almost 25 years ago — following three decades without a record of the species. A wave of relief rolled over those on the expedition that found this “lost” bird, an effort spearheaded by Fundación de Conservación Jocotoco… Read more >>

Aug 19

News

Birds of Virginia: Raptors

Virginia hosts a diversity of raptor species, and there are hawk-watching opportunities at coastal and mountain sites during migration, which are usually most active in autumn. As raptor populations expand, some species are becoming more common in our urban areas, including the Cooper’s Hawk, Mississippi Kite, and Peregrine Falcon. Day-flying… Read more >>