The bird world is full of majestic hunters like eagles, hawks, and falcons, but when the sun sets, one group of avian predators reigns supreme. Owls have many adaptations that make them excellent at stalking prey at night, including specialized wing feathers for silent flight, asymmetrical ears for triangulating the… Read more >>

These days, the conservation community is grappling with two monumental and interrelated crises: climate change and biodiversity loss. The catastrophic threat they each pose to birds has been shown in two landmark studies. The first, published in the prestigious journal Science in 2019, found that nearly 3 billion birds have… Read more >>

In the fall of 2009, I was newly married and settling into the house where I still live. One gray morning, I was gardening in our tiny front yard when a pair of American Goldfinches landed on the Purple Coneflowers that line the alley adjacent to our rowhouse. They stayed… Read more >>

In recent years, it has come as a surprise to me, a long-time birder and ornithologist, to suddenly discover that the Summer Tanagers in my neighborhood are no longer tanagers at all: They’re grosbeaks! And that blackbirds and orioles are no longer almost at the end of the bird book;… Read more >>

Wetlands are wonderful places for birds thanks to their abundant offerings of food, water, and shelter. The long grasses of marshes offer a hideaway to secretive birds like the Saltmarsh Sparrow, which nests just above the tide line on the Atlantic coast of the United States and synchronizes its breeding… Read more >>

For many, flamingos bring to mind flashy zoo birds or plastic yard ornaments. But these majestic birds hold a number of wonderful surprises. Read on to learn how these beautiful birds fly, where they go, and how they are doing. American Flamingo. Photo by Sergey Uryadnikov/Shutterstock. Flamingos Can Fly, Right?… Read more >>

Few may remember 2021 fondly, but if there is a silver lining, it’s that many of us took advantage of our time at home to connect or re-connect with birds we love. In that spirit, we’ve decided to close 2021 on a positive note by focusing on the most popular… Read more >>

ABC and International Paper are working together to improve land management practices and help Swallow-tailed Kites and other wildlife rebound. Quaint shops, historic buildings, and stately Live Oaks beckon tourists to the small coastal city of Georgetown, South Carolina. But those cruising the south edge of town get quite a… Read more >>

"[The bird] was, of course, a piece of the sky. His eyes said so. That is not a fact; this is the other part of knowing something, when there is no proof, but neither is there any way toward disbelief." - Mary Oliver The Sharp-shinned Hawk shortly after rescue. Photo… Read more >>

Even the most casual birdwatchers know and love chickadees. Among the most common visitors to backyard birdfeeders in North America, these social birds have a spritely manner and are notably comfortable around humans. But there’s a lot more to these spirited birds than you might think. These survival experts have… Read more >>