Bird Calls Blog

Bird Calls brings birds to life on the page with a stream of bird-related stories, tips, perspectives, and more.

Pileated Woodpecker, Orhan Cam, Shutterstock
Bird-friendly Garden Tips for Fall
The tanagers, orioles, and hummingbirds of summer are gone, but despite what chilly weather portends, this is a great time to intensify efforts to help birds in your garden. What you do today to provide food, shelter, and nesting opportunities will pay dividends once the days grow longer. No doubt you'll enjoy the increase in … Read More>>
Birders rediscover lost species on Mussau in Papua New Guinea
Rarely glimpsed Mussau Triller documented for first time in 44 years In June 2024, Joshua Bergmark led a group of birders through the forests of Mussau Island, the largest of the St. Matthias islands off the northeast coast of Papua New Guinea in the Bismarck Archipelago. It had been a successful trip so far, and … Read More>>
How to Make Park Buildings Safer for Birds, One Window at a Time
National Park Service scientists looked at ways to reduce bird collisions with glass in national parks. They show how small actions can have big outcomes. Wild birds are beloved by many people, and they contribute far-reaching economic, ecological, and human health benefits. Yet researchers estimate that North American bird populations have declined by about 30 … Read More>>
For Golden Eagles, It's Poorly Sited Wind Turbines that Spell Trouble
Five years ago, an astonishing study co-authored by ABC confirmed a net loss of nearly 3 billion birds over a mere 50 years in the U.S. and Canada. The population declines documented in the report are widely distributed across almost every group of birds, affecting well-traveled migratory shorebirds and common backyard birds alike. That represents … Read More>>
New Reserve Protects Rare Crested Eagle, 300 Other Bird Species
Versión en Español A new nature reserve in Colombia protects 656 acres of tropical rainforest where, in 2021, the first Crested Eagle nest ever recorded in the country was located. The eagle pair returned to the area to build a second nest in 2022 and successfully raised a chick. La Cristalina Reserve, in northwestern Colombia's … Read More>>
Meeting and Supporting the Birds of the Southwest
On my first day in Tucson, I saw a Hooded Oriole. It was perched on a branch inside one of Tucson's many community gardens. I had never seen such a bright yellow bird and was struck by the contrast in color between its wings and dark black throat. These migratory birds come to nest in … Read More>>
Restoring Alto Velo Island: Reviving a Critical Island-Ocean Connection
Alto Velo Island, Dominican Republic is a small yet vital piece of the Caribbean's ecological puzzle. Recognized as an Important Bird Area and a Key Biodiversity Area, the 1.02 square-kilometer (0.39 square miles) island is home to several endemic species, including the Critically Endangered Alto Velo Curlytail and Alto Velo Anole. It also boasts the … Read More>>
Search On!: The Search for Lost Birds Racks Up Successes
When John Mittermeier was 15 years old, he received the book Threatened Birds of the World, a large volume published in 2000 covering more than 1,200 species at risk of extinction. “I saw a distribution map for a bird in the South Pacific that was nothing but question marks, and that just completely captivated my … Read More>>
Journey Through the Atacama: Finding Hope for Storm-Petrels
Wedge-rumped Storm-Petrels are tiny, enigmatic seabirds, only about the size of a sparrow. Nevertheless, they take on two of the most titanic (and opposing!) forces on the planet: the vast open ocean, where they spend most of their lives, and the driest desert in the world, where they breed. Over the last decade, researchers have … Read More>>
Two Red-shouldered Hawk chicks, May 2024. All photos by David Wiedenfeld.
A Cradle of Red-shouldered Hawks
For the past four years, a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks have nested above the front door of American Bird Conservancy's Senior Conservation Scientist David Wiedenfeld. In this guest blog, David recounts some of the things he's learned while observing the growing families in the space they both call home.  For the last four years, the … Read More>>

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