A Matter of Timing: Can Birds Keep Up With Earlier and Earlier Springs?
ClimateThe seasons are changing as the planet warms. Some migratory species may break under the strain—but others could surprise us.

Audubon magazine delivers essential news, advice, and reporting on birds and bird conservation, pairing compelling journalism with stunning photography and design. Each quarterly issue helps readers grow their appreciation of birds and learn how to help them thrive. Audubon also emphasizes, through stories and visuals, the importance of a diverse and inclusive science and conservation effort to help meet the challenges facing both birds and people today. To receive our award-winning print publication, become a member of the National Audubon Society. Our editorial team also reports and publishes stories on Audubon.org daily, including science and conservation news, birding tips, photo galleries, and interactive reader experiences.
For our full editorial statement, masthead, and pitch guidelines, please visit here.
The seasons are changing as the planet warms. Some migratory species may break under the strain—but others could surprise us.
Species journeying over the Atlantic Ocean will soon have to navigate wind farms. But without clean energy, their futures are more imperiled.
Recent breakthroughs have allowed researchers from across the Western Hemisphere to begin building a library of avian DNA filled with insights about where birds migrate and their resilience to mounting pressures.
Raising the world’s entire population of Bermuda Petrels, or Cahows, requires undivided attention—and a relentless drive to see them succeed.
Long before eBird, birders simply called up an avian hotline to learn where to chase unusual birds. Today these phone services are themselves sliding toward extinction—with one notable exception.
Each year more people die while attempting to protect the world’s most biodiverse places. It’s a trend poised to devastate the planet itself. How can we stem the rising tide of attacks to ensure a safer future for us all?
Pooling research from numerous international partners, Audubon's Migratory Bird Initiative promises to paint the fullest picture yet of the awe-inspiring phenomenon.
Recent breakthroughs have allowed researchers from across the Western Hemisphere to begin building a library of avian DNA filled with insights about where birds migrate and their resilience to mounting pressures.
Audubon’s Migratory Bird Initiative has already started to find out.
How online sales of highly regulated, super-toxic rodenticides exploit gaps in the law and imperil wildlife.
A glut of natural gas has led to a U.S. production surge in tiny plastic pellets, called nurdles, that are washing up on coasts by the millions.
Carbofuran, a century-old chemical, is increasingly being weaponized against birds and other wildlife, decimating entire food webs.
Decades after a songbird's whirling melody set him on a new artistic path, John Luther Adams is more determined than ever to help us hear the planet's power and wild beauty—and fight to protect it.
When John Young, Australia’s “Wild Detective,” proved that the Night Parrot hadn’t gone extinct, both man and bird got a shot at a comeback.
After 40-plus years of leading sold-out pelagic birding tours off the California coast, the trailblazing conservationist says it’s time to retire.
Find new and old issues of Audubon magazine from the past decade.
The seasonal movements of birds have captivated humans for millennia. Now we know enough about their flights to make surprising connections.
The pandemic prodded me to fulfill a lifelong dream of living on a boat. I’m learning the ropes surrounded by the birds of my North Carolina childhood.
Aboard a mission to explore the alien life of the deep ocean, a chance encounter with a migratory bird offered a point of connection—one that has felt poignant this past year.
It took a pandemic for me to see what my mother had been trying to show me my whole life.
A year after Morrison’s passing, a journalist and birder reflects on how her time with the cherished author changed her relationship with birds—and with herself.
Disease and logging nearly wiped out the towering trees in the early 20th century. Now the pandemic endangers a one-man operation trying to help the species endure.
Take a scroll through these spectacular, artistic, and playful avian images, while reading the story behind each.
The rediscovery of a long-lost duck spurred the creation of two protected areas in the country. Now researchers are scouring these spots for other endemic species before it's too late.
A birder, ornithologist, writer, and photographer set off on an extreme adventure through the muck and memories of eastern Cuba.
No one has seen the elusive bird in the wild in nearly two decades, but it might still inhabit Vietnam's war-ravaged mountain valleys.
To keep macaw chicks safe, a team of rangers spends night and day watching over the birds’ nests and homes.
A crew of American scientists is venturing into remote Equatorial Guinea, even as rampant development threatens its bird-filled wilderness.
On a remote Alaskan sandbar, under the watchful eye of a devoted scientist for more than four decades, climate change is forcing a colony of seabirds into a real-time race: evolve or go extinct.
Feeling like you can’t make a difference? That couldn’t be further from the truth. Our award-winning guide shows you where to begin and how to amplify your efforts to make lasting change in the world.
Part one in our new series to help you build your birding skills—and love of birds—by learning how to bird by ear.
Harness the power of the tweet and up your rarity-finding success.
Seeking your first set of bins, or just looking for an upgrade? Our guide features excellent options for every budget.
A photographer spent years on rushing streams in the Rocky Mountains documenting the remarkable American Dipper.
To protect climate-threatened Hooded Grebes, volunteers camp out at remote, high-elevation lakes in Patagonia for the entire breeding season.
Despite extensive efforts, nobody had ever definitively documented the pollination of the ghost orchid, a mysterious plant that grows in the towering trees of the Everglades—until now.
What compels birders to hunker down in dark, often cramped structures? An intimate view of avian lives. But as with birds, every blind has its own character—and story.
Audubon’s new climate report warns of massive avian losses if we don’t change course and stabilize global carbon emissions.
The internet meme has been around for seven years now, so it's high time we establish some ground rules.