Susan McGrath

Susan McGrath, a freelance writer based in Seattle, writes about travel, natural history, and the environment, and occasionally makes a foray into sillier subjects.

Articles by Susan McGrath

A flock of migrating Hudsonian Godwits descends on Chiloé's shore, completing a monthslong, 10,000-mile journey from the birds' breeding grounds in Alaska. Chris Linder/iLCP

From Audubon Magazine

How Young Chileans Are Saving the Hudsonian Godwit

October 30, 2015 — As fishing, logging, and wind farms take over the island of Chiloé, the shorebird is on the brink of losing its wintering grounds. Now locals are coming to the rescue.

Photograph by Ewan Burns. A kettle of mostly Swainson's hawks over Veracruz as birders gather at the Hotel Bienvenido. Photograph by Ewan Burns.

Travel

River of Raptors

January 1, 2015 — One of the world’s greatest wildlife spectacles takes place every autumn as millions of hawks and other soaring birds funnel through Veracruz, Mexico, where a pioneering program aims to keep them flowing for millennia to come.

Activities

How to Green Your Pets

January 1, 2015 — We love our dogs and cats, but they do have an impact on the planet. Here’s what you need to know.

A young parrot waits in an artificial nest box in a quindío for its parents to return with food. Photograph by Pablo Corral Vega

Parrot Conservation Changes a Catholic Tradition

March 30, 2012 — Fifteen years ago the yellow-eared parrot was presumed extinct. Its rediscovery in Colombia forced the Catholic Church to abandon an age-old tradition, and brought about one of the most amazing comebacks in the Americas.

Let’s Make a Deal

September 1, 2011 — With a signature and a handshake, an innovative legal tool is allaying private landowners’ fears of one of the nation’s most powerful environmental laws to create critical wildlife habitat.