Momentum Shift

Take it from someone who has stood in the middle of an Adélie Penguin colony, surrounded by birds perched atop rock nests and calling to mates: Penguins are loud. They’re industrious and patient. And perhaps above all, they’re singularly focused on the task at hand—finding food and raising their young. 

These qualities serve penguins well, but like birds across the hemisphere, they’re being tested. This issue transports readers from Antarctica, where the scientists featured in our opening pages track the implications of shrinking sea ice, to Alaska, where the Mendenhall Glacier, or Áak’w Tʼáak Sít’, is in dramatic retreat. Climate change is rapidly transforming both places, and as we see in Rachel Ramirez’s report, these and other ecosystems are approaching tipping points that could lead to irreversible collapse.

But we would never leave you adrift on a dwindling iceberg of hope. At the planet’s polar regions and everywhere in between that birds journey, people are coming together to tip the scales toward a more resilient future. In her feature story, Sarah Gilman describes a far-ranging effort, galvanized by federal agencies and their partners, to build a native seed supply capable of restoring to vibrance badly degraded U.S. lands.

And in Latin America, collaborations between conservationists and communities have swiftly spread to nine countries and millions of protected acres through Conserva Aves. Key to the initiative’s success is the role of local residents in designing and implementing solutions—an approach also critical to creating safer conditions for endangered seabirds offshore.

Other collaborations in this issue are creative. They involve reframing how people see and engage with birdlife, whether that’s musical artists sampling birdsong or the Reiser brothers captivating audiences through their deadpan talent for documentary. I won’t spoil their latest adventure for you—you’ll have to check out Alisa Opar’s dispatch—but after watching Listers, we jumped at the chance to tag along. 

Our cover creators have truly elevated working together to an art form. Read the latest installment of The Aviary to more fully grasp the duo’s craftsmanship: hundreds of tiny pieces of hand-painted paper painstakingly assembled into a lifelike portrait of Great Green Macaws. This species, like so many others, will benefit from Conserva Aves—its outlook further aided by people appreciating it with fresh perspective.

This piece originally ran in the Spring 2026 issue. To receive our print magazine, become a member by making a donation today.