The Sketch

3833 The Hoatzin: Misfit, Belcher, Genetic Mystery Deep in the wilderness lurks a fat, foul beast that stinks of manure, barks and caws in...

3756 The Kakapo: A Survivor There are few places on earth that could provide hospitable habitat for a nocturnal, flightless parrot that weighs...

4611 The Loggerhead Shrike: Looks Can Be Deceiving At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that that grey-and-white bird sitting on a...

3950 Northern Harrier: The Gray Ghost Across North America, from the Arctic Tundra to the grasslands south of the border, if you look in the...

3980 The Southern Giant Petrel: Ogre of the High Seas The Procellariiformes have always seemed to me one of the more distinguished orders of...

4080 The American Coot: A Tough-Love Parent A couple years ago, just after my daughter was born, my friend gave me a book called Parenting for...

This pudgy little bird may not look like anything special, but beneath its underwhelming exterior beats the heart of a champion.

3661 The Bar-tailed Godwit: A Marathoner Who Makes It Look Easy You probably already know the amazing story of the Bar-tailed Godwit—who...

4488 The Barred Owl: The Interrogator This first time I saw a wild Barred Owl I thought it was going to kill me. Bushwacking alone through a...

3618 The Black Skimmer: A Scissor-beaked Night Hunter Bear with me for a brief thought experiment: What if humans had to eat the same way Black...

4610 The Cattle Egret: The Opportunist Southern folklore depicts Brer Rabbit as the quintessential easy-going trickster, who uses his wits rather...

Nightjars, goatsuckers, whatever you want to call them—these freaky birds are heard but rarely seen.

3632 The Galapagos Penguin: The Beach Bum Think of a penguin. What do you see? Allow me to hazard a guess: You see a cathedral of snow and ice...

3437 The Hoopoe: Emissary of Kings, Secreter of Stink It takes a special bird to incur the wrath of a legendary king. “I will punish him most...

Thanks to an undercover Audubon sting, this bird is more of a backyard staple than a celebrity.

3547 The House Sparrow: Little Troopers There’s an army in the bushes. You may not have noticed, but there’s a good chance it's nearby...

4237 The House Wren: The Unjustly Accused In the early 1900s, when Althea Sherman began noticing House Wrens nesting in her backyard in Iowa...

3635 The Lammergeier: Public Enemy No. 1 High in the Pyrenees Mountains lies a boneyard filled with half-devoured skeletons. The keepers of this...

3566 The Superb Lyrebird: An Artist With Commercial Appeal It's safe to say that no bird on earth can rival the viral potency of the Superb...

3505 The Monk Parakeet: A Jailbird Who Made Good There's a legend that holds that Monk Parakeets became established in the United States after...

3726 The Oilbird: Is This Thing Even a Bird? You know the type: They go out after sundown and return again in the morning, and regurgitate...

Are you ready for this thing? I don't think you're ready for this thing.

3770 Wilson's Phalarope: The Rebel Wilson’s Phalaropes don’t care for your gender norms. In the bird world, roles for the sexes are fairly...

3594 Wilson's Storm-Petrel: The Water Walker What’s the most ubiquitous bird you can think of? Even the least outdoorsy of us have crossed...