Explore Birds

A bird nest made with hundreds of metal spikes in the fork of a tree branch.
Apparently Magpies and Crows Are Using "Anti-Bird Spikes" to Make Their Nests
July 13, 2023 — Birds often incorporate human-made materials while nest building, but a new study shows European corvids are taking the idea to the extreme.
Bird Nests and Breeding
People wearing life vests look through binoculars while sitting in canoes on a river.
The Single Most Important Way to Make Your Binoculars Last
June 30, 2023 — Experts share how to keep your foremost birding tool in working order and what to do if yours breaks.
Binoculars
A woman looks something up on her phone in a forest, while high school students to the right hold up a plant and look through binoculars.
Don’t Have Binoculars To Go Birding? Try Borrowing a Pair From the Library
June 30, 2023 — Libraries across the country are lending gear to patrons, creating a new entry point to birding with no costs attached.
Binoculars
A gray and yellow warbler lies dead on a sidewalk, feet up in the air, while people and cars pass by, the busy city in the background.
Unseen Danger: One Day of Deadly Window Strikes for New York’s Birds
June 26, 2023 — Go behind the scenes with the dedicated New Yorkers working to stop the flood of avoidable deaths that occur in the city each migration season.
Conservation Challenges
A brown and white eagle with a large yellow beak flies past the tops of pine trees.
When Birds Get Lost, Space Storms May Be to Blame
June 05, 2023 — New analysis of 60 years of bird banding data shows that vagrancy increases during periods of geomagnetic disturbance.
Bird Science
A condor stands on an orange-colored cliffside with outstretched wings affixed with numbered tags.
After a Wave of Bird Flu, More Than 20 California Condors Dead in the Southwest
May 10, 2023 — Setting the species' recovery back by at least a decade, the crisis appears to be ebbing as the weather warms, with no new detections since April.
Conservation News
Waterfowl on a pond seen through tall grass, the end of a gun visible in the foreground.
Two New Books By Unlikely Advocates Make the Conservation Case for Hunting
May 09, 2023 — A birder and a Brooklynite examine their opposition to hunting, give it a try, and—finding a deeper sense of stewardship—urge others to reconsider.
Books
A plump, streaky brown bird with large eyes and long beak stands on a lichen-covered stone looking at the camera.
Drab but Fab: Woodcocks Wear the Whitest Whites in the Avian Wardrobe
April 28, 2023 — Though mostly camouflaged, Eurasian Woodcocks have brilliant patches much whiter than any feathers previously measured, a recent study finds.
Bird Science
A close up portrait of a small, streaky, brown and white bird looking at the camera.
Migrating Birds Change Their Scenery—and Their Gut Bacteria
April 20, 2023 — A new study using birds killed in window collisions finds avian microbiomes, unlike those of mammals including humans, vary as they travel, changing with the surrounding environments.
Bird Migration