Dawn used to arrive with a chorus across the prairies – lark songs threading through wind-bent bluestem, meadowlarks calling from fence posts like tiny brass bands. Now, field biologists turn on their recorders and often capture more highway rumble than birdsong. The Midwest’s grassland birds are slipping away in real time, and the silence is ...
You might think the concrete jungle would be hostile territory for wild birds. Yet across America’s busiest metropolises, peregrine falcons have transformed from near-extinct species to urban royalty. These aerial masters have claimed some of the most iconic structures in our cities, turning skyscrapers into their personal hunting grounds and bridges into their nurseries. What ...
Along the edge of the Mississippi Sound, where storms redraw shorelines and tides fold over miles of sand, a quiet comeback is underway. Brown pelicans – once gone from these rookeries – are reclaiming nest space on rebuilt bars and barrier islands. Their return is more than a feel‑good wildlife story; it’s a stress test ...
Something remarkable is happening high above Montana’s vast landscapes. After years of concerning population declines, the state’s beginning to show signs of recovery through innovative conservation efforts and improved protection strategies. The journey has been far from simple. These majestic birds, once thriving across the American West, faced mounting challenges that pushed their populations to ...
On a fog-laced dawn in Wisconsin, a white silhouette lifts off the marsh and writes a long, slow V against the sky – proof that one of North America’s rarest birds is not done with us yet. Whooping cranes, once teetering on the edge with only a few wild survivors, are steadily reclaiming their seasonal ...
Billions of birds travel distances incomprehensible to humans annually. Some, like the Arctic tern, log sufficient miles in their lifetime to fly to the moon and back without ever consulting a map or GPS. Rather, they depend on an astonishing range of biological tools: celestial cues, magnetic fields, quantum mechanics, even their sense of smell. ...
