This first major bird-safe materials policy from a U.S. city was a call to action, but its narrow definition of “bird hazards” and exemptions for many low-rise residential buildings significantly limit its impact. Though limited to certain windows an

IT’S BEEN MORE THAN THREE decades since the U.S. government first tested the waters of offshore fish farming. In 1990 a company received a federal permit to raise nearly 50 million pounds of Atlantic salmon a year in pens anchored some 50 miles off M

With hundreds of species, mosquito-size midges occur throughout North America and are especially plentiful around water. Some bite; many do not; all taste delicious to birds. Midge hatches happen year-round, but the best time to bird one is when it c

EVEN AS HER BLACK-EYED Susans and milkweed bloomed, Melinda Soltys didn’t consider herself a gardener; she just wanted to see more wildlife. After learning how native vegetation improves habitat for the animals she hoped to attract, Soltys grew a hav

AS A TEEN, MEG T. JUSTICE OFTEN SKETCHED DUCKS ALONG THE TENNESSEE RIVER, CAPTURING their glorious quirks. Today her primary medium is printmaking, but she still delights in water-birds. She chose the Hooded Merganser for this print because of the ma

ONE OF NEW YORK CITY’S LITTLE-known and mostly unseen wonders is that, in the dark of night during spring and fall, millions of birds fly directly over Manhattan on a migration path that their ancestors have been traveling for millennia. For some, th

TIME IN THE ALASKAN Arctic moves slowly. Layers of permafrost inter the chilled remains of mammoths and early humans; dwarf birches and lichens grow at almost imperceptible clips; glaciers creep down mountains at annual rates measured in millimeters.

Sporting an imposing crown of feathers and talons the size of bear claws, the Harpy Eagle is one of Latin America’s most fearsome predators. The powerful birds require a lot of habitat, which once stretched from southern Mexico to northern Argentina.

LAST YEAR, THE NONPROFIT Kestrel Land Trust put a picturesque piece of property in western Massachusetts under contract. The 53-acre parcel in Easthampton contains a mix of meadows, hayfields, and forests along the Manhan River, a habitat corridor fo

MEREDITH BARGES AND VIVECA MORRIS, “BUILDING SAFER CITIES FOR BIRDS—HOW CITIES ARE LEADING THE WAY ON BIRD-FRIENDLY BUILDING POLICY,” YALE BIRD-FRIENDLY BUILDING INITIATIVE, AUGUST 2023. ■

WESLEY BROWN WAS STANDING on the desert floor last spring, watching his friend ascend a towering Utah cliff, when a Golden Eagle soared overhead. It was Brown’s first close encounter with a raptor since becoming a climber steward, a role that include

RYAN CARLE COULD USE A NAP. Bleary and hunched on a boat dock, he sounds nearly defeated. “It’s feeling like a bit of a boondoggle,” he tells me, not much louder than Mono Lake lapping beneath us. Carle, science director for the nonprofit research gr

AS I SIT BY MY WINDOW, admiring the beauty of two Eastern Bluebirds flitting through the trees, I am delighted to share this edition of Audubon magazine with you. It coincides with the return of our feathered companions from their winter retreats acr

For millennia seasonal wetlands dotted California’s Central Valley, providing crucial habitat for millions of shorebirds to rest and refuel during migration. But as farms and towns have taken over the landscape in the past 150 years, nearly all of th

WHEN NORA AUSTON MOVED TO a new house in Portland, Oregon, a few years ago, she’d long been thinking about building a catio. Her family had revoked roaming privileges for Bertie, “our grouchy old lady cat,” after three strikes: Bertie had harassed a

ACCORDING TO THE TRACKING APP ON MY PHONE, THE CAT WAS in the alley, right in front of me. He should’ve been easy to spot: He’s bright white and, for the past week, he’d been sporting a blue GPS collar, which I’d selected to match his eyes. I peeked

OF THE THOUSANDS OF SPORTS THAT humans have invented, paragliding may be the most birdlike. Racers fly in groups known as gaggles, suspended from parachutes and powered solely by columns of warm, rising air called thermals. For vultures and other soa

I ’VE KNOWN THE AUTHOR AND CONSERVATIONIST Carl Safina for nearly two decades now. I’ve studied the dogged way he challenged destructive U.S. fisheries practices and earned one of the nation’s most prestigious fellowships in the process. I’ve read dr

Across the country, this striking species is relatively easy to locate and beguiling to watch. WINTER BIRDING HAS A REPUTATION for being slow and frigid (gulls, anyone?), but it doesn’t have to be. Consider the Short-eared Owl, a charismatic species

Monumental Work At 88 years old, Lowell Young, a former Audubon chapter leader, has continued his decades of advocacy on behalf of birds and habitats by diving into perhaps his most personal cause yet: a campaign to create the Range of Light National

Eaglets Henry and Agnes hatched at a time when their species seemed doomed. In 1976 only about 400 Bald Eagle pairs survived in the contiguous United States. As part of a last-ditch effort to save the national bird, scientists tucked the weeks-old ch