Our childhood experiences of nature stay with us for a lifetime. Yet someone must first show a child the delights and knowledge of the natural world. Imagine a child seeing this Common Yellowthroat for the very first time! Today, we celebrate the nature educators who give the gifts of…

Birds play important roles in many of Shakespeare’s plays. In Romeo and Juliet, the Lark sings at dawn and the Nightingale’s song fills the evening. At a moment of great peril, the Lark warns the lovers their time is short. Both the Skylark and the Nightingale are nondescript birds – but…

To reach some of our country’s best spots to see birds can require hours of travel. But some birding meccas are much more easily reached. There’s even one where more than 230 species of birds have been sighted, and to which you travel in style – by taking a cab down Fifth Avenue. New York…

Bird photographer and painter Craig Johnson and his wife Joy often headed to the nearest wetland to look for birds. Each day was an adventure. At night, Craig would paint from what they’d seen. Then a few years ago, a progressive and debilitating disease crept into his life. Craig now…

Artist Chris Jordan brings a deep energy to a huge environmental problem - the accumulation of plastic debris in the world's oceans. He's photographing its effect on the Laysan Albatrosses of Midway Island. Adult albatrosses mistake pieces of plastic for squid and fish and feed them to…

The Black-throated Sparrow thrives in the open, arid habitats of the American Southwest. Nature maintains such native landscapes with frequent but relatively cool-burning fires. But decades of fire suppression have altered nature's pattern, setting the stage for hotter, more destructive…

Patrick Comins, Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon Connecticut, explains why Long Beach and its adjoining salt marsh near the town of Stratford are so important for birds. Nearly 300 species of birds, including Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs like these, have been recorded at Great…

The Norse god Odin had two ravens that perched on his shoulders. Storyteller John Stansfield and his wife Carol share a song about the land of Odin. In this summer camp song, it's not a raven but a little bird that comes to sharpen its beak on a mythic mountain. Once every million years, a…

Sharp-shinned Hawks are swift, bird-catching predators. The male is jay-sized. The female stands a head taller and weighs almost twice as much. Female birds of prey are most notably bigger than males among hawk species that hunt very agile prey, such as other birds. The smaller male will…

Nine-year-old Corbin Klaft has hung a birdfeeder outside his bedroom window. "I just want to see the birds, how they hunt and perch, what they do with their feet. Most often the birds just come in and eat, and I try to identify them." Corbin has an idea for a birdhouse, too. "I'm going to…