Ornithologist Drew Lanham visits a wetland that was once a rice plantation built and farmed by enslaved Black people. After the Civil War, many birds continued to rely on these wetlands. Now, biologists manage water levels in the former rice fields to support shorebirds, ducks, and rare…

On Block Island, 11 square miles of land off the coast of Rhode Island, Kim Gaffett catches birds and puts metal bands on their legs to track them. This has helped reveal how the birds use their island layovers. Having crossed the ocean without eating or drinking, birds—like this White…

Five of Zimbabwe’s six vulture species are endangered. After poachers kill an elephant or other large animal by poisoning, vultures often die from eating the poisoned meat. Organizations such as BirdLife Zimbabwe are helping to form local groups that advocate for the conservation of…

Every year, thousands of people visit a nesting colony of Atlantic Puffins on England’s northeastern coast. David Craven of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust says the puffins’ comical appearances endear them to visitors. Craven uses people’s love for the puffins as a way to start conversations…

Fort Benning, Georgia, is one of the most active military bases in the world. But its thousands of acres also contain longleaf pine forests where endangered Red-cockaded Woodpeckers nest. It takes years for a woodpecker to excavate a nest cavity. To help the species, biologists climb high…

In 2017, researcher Sunny Tseng traveled from her home in Taiwan to the Arctic tundra to record the calls of the birds that breed there. She learned that navigating the wind-blown, marshy tundra is no easy task. Yet Tseng found and recorded one of her target birds: the Ross’s Gull, a rare…