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Valley Falls, Oregon

Lake Abert

Oregon's only closed-basin hypersaline lake, an important stopover for migrating waterfowl, is in danger of drying up completely.
Red-billed oxpeckers are regular sights on many large African mammals.
birds

Wild Life: Oxpeckers

In a preview of our new book, we meet a small bird that makes a blood pact with a large mammal.
Cara Giaimo March 29, 2024
Okavango Delta, Botswana - August 2, 2022. Western Tourists travelling in a mokoro, along the delta. This type of travel is traditional among the locals of the delta.
museums

Wonder Is Everywhere: Harlem Renaissance, the Return of the Ruby Slippers, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.
April White March 29, 2024
Artist David Smus's sculpture of a great black hawk appears to be navigating through the trees. The bird was a vagrant—taking up residence in Maine, far from its normal range.
statues

The Small but Wonderful World of Bird Memorials

A statue in Maine made for a vagrant hawk offers one way to honor these fleeting visitors. Flaco fans take note.
Cara Giaimo March 21, 2024
Reading, England

Silchester Eagle

Once believed to be a sacred Roman legionary symbol, this bronze figure inspired the 1954 novel 'The Eagle of the Ninth.'
An Arctic tern in flight; the seabirds were a critical source of food for the Beothuk people of Newfoundland, and also likely inspired some of their funerary traditions.
islands

In Newfoundland, a Bird Spirit May Have Guided a Lost Culture's Dead

For centuries, the Beothuk people relied on seabirds to survive—and likely to find their way to the afterlife.
Nicky Nielsen February 7, 2024
Walla Walla, Washington

Pioneer Park Aviary

The oldest city park in Walla Walla is home to hundreds of birds, from wood ducks to white peacocks.
Pigeon Hills Monument
Manheim Township, Pennsylvania

Pigeon Hills Monument

Dedicated to extinct passenger pigeons.
Takoma Park, Maryland

Bird Calls Phone

An old pay phone rewired to play local bird calls and songs at the press of a button.
Mafra Palace Library is home to a colony of itty-bitty bats that keep its many historic volumes safe from pests.
cemeteries

5 of Our Favorite Podcast Episodes About Wildlife in Unexpected Places

Life finds a way, from the bats that haunt and hunt in a majestic library to a bird sanctuary in one of the most dangerous places in the world.
The Podcast Team January 12, 2024
Chicken clucks give humans a window into the bird's emotions.
science

Do You Speak Chicken?

A new study shows most people can tune into how chickens are feeling based on their clucks alone.
Roxanne Hoorn January 9, 2024
The Northern bald ibis, 'waldrapp' in German, seen in 2018.
lighthouses

Wonder Is Everywhere: Silk Dress Secret, the Last Lightkeeper, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.
April White January 5, 2024
A popular tourist destination since becoming a filming location for Game of Thrones, The Dark Hedges is a road enveloped by beech trees in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.
floods

Wonder Is Everywhere: Avian Love, Medieval Myths, and More From Around the Web

Get a peek into what we’re obsessed with right now.
April White December 8, 2023
The flirtatious red golden pheasant is a dinosaur.
dinosaurs

We’re Surrounded by Dinosaurs, at Least We Were for a Month or So

A subtle, if temporary, change to one of the world’s biggest websites underscored a modern triumph of paleontology, and how we understand life on Earth.
Michael Greshko December 4, 2023
African penguins develop a unique arrangement of black speckles on their white bellies at around three months old.
zoos

How Polka Dots Help African Penguins Stand Out From the Crowd

A new study shows how the birds identify their mates in a sea of black and white.
Roxanne Hoorn November 30, 2023
Anna's hummingbird is one of 152 North American bird species that will have a different common name in the coming years.
ornithology collections

North American Birds Will No Longer Be Named After People

Renaming birds isn’t new, but this official change could be the start of something larger.
Roxanne Hoorn November 9, 2023
Audubon Museum & Nature Center
Henderson, Kentucky

Audubon Museum & Nature Center

View Kentucky's beauty and history from the perspective of painter John James Audubon, author and illustrator.
There are at least 20 Māori names for the New Zealand fantail, a beloved native bird often seen as a messenger between worlds.
maori

Does the New Zealand Fantail Connect the Human and Spirit Realms?

The bird is sometimes considered an omen of death, but in Māori tradition, that's just one part of its story.
Roxanne Hoorn October 20, 2023