Audubon Magazine

JOHN JAMES AUDUBON DIDN’T start this magazine. He didn’t even live to know about the organization that publishes it. But he was the inspiration for a whole movement of Audubons, including the National Audubon Society and its hundreds of affiliated ch

Maggie Walker Chair of the Board Susan Bell Vice-Chair Joseph H. Ellis Secretary Karim Al-Khafaji Jeffrey Goodby Phil Swan Assistant Secretaries George S. Golumbeski Treasurer Ajay Shah Assistant Treasurer Jane Alexander Rodney L. Brown, Jr. Mike Con

Birds still put most high-tech flying machines to shame, especially in turbulent air. In flight, birds dramatically change their wing shapes, tucking to fly fast, spreading during a glide, or making sharp twists and turns. “This enables them to fly m

Eighty percent of North America’s migratory birds travel by night, and artificial light complicates their already daunting trek. Illuminated buildings and bright anthropogenic skyglow disorient birds, causing some to collide with structures, while ot

In May 2019 a group of birders calling ourselves the Galbatrosses traveled to Cape May County, New Jersey, to compete in the World Series of Birding. But instead of tallying as many species as we could, like other teams did, we chose to count only fe

Habitat: Males and females use habitat differently even at the same site. Bobolinks (above) nest on the ground in tallgrass meadows. Males often perch up high as they belt out bubbling songs, while females sit lower in the vegetation at a middling he

It’s not only birders who tend to ignore female birds: Scientists do, too. They assume females are present wherever males are, but often that’s not true. For example, female Golden-winged Warblers spend winter at lower elevations than males—and those

Species: Piping Plover Pointer: During the breeding season, male and female Piping Plovers both sport black-and-orange bills. However, the boundary between black and orange is blurry and faded for females and sharply delineated for males: The latter

A FAMILIAR LAUGH RESOUNDS across the park, which I instantly know is a Pileated Woodpecker. But today is Female Bird Day, so I need to get closer to see the bird’s cheekbones. I track it to a dead beech tree and aim my binoculars. Rats—a red mustache

The female Red-winged Blackbird isn’t black, nor does she have noticeably red wings. She looks like an overgrown sparrow, which is why this female stumps new and experienced birders time and again. But the more you observe her, the more charismatic s

Birds of the World features encyclopedic accounts of species written by scientists and citing studies. The entries are helpfully divided into sections like appearance, behavior, and sound (birdsoftheworld.org, $49 per year). Identification Guide to N

WHEN I MOVED TO MAINE from New York City last year, I was excited by the idea of getting closer to nature. A vast expanse of ocean surrounded my new hometown; hundreds of mountain hikes were just a short drive away. Only, when driving to the trailhea

If someone threatens you, hit record—especially if they are verbally or physically assaulting you, advises Leah Thomas, founder of Intersectional Environmentalist. When Black birder Christian Cooper recorded his encounter with Amy Cooper in Central P

People from privileged groups are often more comfortable ignoring discrimination than confronting it—even when it affects their friends. “Acknowledgment is important,” Thomas says. Stereotypes can be undone by examining their roots. “If I’m not going

As two recent incidents revealed, birding sanctuaries don’t necessarily offer refuge to everyone keen to experience them. In August 2020 six teenage girls in a foster care program and four chaperones, all of whom are Black, visited Constitution Marsh

It took a nudge from the young birders she mentors in British Columbia for Melissa Hafting (@bcbirdergirl) to join the photo-centric platform Instagram in 2018. She has since built a following of more than 6,000 while posting images, such as a “noisy

With great power comes great responsibility. Your photos can be shared by anyone—even thousands of people. Could a crush of visitors damage an uncommon bird in your area, a sensitive species (such as an owl or a nesting bird), a delicate ecosystem (s

Build a Community: Respond to followers in comments and ask questions. For example, post a photo of your spark bird and ask others to share a story about theirs. Use a platform’s built-in tools, such as polls and stories, to interact. Caption with Fi

GROWING UP, PAULO ORDOVEZA ENJOYED DEBUNKING URBAN legends circulating on email. Now as @PicPedant he patrols Twitter to call out misleading, Photoshopped, and stolen photos, with an eye for nature and wildlife images. For example, these toy owls wer

1 Post a photo, video, or audio clip in the Facebook group “What’s This Bird?”—run by the American Birding Association—and some of its 52,000 members will try to help with an identification. 2 #BirdTwitter not only celebrates great photos, it hails t