Audubon Magazine

Double-crested Cormorants are survivors. Once in steep decline due largely to the effects of DDT, the sleek diving birds have rebounded mightily since a 1972 ban on the insecticide. But instead of celebration, their success has brought conflict. Corm

JESSICA MAFFIA HAS SPENT A LOT of time walking through parks in northern Manhattan, listening and looking. At first, early in the pandemic, the artist wasn’t seeking inspiration. Nor was she creating new works. “I was just coming and getting to know

Bewick’s Wren. Forster’s Tern. Gambel’s Quail. Henslow’s Sparrow. Say’s Phoebe. Wilson’s Phalarope. What do these birds have in common? They’re all named for people. There’s growing support among birders and professional ornithologists alike for remo

OVER THE PAST FEW ISSUES I have shared some of the ways that birds tell us things. They tell us what is happening to the air and water and land that we all need to survive. They tell us about a changing climate—or the arrival of spring. At Audubon we

MARCELLE SHOOP FIRST SAW the Great Salt Lake in the early 1980s. Thanks to a period of above-average precipitation, water filled the basin to the brim, lapping at the interstate’s edge as she traveled past. Today that view has dramatically changed. U

LIKE A LAYER OF THIN SKIN, Panama Bay’s mangroves separate the continent from the Pacific Ocean, sheltering Panama City and 86 miles of rural coast from storms. The rich ecosystem, which includes enormous tidal mudflats, also feeds Panamanians and up

ON THE RIGHT SPRING morning you might see Liza Grotelueschen walk the edge of a blackened grassland, stamping out any lingering embers. But don’t mistake the retired educator for an enemy of fire. Quite the opposite: She’s a staunch believer in its p

BIRDS, AS THE SAYING GOES, are what they eat. And knowing exactly what they eat can help conservationists protect critical food sources and track environmental change. But until recently, sussing out birds’ grocery lists was cumbersome, requiring clo

With stunning looks and captivating behaviors, birds enthrall us when they cross our path. We may spend hours or years seeking them out—or stumble upon them in a stroke of luck. Often we simply stop to appreciate an everyday scene with fresh eyes. Re

On a 90-plus-degree day in July 2021, Portia Halbert steers her Prius into the park through a tunnel of dense forest. The reprieve is brief: When we enter the burn zone, it’s as if someone has peeled off the roof. The ambient temperature rises, and v

THERE IS SOMETHING REMARKABLE ABOUT LOOKING for birds at last light. When pandemic lockdowns began, I took daily walks around a placid lagoon in a park in downtown Santa Cruz, California. The verdant reeds and towering silver-barked trees glowed in t

IN JULY 2020, HOME PRICES IN SOUTHERN California, never a cheap place to live, were rising. There were too few homes and too many buyers, and when you added a pandemic to the mix, it wasn’t easy for a first-timer to enter the market. That was the sto

A birder’s guide to the beach, featuring dog politics, sand safety, and page-turners. Plus: the air-conditioning conundrum. THE JOB OF PROTECTING vulnerable beach birds starts early. By 7 A.M. one morning in late April, Shelby Casas is almost out the

MILLIONS OF AMERICANS flock to coastlines every summer in search of sun, sand, and a stiff sea breeze. They are not the only beachgoers willing to travel for better conditions. By the end of June, shorebirds that nest in the Arctic and boreal forest

Birders excitedly wake at dawn each spring to catch colorful warblers as they migrate north. In summer, these sprites can be found on breeding grounds in North America’s boreal forest. The biome’s southern edge dips into the United States in a few pl

Today in wealthy countries 9 in 10 households have AC, versus 1 in 10 in emerging economies. By 2050 installed AC units are projected to surge beyond 5 billion, including a fivefold increase in the tropics and subtropics. If all cooling needs were me

ARTIST JESSICA MAFFIA BEGAN BIRDING SERIOUSLY DURING THE PANDEMIC, TAKING CLASSES on birdsong and patch birding—revisiting the same place and learning its avian residents and visitors. She has since embraced Manhattan’s Inwood Hill Park as her patch.