Tag: news
Get Started With Camera Traps to Nab Unusual Bird Photos
Sometimes, you may see a close-up image of an animal going about its business, seemingly unbothered by a camera, and wonder how in the world the photographer pulled it off. The answer might be a camera trap. Camera traps are a great way to get intimate portraits of difficult-to-photograph birds, a fresh angle on a […]
Tags: news
Four Decades of Building Strike Records Point to ‘Super Collider’ Birds
Every spring, as birds fly north to their breeding grounds, they run a gauntlet unique to the modern era: forests of towering buildings in urban centers from coast to coast. Hundreds of millions crash into structures and fall to their deaths—some attracted and confused by buildings lit up at night and others simply not seeing windows and glass in day. […]
Tags: conservation, news
John Young Rediscovered the Australian Night Parrot, but Did He Lie About His Later Findings?
There is no doubt that John Young rediscovered Australia’s Night Parrot in 2013. But the naturalist may have fabricated just about everything he reported about new populations and nesting sites of the birds over the past two years. That’s the conclusion of an independent panel of experts convened by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), to […]
Tags: conservation, news
How Do You Blaze a Trail That Everyone Can Enjoy?
Jerry Berrier wanted desperately to go birding. He’d been listening to birds, recording them, and learning to identify them by sound for decades. Wherever he went—family vacations, car trips, walks down the city streets—he would hoist a microphone into the air to grab a snippet. But he’d never ventured out with others who shared his […]
Tags: news
Welcome to Birdpunk: A Subculture of a Subculture
.dropcap { color: #838078; float: left; font-size: 82px; line-height: 60px; padding: 5px 8px 0 0; } It’s the evening golden hour at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum. A whirlwind of swallows swims through the soft light, chasing midges into a frenzy. Nearby on a platform a handful of birders scans the dimming […]
Tags: news, news/culture
Watch How Hummingbird Hackers Keep Up With Their Quick, Tiny Subjects
In a lab filled with sensors, circuits, and cables, Alejandro Rico-Guevara has devised what may be the world’s strangest hummingbird feeder. Responding to timed lights and beeps, the hungry guests stick their beaks into a flower-shaped contraption and hover for a beat so a machine has time to gauge their oxygen intake. After, a tiny […]
Why Birders Are Putting Stickers on Monarch Butterflies
Madison Audubon’s Goose Pond Sanctuary is a birder’s paradise. But when visitors roam its tall grasses in late summer, many are searching for winged wildlife with six legs—not two. Monarch butterflies thrive in the milkweed-rich Wisconsin prairie. They arrive in spring to start to breed, and by August’s end a new generation gets ready for […]
Tags: news
Tesla Announces First Safety Feature Meant For Your Dog
Good news, dog lovers! Your love for your dog is changing the world for the better. Accommodating pets is no longer limited to pet stores and parks. Restaurants, shops, and other businesses big and small are realizing that making it easier to take your dog everywhere is the key to our hearts – and wallets! […]
Tags: news
The Greater Sage-Grouse’s Most Important Habitat Is on the Auction Block
The U.S. Department of the Interior this week is offering oil and gas companies drilling rights on 758,198 acres of federal land in Wyoming. Despite a 2015 agreement to steer energy development away from areas where Greater Sage-Grouse dwell, everything on the auction block—each of the 565 parcels on offer—falls within the bird’s habitat. Nearly half […]
Tags: conservation, news
A Club for Everyone
At Audubon headquarters there’s a big red button near the window looking out over a certain water tower. Every few days someone hits it and a “Bird Alert” blasts out to the whole office. A scramble ensues. When the bird perching atop the tower is a Peregrine Falcon, as was recently the case, most of […]
Tags: conservation, news