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Birds

A whooping crane in flight in Texas

Whooping Cranes Came Back From the Brink of Extinction. Now, New Threats Are Converging on Their Texas Wintering Grounds

Some residents along the Gulf Coast are creating habitat for the endangered birds on their properties, but development, saltwater intrusion and bird flu are putting pressure on the species’ recovery

Southern rockhoppers fearlessly approach the camera at Murrell Farm in the Falklands. The birds’ features include their spiky crests, which resemble wild eyebrows.

Rockhopper Penguins’ Athleticism Makes Them the Daredevils of the Animal World. Will a Warming Climate Slow Them Down?

A visit to the Falkland Islands, where the fearless seabirds navigate the rugged topography with tenacious spunk, shows the new challenges they face

The manumea is the national bird of Samoa, but it's on the brink of extinction.

Elusive, Critically Endangered Bird—and One of the Closest Living Relatives of Dodos—Was Spotted for the First Time in Five Years

Conservationists are racing to save the manumea, a chicken-sized bird that lives only on two Samoan islands, from extinction

Golden apple snails have eyes that are similar to humans’—and they can regenerate an amputated eye in just a month. Scientists uncovered a gene related to that process, laying the groundwork for more research that could help humans with eye injuries.

Eight Fascinating Scientific Discoveries From 2025 That Could Lead to New Inventions

By studying the natural world, scientists find blueprints for innovations that can improve human lives—in the genes of a shark, the fur of a polar bear and the flipper of an extinct reptile

Dark-eyed juncos are small sparrows found throughout North America.

These Urban Birds Evolved Longer Beaks During Covid-19 Lockdowns. Then, They Changed Back

Researchers suspect that dark-eyed juncos living in Los Angeles adapted based on the availability of food scraps tossed by humans

Our most-read stories of the year spotlighted a Eugène Delacroix painting, horseshoe crabs, the Dionne quintuplets and more.

Ten Top Smithsonian Stories of 2025, From Eerie Clay Puppets With Detachable Heads to a New Look at the American Revolution

The magazine’s most-read articles of the year included a deep dive on the Scopes “monkey trial,” an interview with award-winning documentarians and a profile of quintuplets who found fame during the Great Depression

Ancient bees built nests in the hollows of rodent skulls, a new study suggests

Fossils Suggest That Some Ancient Burrowing Bees Made Their Homes in Rodent Skulls

While cleaning fossils retrieved from a cave on a Caribbean island, a researcher noticed something strange in the hollow tooth socket of a small skull

A female green hermit hummingbird

These Male Hummingbirds Evolved Straighter, Sharper Bills So They Could Better Joust for Mates

While female green hermit hummingbirds have curved bills, males’ straighter mouthparts are built for stabbing one another, a new study suggests

Magellanic penguins are easy prey for the large cats.

Pumas Are Snacking on Penguins in Argentina—and the Abundant Birds Are Changing the Prowling Cats’ Behavior

Mountain lions are adapting to their defenseless, predictable prey, which return to Patagonia seasonally to nest and breed, new research suggests

A similar situation unfolded in January 2023, when a burrowing owl (pictured here) was found aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Symphony of the Seas.

These Owls Took a Free Vacation on a Cruise Ship—but Soon They’ll Be Heading Home

A pair of burrowing owls made themselves at home aboard Royal Caribbean International’s Allure of the Seas in February, joining a trans-Atlantic sailing to Spain. They’ll return to the United States next month

A Laysan albatross checks on its egg.

Stream the Beautiful Highs and Violent Lows of Albatross Life With This New 24-Hour Camera on Midway Atoll

You can see the large white seabirds dancing, preening, feeding and raising young—though the live feed might show a dark side of island living, too, with potential predation from invasive mice

Smithsonian magazine's picks for best photography books of 2025 include Birds of a Feather, Blue Sun and Trembling Earth.

The Best Books of 2025

The Ten Best Photography Books of 2025

Our favorite titles this year invite readers to take in the beauty of nature and our cultural rituals

Adult male magnificent riflebirds have ultrablack feathers covering most of their bodies.

Inspired by Bird Feathers, This New ‘Ultrablack’ Fabric Absorbs Nearly All the Light That Hits It

Researchers took inspiration from the magnificent riflebird while developing a textile that reflects only about 0.13 percent of visible light, making it the darkest fabric ever reported

The unfamiliar monk parakeets got to know each other slowly before moving on to behaviors like preening, pictured here.

Monk Parakeets Are Highly Social Birds, but They Slowly ‘Test the Waters’ When Making New Friends

The bright green parrots start with low-cost social behaviors—like sitting near each other without touching—when first interacting with unfamiliar birds within their species, possibly to avoid aggressive encounters, new research suggests

A male golden pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus) with its vision-obscuring head feathers. 

For Some Male Pheasants, Love Really Is Blind. Their Elaborate Feathers That Impress Females Also Obstruct Their Vision

The adornments on the heads of male Lady Amherst’s and golden pheasants partially block their sight, according to new research, marking the first known sex-based differences in field of vision within bird species

Pigeons can sense magnetic fields via their inner ears, new research suggests.

Pigeons Rely on the Earth’s Magnetic Field to Navigate. Now, Researchers May Have Uncovered How They Do It

The vestibular system, a set of structures in the inner ears that helps with balance, may grant the birds their special ability

European starlings were the best at imitating R2-D2's multphonic sounds because they can control both sides of both sides of the syrinx independently, the researchers say.

Birds Are Beeping and Booping like R2-D2. Their Mimicked Sounds Are Helping Unlock the Secrets of Avian Communication

European starlings were better than parrots at imitating R2-D2’s high-pitched chattering, possibly because of their special control over a vocal organ

Chubby the macaw arrived with self-plucking injuries, which are typically caused by stress, boredom, anxiety or life changes. Chubby was 22 at the time of being photographed in 2025, and she has since been adopted.

The Nation’s Biggest Animal Sanctuary Operates Under a Mantra to ‘Save Them All.’ How Could That Be Controversial?

Best Friends Animal Society has a sprawling campus in the canyons of Utah, but its influence has grown to reach almost every shelter in the country

Tiny but mighty: Downy woodpeckers drill into trees with a force 20 to 30 times their body weight.

Downy Woodpeckers ‘Grunt’ as They Turn Their Bodies Into Hammers to Drill Into Trees

Researchers studied the combination of muscles and breaths that the tiny birds use as they strike trees with their beaks

Veterinarian Ruben Aleman surgically removed the hooks and wire, setting the bird on the path to recovery.

Fishing Line and Hooks Were Tangled in This Albatross’s Stomach. After Surgery, the Bird Is Once Again Flying Free

The juvenile Salvin’s albatross was discovered by a fisherman in Anconcito, Ecuador

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