Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Land Birds

A whooping crane in flight in Texas.

The Hopeful Mid-Century Conservation Story of the (Still Endangered) Whooping Crane

There were just 15 whooping cranes left in 1952. Today there are around 600

Sirocco, currently MIA, has helped millions connect with the island’s endangered wildlife.

Future of Conservation

Seduced By a Rare Parrot

What can conservationists learn from New Zealand’s official “spokesbird,” a YouTube celebrity who tries to mate with people’s heads?

These baby eagles mean business.

Trending Today

Watch a Baby Bald Eagle Hatch in Real Time

Things are getting serious for the world’s most famous bald eagles

This year's spring migration has already begun and is expected to continue now through late May.

American South

The Best Places in the U.S. to See Spring’s Migrating Birds

Get out your binoculars—birds are making their annual trek north

Ecologists tend to think of mobbing behavior as primarily a way that smaller birds protect their nests and chicks from larger predators. Shown here, a Willie wagtail attacking an Australian raven.

New Research

Why Do Male Birds Take on Larger Predators? Maybe Just to Impress the Ladies

Some mobbing behavior may be less about survival, and more about sexual selection

Wilson works to band waterfowl in the summer to help track the birds. Hunters that harvest banded birds will report their harvest to state wildlife officials.

Age of Humans

This Biologist Defies Gravity (and Glass Ceilings) to Document the Effects of Climate Change

As one of five American women in this role, Heather Wilson blends aviation and birds to bolster climate change records

Deciding when to get divorced is a difficult calculation—even for birds.

Age of Humans

Birds Struggle to Keep Their Marriages in Rapidly Changing Urban Environments

Deciding whether to get divorced is a complex calculation, even for birds

As a professional falconer, Rosen has trained all of her birds, which now number close to a dozen. Her brood includes Ziggy, a hybrid prairie-gyrfalcon.

Why Winemakers are Turning to Falconry to Tackle Pests

Napa Valley vintners are finding this tried-and-true deterrent more effective than modern technology

The Surprising Reason Birds First Grew Feathers

When birds first grew feathers 150 million years ago, their function was not necessarily to help with flight

The National Zoo's resident cassowary in 2010.

Behind the Scenes at the National Zoo With the World’s Most Dangerous Bird

The zoo’s cassowary “still has that mysterious aura about her—that prehistoric, dinosaur-walking-through-the-rainforest-quality.”

How far would you go to spot a bird?

Cool Finds

Extreme Birdwatching Is a Thing, and This Could Be Its Greatest Year Ever

Thank El Niño for a Big Year that’s bashing previous records

Do outdoor cats need to die?

The Moral Cost of Cats

A bird-loving scientist calls for an end to outdoor cats “once and for all”

After just moments in the air, flight 1549 collided with a flock of geese.

Smithsonian Expert Fills in the Missing Science Behind the Movie “Sully”

Forensic ornithologist Carla Dove shares her story of analyzing the bird remains or “snarge” scraped from the engines of flight 1549

Dennis Wiist inspects an eagle's foot at the National Eagle Repository in Commerce City, Colorado.

Inside a Remarkable Repository that Supplies Eagle Parts to Native Americans and Science

The repository, which has long provided feathers to tribes for traditional uses, also helps bird conservation researchers

Cool Finds

Rare Dodo Composite Skeleton Goes On Sale

A British auction house is selling one of only a dozen known dodo skeletons, put together by a collector from the bones of several birds

Rats' days are numbered in New Zealand.

Trending Today

For Kiwis’ Sake New Zealand Declares War on Rats

The country unveils an ambitious plan to protect its national bird

Weird Animals

Eco-Celebrity Crane Inspires Wetland Protection in Taiwan

An endangered Siberian crane that has made Taiwan home is inspiring locals to protect the wetlands

Weird Animals

Storks Move to a Trashy Neighborhood

White storks in Portugal and Spain are forgoing thier annual migration to Africa to pig out in landfills

A mother hummingbird in Arizona incubates her eggs under the indirect protection of her neighborhood hawk.

New Research

Hawks Act as Unwitting Muscle for Hummingbirds

In Arizona, hummingbirds seem to deliberately seek out bodyguard hawks to shield them from nest-robbing jays

The Oldest Bald Eagle in the U.S. Was Killed by a Car Last Month

Here’s to you, 629-03142

Page 16 of 18