Birds

The struggle to meet a growing global energy demand is playing out across North Dakota’s landscape. On the western half of the state, oil and gas wells dot the Bakken shale, and farmers swap small grains, such as wheat, barley and oats, traditionally grown in the region, for corn and soybeans used as biofuel feedstocks.  […]

KATHMANDU — Conservationists have welcomed the declaration of Nepal’s first official bird sanctuary as a big boost for more than a dozen globally threatened species. The Ghodaghodi complex, a wetland in western Nepal’s Sudurpashchim province, was recently declared a bird sanctuary by the provincial and the Ghodaghodi municipal governments. More than 360 bird species, some […]

Eagles, regarded by some as a symbol for American freedom, are being poisoned by lead from ammunition. Scientists sampled the blood from 1,210 living and dead bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) across 38 U.S. states over eight years. Nearly half of all the sampled birds showed evidence of repeated lead exposure, according to […]

After she collected a set of camera traps from the ridgeline above Corcovado National Park, conservation biologist Eleanor Flatt said that scientists, staff, and tourists all huddled around her computer at the Punta Marenco Lodge to see what images were captured. Camera traps, remote cameras triggered by motion, can be set off by something as […]

Mount Mulanje’s bare granite face looms above the lush surrounding landscape. Said to be the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lonely Mountain (home to Smaug the dragon), Malawi’s highest mountain also holds a treasure: a mating pair of spotted ground thrushes, one of the rarest birds in the world. “Ground thrushes are like the holy grail […]