Sea Birds

Frederick II was the first "modern" ornithologist, studying birds in detail in the 13th century to fuel his passion for falconry.

The Modern History of Ornithology Starts With This Inquisitive Medieval Emperor

Frederick II got up to a lot in his lifetime

Birdwatch for Science This Holiday Season

Get outdoors for the Audubon's annual Christmas Bird Count

Scientists studying the bones of the Hawaiian petrel, which flies great distances over the north Pacific Ocean to feed, are collecting an invaluable long-term story dating from thousands of years ago.

Bones of the Hawaiian Petrel Open Up a Window Into the Birds' Changing Diet

Industrial fishing may play a role in the shift

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

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

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

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.

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.

Birds Struggle to Keep Their Marriages in Rapidly Changing Urban Environments

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

Ocean Legacy has a task not even Sisyphean would envy: picking up, sorting and recycling the vast amount of plastic that ends up on our shores.

Turning Ocean Garbage Into Gold

From the common plastic water bottle to the shoes of tsunami victims, one recycling organization tries to find a home for all ocean refuse

This bird has a bun in the oven.

Wisdom the Oldest Known Albatross Is Having Another Baby

Old age hasn’t slowed down the prolific bird

Half of All North American Shorebirds Use This Rest Stop

Bottoms is the nation's largest inland marsh, an area of over 60 square miles. It's also the favored resting spot of many species of migrating birds

The puffin is one of the many species of birds that contribute to the massive amount of poop covering the arctic every year.

How Bird Poop Could Help Keep the Arctic Cool

Researchers have discovered that ammonia produced from tons of seabird guano helps form low lying clouds that can partially block sunlight

Blue petrel, one of the seabird species that mistakes the smell of algae on plastic as food

Why Seabirds Eat So Much Plastic

A new study suggests that algae growing on plastic in the oceans makes it smell like dinner

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

Rendering of Vegavis iaai in flight

Antarctic Fossil Suggests Ancient Birds Honked Not Sang

Recent analysis of two fossils provides the first evidence of ancient noisemakers

How far would you go to spot a bird?

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

Small fixes can keep birds from being snagged by fishing lines, which also helps fishing vessels not lose bait to the flying foragers.

These Simple Fixes Could Save Thousands of Birds a Year From Fishing Boats

Changes as basic as adding a colorful streamer to commercial longline fishing boats could save thousands of seabirds a year

Researchers Piece Together Ancient Plesiosaur Attack

After examining bite marks on a 70-million-year old diving bird, researchers figure out who tried to have it for dinner

Wisdom (front) and her mate

The Oldest Known Seabird Is About to Lay Another Egg

Wisdom the Laysan albatross has lived at least 64 years and raised as many as 36 chicks

90 Percent of Seabirds Have Eaten Plastic

And plastic pollution will threaten even more birds as production grows

Ten years on, some of the scars that Katrina tore into coastal ecosystems persist, while others have healed. NASA's Landsat 8 satellite captured this image of the swamps and marshes that buffer New Orleans in August 2015.

How Hurricane Katrina Redrew the Gulf Coast

While storms here are nothing new, human influence helped Katrina make Louisiana’s ecological problems worse

Wisdom, the World's Oldest Albatross, Laid an Egg

This is about the 35th time Wisdom has been a mother-to-be

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