Unless kids are introduced purposefully to nature, they may understand the plight of the Amazon rain forest, but never dampen their feet in a local stream. They may never know the names and songs of the birds they see or understand the wonder of migration. Nature camps for children can…

Every year, the change from winter to spring brings millions of Cliff Swallows from Argentina to North America. Since the early 1800s, swallows had returned, year after year, to the Mission of San Juan Capistrano. But during a restoration project in the 1990s, the venerable mud nests were…

Imagine carrying heavy battery-operated equipment - along with all your camping gear - across the tundra. That's what recordist Gerrit Vyn did on assignment for Cornell's Lab of Ornithology. His mission? To record the calls of this Yellow-billed Loon. You can learn more about the lab and…

Heather Murphy, a naturalist, watches for birds with the trained eye of a wildlife biologist, then makes a few field notes. From her journal: "I hear tzeet-tzeet-tzeet. Fast movement. Ah, a tiny kinglet. Which kinglet? Hm.m.m. No leaves anymore, so I easily see an olive-green back. And…

The wild music of migrating geese may have led some of the First Americans to the New World. Perhaps in witnessing the migration of waterfowl they imagined a new world of abundance below the southern horizon. They may have asked themselves: Where do the birds come from in spring and where…

Paul McCartney and the rest of the Beatles most certainly grew up hearing Eurasian Blackbirds. Their song is beautiful, so it's no wonder the Beatles chose to weave it into one of their songs. But McCartney wasn't singing about the bird. He was singing about the racial strife in the…

South Africa is known for producing fine wines. But at the Vergenoegd Vineyard in Stellenbosch, the winery’s grape vines are at great risk from non-native pests called White Dune Snails. Instead of using poisonous bait to kill the snails, though, the vineyard employs Indian Runner Ducks —…

This winter, volunteers will tally birds in more than 2,000 locations as part of the annual Christmas Bird Count. In the U.S., birders will venture forth at the very extremes of the country’s geographic reach. At Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, a few hardy souls will count birds in deep twilight…

In the Amazon, a cacophony of birdcalls surrounds you. One piercing, cheerful yelp catches your ear. Could this be the same sound you remember from a Saturday morning in your childhood? The Cuvier's Toucan could have been the inspiration for Toucan Sam, the "spokesbird" for Froot Loops…

Some birds stay put all year. Some migrate with the seasons. And some, like this Glossy Ibis, are dispersing across new regions. Glossy Ibises breed on all the continents except Antarctica. But they were almost unknown in the US, even in the 19th century. Glossy Ibises crept slowly into…