Elegant Black Terns breed in summer on secluded wetlands across the northern states and Canada. Because of major losses of wetlands in their breeding range — especially in Canada's prairie provinces — Black Tern numbers have dropped dramatically since the 1960s. The future of this…

Hudsonian Godwits are tough birds to find, and they were once thought extinct due to overhunting. After nesting at sites scattered in the High Arctic, they migrate south on a route that takes them over the ocean from Canada to South America. In spring, they head north through the Great…

Ross’s Geese and Snow Geese are both white-bodied waterfowl with black wingtips that can be difficult to tell apart. The pair are a great example of what science calls sister species, which occur when a portion of one species takes an evolutionary step away from the rest, resulting in a…

Some bird songs leave us in admiration of their beauty, some with a sense of wonder at their complexity—and others are downright comical. As a maker of silly sounds, the male Willow Ptarmigan beats the Three Stooges hands down. But these sounds are no laughing matter. Where it nests in the…

Why do birds consistently follow certain routes in their migrations? Pathways of migration evolved, shaped by the wind. During the height of the last ice age, ice-free breeding habitat for songbirds remained in what is now Alaska and parts of Western Canada. Studies of fossil pollen show…

At first glance, many of the sparrows in North America look pretty much the same: like small, drab-colored songbirds hanging out on the ground. But these “little brown jobs” can be fun to identify if you know what field marks to look for!

Owls have a reputation for hooting and hunting at night. But when you take a look – and listen – to the 19 species that live in the U.S. and Canada, it’s clear that these raptors defy stereotypes.

Most birds molt and regrow their flight or wing feathers — one at a time along each wing — to stay in prime condition for flying. But for a Wandering Albatross, with a whopping 10-to-12-foot wingspan, that’s a big job! It takes the large albatrosses a full year to molt, and they have to…

Before the high-tech gadgets used to track bird migration today, there was moon-watching: a technique dreamed up in the 1940s by ornithologist George Lowery. Using telescopes pointed at the moon to see the silhouettes of migratory birds, Lowery helped show that birds regularly migrate…

Williamson's Sapsuckers nest in western mountain forests. The radically different plumages of the male and female so confounded 19th-century naturalists that, for nearly a decade, the birds were thought to be of different species. Sapsuckers are unique among woodpeckers in drilling neat…