Reflection

In The Wind Birds: Shorebirds of North America, nature writer and novelist Peter Matthiessen wrote: “The restlessness of shorebirds, their kinship with the distance and swift seasons, the wistful signal of their voices down the long coastlines of the world make them, for me, the most

George Archibald has devoted his life to the conservation of cranes, including the Whooping Crane pictured here. His inspiration? At the age of eight, George heard a radio broadcast about Whooping Cranes at school. He says, “. . . it was this drama of a male and female crane who’d flown

Gordon Hempton, the Soundtracker, likens the joy he feels after a day of recording Western Meadowlarks (their eastern cousin is seen here on the left...) to the experience of John Muir, who knew individual American Dippers (also known as Water Ouzels; seen here on the right) by their songs

Sailor and artist, Brechin Morgan, circumnavigated the globe - solo. Alone on the vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean, he welcomed the companionship of this Swallow-tailed Gull, flying off of the bow stay in front of the boat … like a little shadow of moonlight floating back and forth

The Buffalo National River in the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas was the first "national river" in the US. The river, part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways, runs undammed for 135 miles. Its forest habitat is a great place for birds and other wildlife. There are at least 18

Millions of migratory birds are winging their way north. In her jazz composition Cerulean Skies, American jazz composer Maria Schneider, celebrates their return. She says, “What really inspires me when I’m looking at the birds in Central Park is imagining the journey that they’ve been on.”

In Rare & Elusive Birds of North America, naturalist William Burt writes about Sprague's Pipit, also known as the Missouri Skylark. "Upward he goes, in bounding spirals: two, three, four, even five-hundred feet above the plain it is supposed; then he weaves about slowly, easily, as if

It’s October in Yosemite. Acorn Woodpeckers, Clark’s Nutcrackers, Red-breasted Nuthatches, and Mountain Chickadees like this one know it’s time to stock the larder! For us, there’s still time to enjoy a hike before the harshness of winter. As John Muir put it: “Climb the mountains and get

Scott Brizic, a fifth grader at School in the Woods in Colorado Springs, describes a recent encounter with a Peregrine Falcon: “One day as I sat down outside for lunch, I saw a Peregrine Falcon shoot across the sky . . . I saw it for a split-second, for it was going 200 miles an hour.”

My name is Hayden Goold. I am a fourth-grader at School in the Woods in Colorado Springs, Colorado. I am sitting at a picnic table looking at birds with binoculars. I see a blue and black bird with a mohawk. It’s a Steller’s Jay! I try to come closer, but he flies higher into the tree