What it Sounds Like When Doves Cry
A century ago, an ornithologist proposed a system for transcribing bird sound as human speech. It did not catch on.
Words for Birds
From the meaning of birdsong to the history of birdwatching, from the effects of climate change to the cunning of crows—our bird stories have it all.
Every Good Bird Does Fine
Is birdsong music, speech, or something else altogether? The question has raged for millennia, drawing in everyone from St. Augustine to Virginia Woolf.
A Noisy City Affects Birdsong
As anthropogenic ambient noise increases in urban areas, birds adapt their songs to make themselves heard.
Is the Ivory-billed Woodpecker Still Around?
With the US government poised to declare the Ivory-billed Woodpecker extinct, scientists work to determine what counts as evidence of existence.
Angry Birds: Climate Change and Avian Migration
Temperature fluctuations throughout the years are affecting bird migration and mating, with sometimes violent results.
Bird Watcher
Herbert Keightley Job's work represents a major turn in the study of birds. Instead of shooting them, he photographed them, at least some of the time...
How Ornithologists Figured Out How to Preserve Birds
A very nineteenth-century-science problem: lots of decaying avian specimens.
How Pigeons Helped Fight World War I
At ten weeks old, many of the birds headed to the trenches, carrying back messages over distances of about ten miles.
Restoring Native Grasslands to Help Birds
Grassland birds, such as the prairie chicken, plover, and bobolink, need a complex environment of varying structure, area, and grass types.