Great Reads for Bird Nerds

Researchers studying ancient cassowary egg shells in New Guinea found signs that the sharp-taloned bird was being domesticated.

Revered as a national symbol, reviled as an actual bird.

As the country’s only criminal forensic ornithologist, Pepper Trail has pieced together the demise of countless birds—and saved many others.

The flock hasn’t stopped growing since.

Elizabeth Hargrave’s Wingspan is transforming an $11 billion industry. And it’ll transform the way you think about games.

From to the windswept bluffs of New Zealand to the tropics of Panama and the forested hills of New York, enjoy live streams and highlights of feeders and nesting sites, courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Swifts spend all their time in the sky. What can their journeys tell us about the future?

Conversation about bird names has taken on a particular sense of urgency.

Look no further than the sky to see some of the world’s most wonderful weirdos.

Scientists have been trying to solve the puzzle of the phenomenon for decades.

A conversation with a bird expert.

Researchers say seabird excrement provides economic benefits of $470 million a year—and they say they hope that fact will raise awareness for the birds’ conservation.

The more humans understand about their behavior, the more inaccessible their world seems.

Wisdom the albatross is pushing the boundaries of what we thought birds could do.

The frogmouth was once designated “the world’s most unfortunate-looking bird”.

In 1961, the sooty shearwater invaded California. It took 50 years for scientists to figure out why.

“Why would anyone traffic drugs or weapons? They’re idiots. With wildlife, the profits are much higher, and there’s no risk.”

No one knows where these brightest of London’s settlers actually came from.

When Onon the common cuckoo took off from Mongolia one June, no one expected him to make a 26,000km round trip to southern Africa.

This extraordinary photo would make the world’s most maddening jigsaw puzzle.

Whether sleeping with one eye open or delivering Olympic results, birds are bizarre.

The hidden life and epic journey of the world’s smartest birds of prey.

Their complex songs have striking similarities to Beethoven, Tuvan throat singing, a Disney musical and Kendrick Lamar.

So Wylie learned that owl calls are “kind of fire.” Now she is expanding her catchy avian collection.

The sweet, avian romance of Harold and Maude.