Archives

An owl with a disk-shaped face and two bright yellow eyes turns its head sideways, perched in the tree top.

AnatomyBehavior

Superb Owls

A Yellow-rumped Warbler splashes in water.

BehaviorFood + Foraging

Provide Water for Birds

Anatomy

Meet the Sword-billed Hummingbird

Links to the Extreme Hummingbirds video

Anatomy

Extreme Hummingbirds

Links to the Can Owls Turn Their Heads 360 Degrees? Video

Anatomy

Can Owls Turn Their Heads 360 Degrees?

Cartoon weasel threatening bird

BehaviorEvolution

What Can We Learn About Stress From Birds?

Bird ID

Learn How to Identify Bird Songs

Migration

Birds of the Yellow Sea

Coffee plants

ConservationMigration

Bird Research and Shade-Grown Coffee

Conservation

African Grey Parrot: Species in Decline

AnatomyBehavior

Built to Peck: How Woodpeckers Avoid Brain Injury

ConservationFood + Foraging

Clark's Nutcrackers and the Trees They Depend On

Bird IDHabitat

Identify Warblers With These Expert Tips

Songs + Calls

Bird Song Hero Video Quiz

Feathers

Iridescence Revealed in the Feathers of an Anna’s Hummingbird

BehaviorNesting

Cliff Swallows Build Nests From Mud

BehaviorFood + Foraging

Why Chickadees Grab Seeds and Go: Feeder Bird Strategies

Behavior

Vogelkop Bowerbird Decorates His Bower With Flowers

Behavior

Superb Lyrebird Might Be the Fanciest Bird in the World

Behavior

Black Skimmer Chicks Beg For Food With a Humorous Pose

Behavior

Golden Eagle Lifting Off and Flying Through the Snow

BehaviorFood + Foraging

Bald Eagles and Crows Eat Fish on an Alaska Beach

BehaviorFood + Foraging

Boreal Owl Hunting in Daylight

Bird IDSongs + Calls

Learn to Identify the Distinctive Calls of Owls

Behavior

Dance Moves for Ducks: How to Recognize Courtship Displays

Conservation

Chickadee Study Shows Climate Change Affecting Distribution

Bird ID

Artist James Prosek’s Ode to the Diversity of Bird Shapes

BehaviorSongs + Calls

Peek at Night Birds While Hearing Their Nocturnal Calls

Nesting

Meet the Strongest Snowy Owl Chick From a Clutch of Seven

Behavior

Bird-of-Paradise Spreads His Feather Skirt and Dances

BehaviorSongs + Calls

Northern Mockingbird Sings Hundreds of Borrowed Songs

BehaviorNesting

Gentoo Penguins Build Rock Nests on the Antarctic Ground

Songs + Calls

Caw vs. Croak: Inside the Calls of Crows and Ravens

Greater-Sage-Grouse male with females

BehaviorEvolution

On a Sage-Grouse Lek: Elite Males

Male Greater Sage-Grouse display

AnatomyBehavior

On a Sage-Grouse Lek: The Male Display

Greater Sage-Grouse males fight

Behavior

On a Sage-Grouse Lek: It's My Turf

Greater Sage-Grouse Lek

Behavior

On a Sage-Grouse Lek: The Busy Lek

Female Greater Sage-Grouse

BehaviorBrains + Senses

On a Sage-Grouse Lek: Female Connoisseurs

Songs + Calls

Birds Got Swing: A Musical Experiment

AnatomyEvolution

Ribbon-tailed Astrapia: The Three-Foot Tail

Grey Catbird singing

BehaviorSongs + Calls

An Expert Mimic: The Gray Catbird

AnatomySongs + Calls

Built to Sing: The Syrinx of the Northern Cardinal

A bird becomes fancier through sexual selection

Evolution

Natural & Sexual Selection: An Illustrated Introduction

Two species of birds evolve on an island

Evolution

Speciation: An Illustrated Introduction

Sharp-tailed Grouse battle on a lek

Behavior

Real Angry Birds: Sharp-tailed Grouse Battle

Ornithologist Kim Bostwick

BehaviorSongs + Calls

Singing Wings -Introduction

photo of a Club Winged Manakin

FeathersSongs + Calls

Singing Wings -Behavior

A spectrogram of a Club-winged Manakin's wing sound

FeathersSongs + Calls

Singing Wings -Sounds

Wing feathers of the Club-winged Manakin

FeathersSongs + Calls

Singing Wings -Feathers

An animation showing how the Club-winged Manakin sings with its wings

FeathersSongs + Calls

Singing Wings -Solution

Club-winged Manakin perched on a branch

FeathersSongs + Calls

Singing Wings -Conclusion

Conservation biologist Marita Davison

Conservation

Protecting Flamingos in the Andes

Marita Davison describes a camera trap

Conservation

Spying on Flamingos: Tools of the Wildlife Biologist

Flamingos in Bolivia's Altiplano

Food + Foraging

Flamingos are Algae Vacuums, Really!

Ornithologist Nate Senner

Conservation

Birding From Birth, Now an Ornithologist

A tiny data logger for tracking birds

ConservationMigration

Tracking Epic Migrations: Tools of the Wildlife Biologist

Ornithologist Taza Schaming

Conservation

Becoming a Field Biologist

Taza Schaming demonstrates the radio tags she uses to track birds

Conservation

Finding Your Study Subjects: Tools of the Wildlife Biologist

Taza Schaming gets her finger pinched by a Clark's Nutcracker

ConservationHabitat

Nutcrackers, Whitebark Pines, and Climate Change

Comb-crested Jacanas walking on lily pads

Habitat

Through the Lens: Birds of Australia's Northern Territory

A mosquito associated with avian malaria

Anatomy

Investigating Avian Malaria

Ruffed Grouse with wings spread

BehaviorSongs + Calls

Thump!: The Ruffed Grouse Mate Attraction Display

Long-tailed Duck swimming

Songs + Calls

Loud and Goofy: Long-tailed Duck Territorial Calls

A Willow Ptarmigan calling

Songs + Calls

Comic Relief: Willow Ptarmigan Territorial Calls

Audio recording in the Canadian Arctic

Conservation

Canadian Arctic Expedition

Conservation

Seabird Success Story

A Black-capped Chickadee foraging

Bird ID

Inside Birding: Understanding Behavior

A map of the Mississippi River watershed

Conservation

Restoring America's Delta

The Black Sicklebill transformed during courtship display

BehaviorFeathers

Black Sicklebill: The Thin Blue Line

The colorful Wilson's Bird-of-Paradise

EvolutionFeathers

Wilson's Bird-of-Paradise: A Full Spectrum

The iridescent throat of a Magnificent Riflebird

EvolutionFeathers

Magnificent Riflebird: Directional Color

Bird-of-paradise from the genus Parotia performing a ballerina dance

BehaviorEvolution

Parotia: Ballerina Dance

Pelican at an oil spill

ConservationHabitat

Oiled Birds After the Deepwater Horizon Spill

The long modified feathers on a King-of Saxony Bird-of-Paradise

EvolutionFeathers

King-of-Saxony: Giant Head Wires

Decoding the language of birds

BehaviorSongs + Calls

The Language of Birds

Territorial gulls coexist on Appledore Island in Maine

Behavior

Keeping the Peace: Threat Signals in Gull Colonies

An offshore oil rig

Conservation

Deepwater Horizon One Year Later

A pelican with oil soaked feathers

Conservation

What Oil Spills do to Birds

Tufted Titmouse with a tracking tag at a bird feeder

BehaviorFood + Foraging

Tracking Backyard Birds

A Snowy Owl staying warm with insulating feathers

Migration

Snowy Owl Invasion

A young male Paradise Riflebird imitates an adult courtship display

BehaviorEvolution

Paradise Riflebird: Practice, Practice

Iridescent feathers on a Ribbon-tailed Astrapia

Feathers

Iridescence: and the Birds-of-Paradise

Dance moves of Parotia birds-of-paradise

BehaviorEvolution

Carola's Parotia: King of the Dance

King-of-Saxony Bird-of-Paradise sings

Songs + Calls

King-of-Saxony: Otherworldly Calls

Installing Cornell's heron cam

Nesting

Behind the Scenes Look at a Heron Cam

Position of the Cornell Hawk Cam

Nesting

Behind the Scenes Look at a Hawk Cam

Yula Kapetenakos studies endangered Asian Vulture populations

Conservation

Yula Kapetanakos: Asian Vulture Study

Packing for the Birds-of-Paradise Project

Conservation

Birds-of-Paradise Project: By the Numbers

The elongated windpipe of a Curl-crested Manucode

AnatomySongs + Calls

Curl-crested Manucode: Unusual Anatomy

Female parotia viewing a ballerina dance courtship display

BehaviorBrains + Senses

Multi-Cams: Revealing the Female Perspective

A diagram showing the transformation of the Superb Bird-of-Paradise during courtship display

Behavior

Superb Bird-of-Paradise: Psychedelic Smiley Face

A silent film style tribute to the birds-of-paradise

Behavior

For Birds-of-Paradise, Life's a Stage

A hidden camera captures new bird-of-paradise images

Behavior

Leaf-Cam: A Hidden Camera Takes a Fresh Look

Ed Scholes and Tim Laman in the field

Conservation

Teamwork: Discovery through Collaboration

Wildlife photographer Tim Laman descends from the canopy

Behavior

Ingenuity: Capturing the Ideal Photo

A photography blind perched in the canopy

Conservation

Building Blinds: Hiding in Plain Sight

AnatomyFeathers

Color: and the Birds-of-Paradise

BehaviorEvolution

Inspection & Touch: and the Birds-of-Paradise

Birds-of-Paradise transform their shape

BehaviorEvolution

Shape Shifting: and the Birds-of-Paradise

EvolutionSongs + Calls

Sound: and the Birds-of-Paradise

Birds-of-paradise dancing

BehaviorEvolution

Dance: and the Birds-of-Paradise

The diversity of colors in the Magnificent Bird-of-Paradise

AnatomyFeathers

Feathers: and the Birds-of-Paradise

Birds flying over the Yukon Delta in Alaska

HabitatMigration

Birds in the Ecology of Alaska's Yukon Delta

A male Gunnison Sage-Grouse displays on a lek

BehaviorConservation

On a Lek with Gunnison Sage-Grouse

Spoon-billed Sandpiper chick with parent

BehaviorNesting

Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Hatch

Spoon-billed Sandpiper foraging along the shore

BehaviorFood + Foraging

Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Foraging

A pair of Spoon-billed Sandpipers courting

Behavior

Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Courtship

A large flock of Snow Geese

BehaviorMigration

Massive Noisy Flocks: Snow Goose Migration

Semipalmated Sandpiper calls while hovering overhead

Songs + Calls

Voices of the Arctic Spring: Semipalmated Sandpiper

American Bittern calling

Songs + Calls

Territorial Call of the American Bittern

A Hudsonian Godwit being fitted with a tracking device

Migration

Chasing Hudsonian Godwits Across Continents

Green-rumped Parrotlets calling while still in their nest

Brains + SensesSongs + Calls

How a Parrot Learns Its Name in the Wild

Scientist Martjan Lammertink uses a double-knock box

Songs + Calls

Talking With a Pale-billed Woodpecker

A calling Common Loon

Songs + Calls

I’m Here, Where Are You?: Wails of the Common Loon

Male Magnificent Frigatebird inflates his red throat pouch

Behavior

Inflatable Throat: Magnificent Frigatebird Mating Display

Male Red-winged Blackbird spreads his wings

Behavior

Brilliant Flash: Red-winged Blackbird Territorial Displays

Acorn Woodpecker stores acorns in a granary

Food + ForagingHabitat

Storing Food: The Granaries of Acorn Woodpeckers

Shorebirds forage

Food + ForagingHabitat

Shorebird Foraging Strategies

Bleck-necked Stilts foraging in the mud

Food + Foraging

Foraging and Flocking: The Black-necked Stilt

Common Nighthawk dives creating a buzzing sound with its feathers

BehaviorSongs + Calls

Zoom!: The Aerial Display of the Common Nighthawk

Birds congregate in the Mississippi River Delta

ConservationHabitat

Birds in the Ecology of the Mississippi River Delta

A woodland habitat for birds

Bird IDHabitat

Inside Birding: Habitat

Yellow-billed Loon tucks its leg under a wing in cold water

AnatomyBehavior

How Yellow-billed Loons Survive in the Arctic

White-winged Crossbill foraging

EvolutionFood + Foraging

White-winged Crossbill Foraging Adaptation

Eastern Screech-Owl hides in a tree hole

FeathersHabitat

Eastern Screech-Owl Camouflage

Bird IDFeathers

Inside Birding: Color Pattern

Bird biology birding by size and shape

AnatomyBird ID

Inside Birding: Size & Shape

A group of young Royal Terns in a colony

BehaviorNesting

Tern Colony: A Creche For The Young

Golden-Eagle-on-a-Soaring-Thermal

Behavior

Golden Eagle Soaring on a Thermal

Golden-Eagle-in-a-Hunting-Stoop

BehaviorFood + Foraging

Golden Eagle in a Hunting Stoop

Yellow-bellied-Sapsucker

Food + Foraging

Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Drilling Sap Wells

Double-crested-Cormorant-dries-its-feathers

Feathers

Double-crested Cormorant Dries its Feathers

Dusky-Scrubfowl-foraging-with-feet

Food + Foraging

A Dusky Scrubfowl Foraging with Its Feet

Dusky-Broadbill-Nest

Nesting

The Dusky Broadbill's Camouflaged Nest

Common-Tern-Chicks

Feathers

Common Tern Chicks

Blyth's-Paradise-Flycatchers-Nest-care

Nesting

Blyth's Paradise-Flycatchers Alternate Nest Responsibilities

Bumblebee-Hummingbird-Throat-Feathers

Feathers

Brilliant Iridescent Throat Plumes of the Bumblebee Hummingbird

Bluethroat-Broods-On-Nest

Nesting

A Bluethroat Feeds and Broods Chicks on Its Nest

Banded-Kingfisher-Gives-Nuptial-Gift

Behavior

Banded Kingfisher Gives Nuptial Gift

Andean-Cock-of-the-Rock

Feathers

Bright Feathers of the Andean Cock-of-the-Rock

American-Woodcock-Camouflaged

Feathers

Camouflaged American Woodcock

American-Redstart-Singing

FeathersSongs + Calls

A Colorful Male American Redstart Sings

American-Bittern-Camouflage

Feathers

American Bittern Camouflages in the Reeds

Akiapolaau-Forages

Food + Foraging

Akiapolaau Forages for Insect Larvae

Acorn-Woodpecker-Feeds-Young

Nesting

Acorn Woodpecker Feeds Young

Cerulean-Warbler-Gleans-Foliage

Food + Foraging

A Female Cerulean Warbler Foraging in a Treetop

Blue-gray-Gnatcatcher-Tends-Nest

Nesting

A Blue-gray Gnatcatcher Tends Its Nest

American-Robin-Builds-Nest

Nesting

A Female American Robin Reinforces Her Nest With Mud

American-Coot-Chicks

Nesting

American Coot Chicks

Wood-Thrush-Singing

Songs + Calls

Wood Thrush Singing

Wood_Thrush_Feeding_Young

Nesting

A Wood Thrush Returns to its Nest to Feed Young

Wilson's-Phalaropes-feeding

Food + Foraging

Wilson's Phalarope Foraging

Diving-Ruddy-Duck

Food + Foraging

A Male Ruddy Duck in Nonbreeding Plumage Dives for Food

Roseate Spoonbills foraging

Food + Foraging

Roseate Spoonbills Forage

Rock Ptarmigan on nest

Nesting

A Female Rock Ptarmigan Sits on Her Nest

Red-necked Grebe on nest

Nesting

A Red-necked Grebe Sits on Its Nest

Purple Gallinule foraging

Food + Foraging

An Immature Purple Gallinule Forages for Seeds

Pileated Woodpecker Male and neslings

Nesting

A Pileated Woodpecker Feeds His Two Nestlings

Mallards foraging

Food + Foraging

A Couple of Mallards "Dabble" and Feed on Aquatic Vegetation

Gyrfalcon on the snow

Food + Foraging

A Gyrfalcon Hunting in the Snow, Catches a Small Rodent

Green Heron hunting

Food + Foraging

An Alert Green Heron Hunting For Fish

Philippine Eagle in flight

BehaviorFeathers

Slow Motion Philippine Eagle Flight

Philippine Eagle Soaring

Behavior

Soaring Philippine Eagle

Philippine Eagle Landing

Behavior

Philippine Eagle Landing on a Branch

Golden Eagle Landing

Behavior

Golden Eagle Landing

Hudsonian Godwits in Flight

Migration

Migrating Hudsonian Godwits

Mountain Bluebird Flying Into the Wind

Behavior

Mountain Bluebird Flying in the Wind

Satin Bowerbirds at bower

Behavior

Female Satin Bowerbird Visiting Bower

Wire-tailed Manakin

Behavior

Wire-tailed Manakin Courtship Display

Yellow-chevroned Parakeet Eats Fruit

Food + Foraging

Yellow-chevroned Parakeet Eating Fruit

Food + Foraging

Straight-billed Woodcreeper Breaks Down Large Insect

BehaviorFeathers

Twelve-wired Bird-of-Paradise Male-Female Plumage Differences

Preening-Stork-billed-Kingfisher

BehaviorFeathers

Preening Stork-billed Kingfisher

BehaviorFeathers

Subadult Plumage of the Paradise Riflebird

Nesting

Olive-backed Sunbird Removing Fecal Sac From Nest

Montezuma-Oropendola-nest

Nesting

The Montezuma Oropendola's Hanging Nest

King-Penguins-Incubating-Eggs-with-their-Feet

BehaviorNesting

King Penguins Incubating Eggs on Their Feet

Behavior

Vibrant Red House Finch

Contour-Feathers-of-the-King-Penguin

Feathers

Contour Feathers of the King Penguin

Feathers

Molting Indigo Bunting

Cornell University Lab-on-a-Bird project

Biology

How do You Put a Lab on a Bird?