Birds

The winning artwork for the 2011 duck stamp (Source: US Fish and Wildlife Service Headquarters / CC BY 2.0)

For any migratory bird, there are few gifts better than a bunch of new habitat acres and some heightened protection that keeps your precious wetland ecosystem safe. That’s what the US Fish and Wildlife Service has helped to secure by approving a chunk of funding last week that came from the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission and the North American Wetlands Act, and which is intended to preserve wetland habitat that over 700 bird species need to thrive. 

Photo: USFWS/Flickr

Every week we post a funny animal photo that’s begging for a caption. Join in the fun! You’ve got til 11:59 pm (Eastern time) on Sunday to enter your suggestion (click “Read more” below). On Monday we’ll choose our three favorite captions and list them under the image.

 Photo by Katey Nicosia / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

For the days when hauling around a tome for identifying birds just won’t do, Audubon comes to the rescue with its new online guide to North American birds, available for $3.99 on the iPhone, Android, iPad, NOOK or Kindle through the Audubon Birds app. One screen pretty much holds it all, displaying information about birding, conservation, even avian anatomy. The guide categorizes more than 800 species by family, common name, or general shape, allowing users to pick the most appropriate identification route.

Photo: Chuck Rogers/Flickr

UPDATE: Choose the winner!

Every week we post a funny animal photo that’s begging for a caption. Join in the fun! You’ve got til 11:59 pm (Eastern time) on Sunday to enter your suggestion (click “Read more” below). On Monday we’ll choose our three favorite captions and list them under the image.

Billions of birds are already on the move or about to take flight, heading back to their breeding grounds. Take a minute to wish our flying friends safe travel, with this video from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

A peregrine falcon chick, born in a nest box atop NYC's Throgs Neck, being banded by a wildlife specialist with NYC Department of Environmental Protection. Photo: MTA/Patrick Cashin/CC BY 2.0

UPDATE: Choose the winner!

Every week we post a funny animal photo that’s begging for a caption. Join in the fun! You’ve got til 11:59 pm (Eastern time) on Sunday to enter your suggestion (click “Read more” below). On Monday we’ll choose our three favorite captions and list them under the image.

Hard to believe, but it’s our 12^th Birds Make the Art post. One of our highlighted artists makes realistic-looking paper bird models. Another cuts intricate bird designs. The third creates beautiful paintings.

Photo: Francisco Martins/CC BY-NC 2.0

Every week we post a funny animal photo that’s begging for a caption. Join in the fun! You’ve got til 11:59 pm (Eastern time) on Sunday to enter your suggestion (click “Read more” below). On Monday we’ll choose our three favorite captions and list them under the image.

I’ve always thought ducks were pretty great. They’re beautiful birds big enough to see a good amount of detail. They tend to stay in one place long enough to offer a really satisfying look, sometimes with the naked eye. And often many species congregate together—on open water.

So when I heard that Rob Meyer and Luke Matheny’s new film “A Birder’s Guide to Everything” was about four high schoolers chasing a long-forgotten duck, I was pretty stoked. After seeing the movie Monday, I can say wholeheartedly that it didn’t disappoint.

A California condor in flight. Photo by USFWS Pacific Southwest Region/ CC BY 2.0

Since December, seven California condors, the largest and most endangered land bird in North America, have died around the Grand Canyon, the Center for Biological Diversity reports. The culprit in three of the cases—and suspected in the other four deaths—is poisoning from ingesting lead ammunition. Condors are scavengers that feed on carcasses and gut piles of elk, deer, and other animals; when those creatures have been shot by hunters who use lead ammunition, the birds ingest metal fragments with their meal.