Birds

A flock. A gaggle. A murder. A look inside the curious world of our avian friends—from their brains, songs, courtship rituals, and ancient evolutionary history.

Latest in Birds

Birds sometimes hitch rides on ships—and it’s changing the way they migrate
Environment

Birds sometimes hitch rides on ships—and it’s changing the way they migrate

By Ute Eberle/Hakai Magazine

A Wedge-tailed Eagle, a large vulture native to Australia.
Environment

An extinct 10-foot-long eagle could pick up kangaroos with its terrifying talons

By Laura Baisas

Moonlight will help inspire a Danish church’s wildlife-friendly design
Environment

Moonlight will help inspire a Danish church’s wildlife-friendly design

By Theo Nicitopoulos / Hakai Magazine

The partner of one Caribbean flamingo helps it out in an argument with another pair.
Environment

Flamingoes have big personalities—and their friendships prove it

By Laura Baisas

A white-bellied woodstar hummingbird flying. Their colorful throat feathers are believed to help them find a mate.
Environment

This hybrid hummingbird’s colorful feathers are a genetic puzzle

By Laura Baisas

Hand holding up drone disguised within taxidermy bird body
Technology

Researchers are stuffing drones into taxidermy birds to make them seem more ‘natural’

By Andrew Paul

Bird intelligence researcher in maroon shirt with flock of captive Goffin's cockatoos on his arms and head
Environment

These clever cockatoos carry around toolkits to get to food faster

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

A flock of chickens, including five hens and rooster, peck at a backyard
DIY

6 things to know before deciding to raise backyard chickens

By Sandra Gutierrez G.

A northern pygmy owl with brown and white feathers perched on a tree branch and staring.
Environment

Songbird species team up to ‘mob’ owls and other predators

By Laura Baisas

When wind turbines kill bats and birds, these scientists want the carcasses
Environment

When wind turbines kill bats and birds, these scientists want the carcasses

By Emma Foehringer Merchant / Undark

Pitcher plant with two dead spotted salamanders captured for photography awards
Environment

13 otherworldly photos that were actually taken on Earth

By Popular Science Team

Winged bird robot landing on wooden perch during test flight
Technology

Watch this bird-like robot make a graceful landing on its perch

By Andrew Paul

Flamingoes become an accidental source of pride in Mumbai
Environment

Flamingoes become an accidental source of pride in Mumbai

By Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar / Hakai Magazine

Ceramic ‘igloos’ could keep African penguins cool and cozy
Environment

Ceramic ‘igloos’ could keep African penguins cool and cozy

By Ryan Truscott / Hakai Magazine

This giant bird stays healthy by munching on medicinal plants
Environment

This giant bird stays healthy by munching on medicinal plants

By Laura Baisas

a cooked turkey drumstick on a plate that's sliced revealing its dark pink meat
Health

Is white meat better than dark meat? There’s no wrong answer.

By Jocelyn Solis-Moreira

Red bille quelea sitting on green branch
Environment

Here’s how 53 African bird species are adapting to historic heat

By Marc Trevor Freeman and Andrew McKechnie / The Conversation

A hummingbird called black jacobin in flight.
Science

This photographer captures birds as poetry in motion

By Christian Spencer

This newly named owl from Príncipe Island calls like an insect
Environment

This newly named owl from Príncipe Island calls like an insect

By Laura Baisas

A jaybird snacks
Environment

Eurasian jays show masterful intelligence in human psychology test

By Laura Baisas

The epic flights of two speedy ducks reveals secrets of global bird migration
Environment

The epic flights of two speedy ducks reveals secrets of global bird migration

By Dac Collins / Outdoor Life

3D bird skeletons
Environment

Birds are so specialized to their homes, it shows in their bones

By Laura Baisas

This beautiful jay holds together a unique Western ecosystem
Environment

This beautiful jay holds together a unique Western ecosystem

By Sara Van Note / Undark

Ducks and other North American waterfowl are faring surprisingly well
Environment

Ducks and other North American waterfowl are faring surprisingly well

By Sage Marshall/Field & Stream

Sunset on a prairie with a flock of birds silhouetted against the sky.
Environment

This fall, use weather data to see when birds are migrating near you

By Philip Kiefer

For woodpeckers, dropping beats could be the same as singing
Environment

For woodpeckers, dropping beats could be the same as singing

By Laura Baisas

Shearwater on the ocean.
Environment

Seabirds can be the bread crumbs for tracking elusive whales

By Brynn Pedrick / Hakai Magazine

bird species featured on Audubon's new interactive tool
Technology

These new interactive maps reveal the incredible global journeys of migrating birds

By Charlotte Hu

2022 Ig Nobel Prize winners include ducks in a row, constipated scorpions, ice cream, and more
Science

2022 Ig Nobel Prize winners include ducks in a row, constipated scorpions, ice cream, and more

By Laura Baisas

Cockatoos are pillaging trashcans in Australia, and humans can’t seem to stop them
Environment

Cockatoos are pillaging trashcans in Australia, and humans can’t seem to stop them

By Laura Baisas

Blue-throated macaws are making a slow, but hopeful, comeback
Environment

Blue-throated macaws are making a slow, but hopeful, comeback

By Laura Baisas

A beginner’s guide to iPhone bird photography
DIY

A beginner’s guide to iPhone bird photography

By Marissa Wu / Popular Photography

Pileated woodpecker with a red cap and black and white face pecking on wood in nine high speed video frames
Environment

Why woodpeckers actually don’t need shock-absorbing skulls to headbang

By Kate Baggaley

A piping plover shorebird walks on sand, with tawny feathers on his back, a white stomach, a black band of feathers on his neck, and a green band on his ankle
Science

Remembering Monty and Rose, the Chicago shorebirds that became the face of a movement

By Ella Weaver

SpaceX rocket launch facility near Boca Chica, Texas.
Environment

What SpaceX’s final Starbase permits could mean for Texas wildlife

By Kristine Liao

A condor.
Environment

Inside the Yurok Tribe’s mission to make critically endangered condors thrive

By Brian Oaster / High Country News

A colorful parrot hooked onto a tree with its beak.
Environment

What’s got two legs and a head for climbing? Rosy-faced lovebirds.

By Philip Kiefer

A jackdaw, a Eurasian bird that launches into the sky in flocks of hundreds.
Environment

Demo-crow-cy: Jackdaws leave the roost by voting

By Hannah Seo

Caribbean flamingo chick tucked into the pink feathers on the back of its parent
Environment

Before they grow into splendor, flamingos are just awkward floofs

By Claudio Contreras Koob and Martha A. Salazar

Two crows attacking a feeding bald eagle along the water
Environment

Crows and ravens flexed smarts and strength for world dominance

By Ella Weaver

On the left, multicolor eggs form a circle. On the right, a cuckoo finch is with two host chicks.
Environment

Thanks to a matriarchal gene, this bird can trick others into caring for its eggs

By Ella Weaver

Eight brightly colored birds from a museum specimens collection laid out on their backs on white
Science

Songbirds near the equator really are hotter, color-wise

By Kate Baggaley

Two mid-sized brown owls sitting on a branch in daylight with horses, rhinos, and soaring birds in the background in an illustration
Environment

Meet the ancient owl that embraced daylight

By Purbita Saha

a yellow wheeled robot approaches a colony of penguins in the snow
Environment

The march of the penguins has a new star: an autonomous robot

By Lauren J. Young

Northern fulmar seabird sitting on a grassy hill with small pink flowers
Environment

Can birds smell? This ornithologist is debunking a long-standing myth.

By Danielle J. Whittaker

birds flying across the moon at night
Environment

A moon-watching robot can demystify what migrating birds do at night

By Charlotte Hu

a bald eagle perched on a branch
Environment

Eagles face another major threat in the US: lead poisoning

By Kate Baggaley

Why young orphans were once used as human refrigerators
Science

Why young orphans were once used as human refrigerators

By Popular Science Team

Red and white heart balloons released into blue sky which can become hazardous.
Environment

Do something sweet for Earth—ditch balloons this Valentine’s Day

By Maggie Galloway

Female house sparrow and brown-headed cowbird, both potential vectors for bacteria that cause food-borne illnesses, feeding on birdseed on the ground
Environment

These bird species are most likely to contaminate our fruits and veggies

By Nikita Amir

One of the best-preserved dinosaur embryos ever found.
Science

This fossilized dinosaur embryo is curled up just like a baby bird

By Kate Baggaley

a color illustration of a brown and white bird in a lush forest
Science

This 120-million-year-old bird could stick out its tongue

By Kate Baggaley

Brown and white extinct Haast's eagle with talons sunk into a furry carcass
Environment

This 30-pound eagle would take down 400-pound prey and dig through their organs

By Margo Milanowski

bird bot stanford
Technology

This bird-legged quadcopter can easily perch in the treetops

By Margo Milanowski

Greater roadrunner racing across a street in the desert
Environment

Las Vegas bird can’t remember how it ended up in Maine

By Margo Milanowski

Crow over a green art illustration background
Environment

Even more proof that crows are terrifyingly smart

By Popular Science Team

female zebra finch inspects male
Environment

When female finches fail to find mates, they dump their eggs and move on

By Margo Milanowski

a small brown and red bird perched on a branch
Environment

You’ve heard of truffle pigs. Now get ready for truffle birds.

By Kate Baggaley

Two gray pigeons in a spotlight in a Rosemary Mosco cartoon
DIY

How to speak city pigeon

By Rosemary Mosco

A bird flying near a concrete commercial building with large windows on a sunny day.
DIY

How to help birds avoid crashing into your windows

By Natalie Wallington

Green Southern cassowary egg drawing
Science

Ancient humans might have bred one of the scariest birds on the planet

By Elana Spivack

an illustration of a huge group of small dark birds flying in a cloud-like formation against a colorful sunset
Environment

This annual starling murmuration is so dense it’s called ‘The Black Sun’

By Chris Iovenko

Parasitic birds like cuckoos seem to target victims who can’t see well
Environment

Parasitic birds like cuckoos seem to target victims who can’t see well

By Kate Baggaley

Lockdown made cities friendlier for some birds
Environment

Lockdown made cities friendlier for some birds

By Kate Baggaley