Audubon Magazine

Audubon is the official magazine of the National Audubon Society. Get Audubon Magazine digital magazine subscription today for news coverage of the natural world. We help our readers appreciate, understand, and protect the environment with a particular focus on birds, other wildlife and their habitats

Consider the Cormorant

No Time Like the Present • However quickly life seems to move, it’s worth slowing down and paying attention.

INBOX

Audubon Magazine

Listen to the Birds Today • Some days, they sing messages of peril. But some days, they sing songs of beauty and hope.

Too Big to Fail • Leaders and advocates are mobilizing to save Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Will it be enough?

Buried Treasure • Mangrove forests are carbon sponges. By tapping that value, conservationists in Panama seek to ensure they’ll remain that way.

Taking Up the Torch • For generations Great Plains ranchers saw fire as a foe. Now they’re banding together and embracing it as a tool to restore grassland habitat.

The Scoop on Bird Poop • Far from waste, a splotch of feces contains valuable information about a bird’s diet.

2022 AUDUBON PHOTOGRAPHY AWARDS

The BIRD and The FLAME • In 2020 a wildfire roared through Big Basin Redwoods State Park, incinerating cabins and campsites, blackening ancient trees, and imperiling rare murrelets. Staff are now set on rebuilding the park to withstand a more volatile future.

A bird by Any Other Name • More than 100 North American birds carry the names of people, some of whom were enslavers, supremacists, or grave robbers. The birding community is questioning whether to do away with these honorifics and bestow new monikers that reflect each species’ unique qualities.

PEAFOWL IN PARADISE • The showy birds have turned neighbor against neighbor in Los Angeles, where they claw up gardens, peck at car fenders, and belt out their songs at all hours. Is a more harmonious coexistence possible?

Hit the Beach With a Shorebird Biologist • Shelby Casas braves sun, bugs, and storms to protect endangered birds.

Should I talk to a stranger walking a dog off leash?

The Shorebirds Are Coming • For some birds that nest in the Arctic and boreal forest, “fall” migration starts as early as July.

Big Tern Cheat Sheet • North America’s three largest terns are near look-alikes. With a keen eye for detail you can tell them apart.

Sandproof Your Stuff • The beach can be a photographer’s dream—or worst nightmare. Tame unruly sand with these pro tips and key tools.

Beach Reads • Three ways to transport yourself while at the seashore.

Inland Empire • Not all summer birding happens on the coast. Head inland to catch these seasonal spectacles.

The Air-Conditioning Conundrum • Air-conditioning will be increasingly needed to survive summer heat—even as it accelerates warming. Here’s what you need to know.

Be Cool • There’s no time like the present to start using AC more sustainably.

THE AVIARY • Where birds inspire art, awe, and action THE FORAGED WOOD THRUSH BY JESSICA MAFFIA