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

A Dancer’s Stage • The first time wildlife photographer Noppadol Paothong trekked to see Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse perform their spring courtship rite at a remote lek in southern Wyoming’s mountains, it was blizzarding. With heavy gear on his back, he fell to his waist in snow every few steps, but with the help of a Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologist, Paothong finally made it to the nearly 8,000-foot-elevation site. They set up in a blind and hid for two hours until near ready to give up. Then, the sky cleared, and 20 birds came to dance atop seven feet of snow. “It was one of the most memorable moments in my photography experience,” he recalls. For the past dozen years, with the same determination as the birds, he’s returned in spring—making it his quest to capture the spirit of this enigmatic subspecies.

Lost and Found • Going in search of unfamiliar birds can be thrilling, but so can discovering the ones there all along.

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Audubon Magazine

A Road Map for the Future • Our bold strategic plan will achieve new levels of impact for birds, people, and the planet.

Bird Flu Blazes On • Facing an outbreak that is unusually deadly for wild birds and is spreading to more mammals, scientists worry about when—or if—it will end.

The Birding Brain Boost • Neuroscientists puzzling over how human memory, learning, and decision-making function turn to birdwatchers to connect the dots.

The Big Lift • Naturalists are saving a historic building at Maine’s Hog Island Audubon Camp by elevating it above rising floodwaters.

Last Best Hope • The window of opportunity to save the sagebrush ecosystem is rapidly closing.

THE MYSTERIOUS DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN KESTREL • Although still common, these much-loved falcons continue to disappear from North American skies each year. Scientists are racing to understand why.

Travel IN THE TIME OF CLIMATE CRISIS • As climate-related disasters ramp up, how can tourists minimize the harms and maximize the benefits they bring to recovering destinations?

BUSINESS IS BLOOMING • Feeding birds has always been popular, but interest exploded during the pandemic, with a surge of people joining the ranks and products flying off the shelves. Can this momentum carry the centuryold hobby into a new era?

FARM TO FEEDER • A product that can start as a crop in Colorado or Kansas before winding up on store shelves from coast to coast follows a lengthy supply chain.

WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH NYJER?

WHO LIKES WHAT • From 2005 to 2008, the Wild Bird Feeding Institute contracted Millikin University’s David Horn to conduct the most comprehensive scientific study of avian food and feeder preferences. Project Wildbird tracked 1.2 million feeder visits across North America to gauge interest in 10 common bird food ingredients. These were the top choices for a variety of feeder regulars and rarities.

MIXING IT UP • A quick primer on five common birdseed blends—and how they live up to the claims they make.

TREND-SPOTTING • A look at what’s happening now and what may be on the horizon.

IN SEARCH OF AUWO • The Black-naped Pheasant Pigeon, a unique bird of Papua New Guinea, hadn’t been documented in more than a century. Now a team had a month to find one—and to do so, they knew they needed help.

FIELD GUIDE • Our primer on avian abodes. Plus: Take in the waves of migration.

Watch Nests to Bird Better • Casey McFarland, author of Peterson Field Guide to North American...