Audubon

The protection of waterbird populations has long been a key goal for Audubon, dating back even before the National Audubon Society was formally created. The alarming killing of millions of waterbirds, especially egrets and wading birds, for the hat-making industry sparked the founding of the Massachusetts Audubon Society by Harriet Hemenway and Mina Hall in 1896. By 1898, several state-based Audubon Societies were formed in places like Pennsylvania, New York, New Hampshire, Illinois, Maine, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, Minnesota, Texas, and California. In 1900, Frank M. Chapman, an Audubon member, initiated the first Christmas Bird Count, a volunteer-based survey of winter bird populations, as a more humane alternative to the traditional Christmas “Side Hunt,” where hunters competed to kill as many birds and mammals as possible.

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Articles

Why Is Everyone Obsessed With the ‘Awebo’ Bird?

1 week ago | audubon.org | Alex Tey

For most of the year, the Willow Ptarmigan lays low on the Arctic tundra, blending into the snowy landscape with its powder-white plumage. But as winter turns toward spring, the males begin to stake out territories and make their presence known.
Our Connected Planet

1 month ago | audubon.org | Elizabeth Gray

It is springtime in North America—a season of transformation. The arrival of migratory birds, blooming flowers, and longer days signal renewal and possibility. Across the Western Hemisphere, the rhythms of nature take different forms, but one truth remains universal: birds connect us to these cycles of life. Their songs, presence, and absence tell powerful stories about the health of our planet.
In the Great Plains, Landowners Are Banking On the Lesser Prairie-Chicken’s Survival

1 month ago | audubon.org | Susan Cosier

Dallas May can’t help but feel that something is missing. For more than a decade he’s been working to restore shortgrass prairie habitat to support wildlife on his family’s 20,000-acre ranch in southeast Colorado. His family rotationally grazes their Limousin cattle to give native grasses time to rest and recover, moving the 800 ebony and caramel-colored cows from pasture to pasture to feed on buffalograss and blue grama that grow near sand dropseed and little bluestem.
Ready and Able

1 month ago | audubon.org | Jennifer Bogo

Juvenile Brown Pelicans aren’t exactly cooperative—like any tween they’re instantly recalcitrant when faced with authority. “One volunteer had their hat stolen by a pelican that was resisting being captured,” says photographer Madeline Gray, who tagged along with a field research team in North Carolina. But you’d never know it from this issue’s cover star: a young bird perched in its habitat with an air of quiet equanimity, coolly appraising its visitors on a late-summer day.
Wisconsin Weighs Sandhill Crane Hunts to Protect Crops Despite a Nonlethal Option

1 month ago | audubon.org | Susan Cosier

Roughly 15 years ago Dave Mickelson began to see flocks of Sandhill Cranes floating gently onto his Wisconsin farm, their long legs extended like aircraft landing gear. Spring after spring the elegant birds returned, plucking seeds from the rows of corn and soybeans he’d just planted. “If you see cranes in your field, it gets your blood pressure up a little bit,” he says. Mickelson wasn’t alone.
How (and Why) to Host a Bird Sit

1 month ago | audubon.org | Ariana Remmel

Audubon MagazineSpring 2025Birding Advice Casual or competitive, stationary birding events provide a refreshingly different outdoor experience. Group trips are a great way for birders to enjoy nature together. While guided walks are the go-to outing for many event organizers, why not let the birds come to you? A bird sit is an outing in which participants observe birds together from a single location—often supplemented by snacks and socializing.
Soaring Gas Exports Are Putting the Squeeze on Gulf Coast Habitat

1 month ago | audubon.org | Andy McGlashen

Before retiring from his career as an oil and gas engineer, John Allaire bought a slice of paradise: more than a half-mile of oceanfront in Louisiana’s Cameron Parish, backed by 300-plus acres of marsh where he could gather shrimp and watch bobcats prowl. “This was my little place to be quiet and stargaze and fish and hunt,” he says. Nowadays a constant rumbling disturbs his peace.
You Have What It Takes to Lead Bird Outings

1 month ago | audubon.org | Ariana Remmel

On a warm afternoon in Chicago’s McKinley Park, Em De Blas was guiding a group of birders when they spotted a Downy Woodpecker “going ham” on a tree. In both English and Spanish, De Blas invited everyone to spend some time just watching the beautiful bird do its thing. The year before, De Blas had recognized that bilingual outings could welcome more people into the local birding community but worried that they didn’t know enough about birds to lead them.
The Remarkable Healing Power of Seabird Poop for Climate-Stressed Coral Reefs

1 month ago | audubon.org | Lisa Gardiner

When marine ecologist Casey Benkwitt set out to study coral reefs, she never thought she’d spend so much time thinking about bird poop. Now, six years after she started exploring how seabird guano boosts these underwater biodiversity hotspots, she sees how important it is to look for unexpected links in ecology. “It's really intriguing and inspiring to think about how everything is connected,” she says.
Meet the Climate Leader Who Wants You to Abandon Hope-and Get to Work

1 month ago | audubon.org | Maddie Burakoff

Ayana Elizabeth Johnson believes humans can restore and protect nature while staring down a planetary crisis. She’s convinced we can limit warming, prevent climate disasters, transform our culture, and find a way to have abundant and healthy life on Earth. But don’t call her an optimist. “Hope can be a very passive emotion,” says Johnson, a marine biologist, policy expert, and writer. “I think it’s insufficient.