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Puffins on Heimaey.
Heimaey, Iceland

World's Largest Puffin Colony

Every summer local children form "pysja patrols" to save young birds that have wandered from their nests.
Scrub jays, among other birds, like to rub themselves with ants.
insects

Birds Rub Ants on Themselves, and No One Knows Exactly Why

It's called "anting," and it is weird.
Eric Grundhauser November 21, 2017
Kingsland Wildflowers.
Brooklyn, New York

Kingsland Wildflowers

Thriving meadows span a rooftop in one of Brooklyn's most heavily industrialized neighborhoods.
Alan Tennyson holds more than 20 fossilized kakapo beaks. Just 154 of the birds are alive today.
science

The Pit of Death That Holds the History of New Zealand's Flightless Birds

A natural trap that became a grave for thousands of avians.
Natasha Frost November 17, 2017
Puffins at Látrabjarg.
Iceland

Látrabjarg

Puffin enthusiasts flock to Europe's largest seabird cliff, which over one million birds call home.
Fake ortolan, shown in a traditional presentation, sculpted by Janice Poon for the TV show "Hannibal."
Gastro Obscura

Ortolan Bunting

A cruel cooking method turns this tiny songbird into a rare delicacy.
The new peacock hutch.
New York, New York

Cathedral Peacock Hutch

A Gothic-style abode built to accommodate the church's three resident peacocks.
A Puerto Rican parrot in El Yunque Forest's Iguaca Aviary, during greener times.
islands

Among Puerto Rico's Displaced Residents, an Entire Flock of Endangered Parrots

Still, the island's animal conservationists have no intention of giving up.
Cara Giaimo November 8, 2017
New Zealand birdwatchers survey the coast of North Korea.
politics

The New Zealand Birdwatchers Who Fly to North Korea in the Spring

The quest for a bird that continues to defy international sanctions.
Natasha Frost November 7, 2017
Entrance to the Cueva de las Lechuzas.
Las Palmas, Peru

Cueva de Las Lechuzas

A jungle cave in Peru of unknown depths, otherworldly sounds, and strange nocturnal birds that navigate by echolocation.
A pileated woodpecker, who likely resembles the one in question.
cars

A Woodpecker Has Been Attacking Car Mirrors in Snellville, Georgia

"Son of a biscuit," one victim responded.
Cara Giaimo October 25, 2017
Machaeropterus eckelberryi
science

Found: A Bird That Could Be Distinguished Only by Its Song

It looked almost identical to another species.
Sarah Laskow October 24, 2017
Look out behind you!
animals

The Doctor Who Fends Off Magpie Attacks With Children's Party Favors

It's magpie swooping season in Australia, and at least one man is sick of living in fear.
Eric Grundhauser October 23, 2017
The structure though to be this fossilized bird's uropygial gland is in the box at center.
dinosaurs

We Now Have Evidence That Birds Preened Their Plumage 48 Million Years Ago

Did feathered dinosaurs do the same?
Kelsey Kennedy October 19, 2017
Specimens from 1904 and 1966 look almost like different species of songbird.
science

What Sooty Feathers Tell Us About Air Pollution Over Time

Many of America's birds are far cleaner now than they were at the turn of the century.
Natasha Frost October 10, 2017
The flight cage.
St. Louis, Missouri

1904 World's Fair Flight Cage

What was meant to be a temporary exhibit is now a permanent fixture at the St. Louis Zoo filled with beautiful birds.
The only known specimen of the Liberian Greenbul.
dinosaurs

The Birds and Beasts That May Have Never Actually Existed

Occasionally it's hard to know what should be its own species.
Natasha Frost October 5, 2017
Amazing swans.
Windsor, England

The Queen's Swans at Windsor

All unmarked mute swans on the Thames are owned by the Queen per a tradition that began in the 12th century.