Discover APP Magazine

Where the latest news about birds and conservation takes flight.
On Florida's Marco Island, families of Burrowing Owls live among the locals. Photo: Karine Aigner

APP delivers essential news, advice, and reporting on birds and bird conservation.

Pairing compelling journalism with stunning photography and design, each quarterly issue helps readers grow their appreciation of birds and learn how to help them thrive. Our editorial team also reports and publishes stories on APP.org daily, including science and conservation news, birding tips, photo galleries, and interactive reader experiences. In print and digital, through stories and visuals, APP emphasizes the importance of a diverse and inclusive science and conservation effort to help meet the challenges facing both birds and people today.

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Read the Entire Summer 2025 Issue
A plover chick peeks out from under its parent's feathers on a rocky beach.
Read the Entire Summer 2025 Issue

Inside: Using hi-tech trackers to spy on Mallards. A decades-long campaign helps Piping Plovers reach new heights. How smart feeders connect us to local birdlife—and each other. The Native-led raptor center protecting sacred species and traditions. In Alaska, a push for more industry threatens irreplaceable habitats. You, too, can have a hummer summer. Read these stories and more.

Highlighted Feature Stories
North Carolina's Cape Fear River Is a ‘Forever Chemical’ Hotspot—What Does That Mean for Its Birds and People?
North Carolina's Cape Fear River Is a ‘Forever Chemical’ Hotspot—What Does That Mean for Its Birds and People?

Amid mounting global health concerns about PFAS, communities living along the waterway must grapple with how contamination is affecting life on the river. Yet as hard as it is to conduct health studies on humans, it’s even harder with wild animals.

Latest News and Articles
A black and white American Oystercatcher, with its distinct skinny orange bill, stretches its wings atop a bed of oysters.
Inside the All-Out, 16-State Mission to Save the American Oystercatcher
June 20, 2025 — A massive network of conservation groups bet big on a business plan to reverse the striking shorebird’s decline—and won.
An aerial view of a concrete wall in a mangrove-surrounded bay.
Oysters Are ‘Nature’s Architects’—and Coastal Conservation’s Secret Weapon
June 20, 2025 — To give new life to shoreline habitats, a growing number of projects are harnessing the reef-building power of oysters.
Hundreds of little glowing lights float around a dark, forest floor.
How You Can Help Scientists Study a Summertime Favorite: the Firefly
June 20, 2025 — Despite their luminescent glow, lightning bugs have remained a conservation mystery until relatively recently. Now researchers are relying on community science to track these beloved beetles.
A bright metallic green hummingbird drinks nectar from an orange flower.
This Summer, Catch a Kaleidoscopic Variety of Hummingbirds Out West
June 20, 2025 — To witness dazzling displays of migrating hummers on the move, the western United States is the place to be during the warmer months.
Lili Taylor stands in a lush, green forest holding binoculars and smiling.
Lili Taylor Leaps From Stage to Page With a Birdy New Memoir
June 20, 2025 — The celebrated actor can now add author to her list of accolades after publishing “Turning to Birds,” a memoir-in-essays about falling in love with the avian world.
A piñata with three Ivory-billed Woodpeckers perched on a branch, photographed outside under a flowering tree.
Layers of Paper—and Meaning—in Roberto Benavidez’s Ivory-billed Woodpecker Piñata
June 20, 2025 — With “Woodpecker Trinity,” the artist reimagines a famous APP watercolor to pay tribute to the long-debated woodpecker, while adding his own symbolic twists.
Two people stand on an unpaved road through a forest with mountains in the background, looking through binoculars.
Arizona Surveys Find a Record-Low Number of Elegant Trogons, Raising Concerns About Drought Impacts
June 18, 2025 — For more than a decade Tucson Bird Alliance and volunteers have counted the stunning birds each spring in their only U.S. breeding stronghold.
A person holding a female cardinal affixes a metal band around her leg.
Looming Federal Cuts Threaten the Bird Banding Lab, a Cornerstone of Avian Science
June 12, 2025 — For more than a century, the USGS program has revealed crucial insights about where birds go, how they’re faring, and what we can do to help them. Its budget and staff are now on the chopping block.
Two American Oystercatchers walk on the beach with people in bathing suits by the ocean in the background.
Help Protect Beaches—and the Birds That Need Them—With a Smartphone and a Coin
June 12, 2025 — A community science project is building a sand-grain database to understand how and why coastlines change.
A person looks up at a tree with binoculars while the person next to her points up at it.
How to Help Others Quickly Locate a Bird in a Tree
June 10, 2025 — Follow these simple steps to avoid a miscommunication meltdown and ensure everyone gets a look.

Find a Read

APP magazine publishes a variety of story types in print and online. Peruse—and enjoy—just a sampling of our work below. 

Investigations
A New Plastic Wave Is Coming to Our Shores
A New Plastic Wave Is Coming to Our Shores

A glut of natural gas has led to a U.S. production surge in tiny plastic pellets, called nurdles, that are washing up on coasts by the millions.

Profiles
Can a Scientist and an Owl Be Friends?
A photo of author, Carl Safina, looking to the top right of the frame
Can a Scientist and an Owl Be Friends?

Best-selling author and ecologist Carl Safina has made a career out of his deep explorations of the animal world. But his recent relationship with a rescued owl caused him to go even deeper.

The Remarkable Life of Roxie Laybourne
The Remarkable Life of Roxie Laybourne

From deep within the Smithsonian, the world’s first forensic ornithologist cracked cases, busted criminals, and changed the course of aviation—making the skies safer for us all.

Essays
The Day We Didn’t Save the Starling
An illustration of a woman and young girl crouching down looking at something in a driveway next to a house.
The Day We Didn’t Save the Starling

In our rescue attempt, I thought I was giving my young daughters a lesson in compassion. It ended up being the reminder that I needed.

Remembering Toni Morrison, the Bird Whisperer
Remembering Toni Morrison, the Bird Whisperer

A year after Morrison’s passing, a journalist and birder reflects on how her time with the cherished author changed her relationship with birds—and with herself.

The APP Guide to Climate Action
The APP Guide to Climate Action

Feeling like you can’t make a difference? That couldn’t be further from the truth. Our award-winning guide shows you where to begin and how to ­amplify your efforts to make lasting change in the world.

Dispatches

The 2024 APP Photo Awards: Top 100

Revel in the staggering beauty and surprising behaviors featured in this gallery of our favorite images.

Hooded Merganser. Photo: Edwin Liu/APP Photography Awards
Photo Essays
Portrait of a Forest on the Climate Edge
A bird's eye view of a winter scene of a forest with some green pine trees and bare aspen, paper birch, and red maple trees.
Portrait of a Forest on the Climate Edge

In Minnesota, a boreal forest ecosystem could shift north over the Canada border this century. Local photographers, scientists, and land managers are grappling with what that means—and how to respond.

Birding Advice and News
Bird Books and Culture
A New Book Explores Our Disdain for Pests
A New Book Explores Our Disdain for Pests

Journalist Bethany Brookshire argues that the idea of a “pest” is more about humans’ view of unwanted animals than the critters themselves.

The APP Bird Guide
Guadalupe Murrelet
Auks, Murres, Puffins
Black-backed Woodpecker
Woodpeckers
Ruff
Sandpipers
Yellow-nosed Albatross
Albatrosses