Profiles

Portrait of Sarah T. Dubb looking out over wetlands at sunset.
Twice-Shy Lovebirds Open Their Hearts in This Steamy (and Birdy!) Romance Novel
June 04, 2024 — Sarah T. Dubb’s debut rom-com, “Birding With Benefits,” celebrates love, new beginnings, and a really great checklist—all under the Tucson sun.
Books
Elderly man with black and blue checkered shirt scans a landscape of dead tress with his binoculars. There are snow capped peaks in the background.
Meet the 88-Year-Old ‘Unlikely Birder’ On a Quest to Link Two Famed National Parks
September 18, 2023 — A youthful spirit has powered Lowell Young’s decades of advocacy on behalf of birds and habitats, including his contributions to a campaign to create the proposed Range of Light National Monument.
We Might Not Have Trumpeter Swans Without George Meléndez Wright
April 14, 2023 — A conservation powerhouse and the subject of a new biography, Wright also changed how our national parks protect and manage wildlife.
Two people stand in a rocky and grassy landscape surrounded by cliffs and ocean under a dark cloudy sky.
The Bird Man of the Faroe Islands Who Helps Unravel a Seabird’s Secrets
March 06, 2023 — On a remote island, a self-trained naturalist collaborates with scientists to track and protect a species that does its best not to be seen.
A man wearing camouflage pants and holding a camera and large backpack stands in a field and looks through binoculars.
Birding In a War Zone: How Ukraine’s Top eBirder Pursues His Passion Amid Tragedy
February 21, 2023 — A writer’s budding friendship with Oleksandr Nastachenko offers a window into the besieged country’s small but resourceful community of birders and what they have lost since the Russian invasion.
When a Battle Against an Invasive Weed Feels Like a Battle for Your Spirit
March 22, 2022 — I was feeling discouraged in life, when I began volunteering at a local park. That’s when the project’s leader, Eleanor Osgood, changed my outlook.
Essays
The Inspiring Ascent of Master Falconer Shawn Hayes
March 21, 2022 — How one determined man built his dream life with birds of prey
Meet the Bird Guide and Blogger on a Mission to Keep Women Birders Safe
January 07, 2022 — Tiffany Kersten spent 2021 shining a light on the dangers many birders face in the field—and broke a birding record along the way.
Birding News
Sure, He’s Retired, but This Conservation Legend Isn’t Slowing Down
July 16, 2021 — Carrol Henderson rescued Minnesota’s Peregrine Falcons and Trumpeter Swans. Can he save this heron rookery before it’s too late?
Roxie Laybourne studies specimens from the Birds Collection at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., in 1992. Chip Clark/Division of Birds, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution
The Remarkable Life of Roxie Laybourne
October 05, 2020 — 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.