News Archive

All it took was one hands-on experience with birds to get postdoctoral fellow Todd Jones hooked. Now, he's conducting ground-breaking research on a critical stage of birds' lives.

Three chirps for our Bird House team! In recognition of their efforts to breed and care for North American songbirds, they received a Plume Award from the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ Avian Scientific Advisory Group.

NZCBI staff in Front Royal, Virginia, are mourning the loss of Walnut, a white-naped crane who became an internet sensation for choosing one of her keepers as her mate.

In a major conservation success, 10 oriole chicks hatched at the Bird House, and the Zoo is seeking the public’s help to name them. 

Every spring and fall billions of birds fly thousands of miles to reach their breeding and wintering grounds, yet some of the most basic details of these astonishing avian pilgrimages remain murky. In two studies published today in Movement Ecology, Nathan Cooper, research ecologist for the...

The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute invites visitors to soar into its renovated Bird House, open Monday, March 13, 2023.

Eating chocolate is now better for birds, humans and the planet. The Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute has expanded its Smithsonian Bird Friendly certification program to include standards for cocoa farming. This is the only certification that guarantees 100% of the cocoa...

Read curator of birds, Sara Hallager's testimony on Bill 24-710 before the Washington, D.C., City Council.

A newly released State of the Birds report for the United States reveals a tale of two trends, one hopeful, one dire. 

As the Arctic and the oceans warm due to climate change, understanding how a rapidly changing environment may affect birds making annual journeys between the Arctic and the high seas is vital to international conservation efforts.

 

Each spring, the Northern Great Plains erupts with life as migratory birds return to build nests and raise their young. Smithsonian researchers are studying these grassland birds that nets in areas inhabited by prairie dogs.

In these excerpts from his field journal, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center intern Haley Haradon transports you to Michigan’s young jack pine forests as he searches for Kirtland’s warbler nests.

Modern technology is helping unravel the mystery of how migratory birds achieve their amazing flights. Researchers are already finding that many birds fly farther, faster and higher than they thought.

In late April, birds in the mid-Atlantic region began to turn up sick or dying. Scientists are trying to figure out why.

From the deepest trenches to the shallowest shores and across five basins, water circulates in one interconnected system: the world ocean. This World Ocean Day, discover how seemingly different animals — sessil coral and soaring seabirds — are connected to each other, to a changing climate and to...

Local songbirds will take advantage of the abundance of cicadas, something Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center scientists are eager to study.

The Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center has long championed the simple idea that birds matter. When we take care of birds, we take care of the interconnected natural systems that we all depend upon for survival.

A new study led by Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center and University of Alberta biologists has created a comprehensive picture of the 10,000 kilometer migratory route of common nighthawks using GPS data. The study, published Feb. 2 in Ecography, is the first step in analyzing where and why nighthawk...

From a litter of chirping cheetahs and the birth of a lovable giant panda cub to groundbreaking coral reef research and new strides in animal care, there were many milestones to celebrate this year.

State-of-the-art tracking technology reveals previously unknown long-distance movements of Kirtland’s warblers during the mating season that have important conservation implications for North American birds.

This World Migratory Bird Day, May 9, I hope we see record engagement in birdwatching.

Migratory birds are now flooding across the continent as they return to their nesting grounds this spring. World Migratory Bird Day is on May 9, 2020, as people around the globe welcome birds back—and lend them a helping hand.

Join the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center online this World Migratory Bird Day, May 9, in a digital celebration of birds and simple actions you can take from home to help save them.

As 2019 comes to a close, we’re continuing to reflect on some of this year’s biggest conservation success stories.

Smithsonian scientists tracked Egyptian vultures through 44 countries across 70% of their range. They learned that vultures traveling from Western Europe had shorter, more direct routes to wintering grounds in Northern Africa than vultures traveling from Eastern Europe.