Featuring reads from Scott Huler, Sophie Elmhirst, Lauren Smiley, Brian Payton, and Caity Weaver.
birds
City of Glass
“Meet the dedicated cadre of experts and volunteers working to protect birds from glass in the window-strike capital of the United States.”
Top 5 Longreads of the Week
Human ingenuity in the face of crumbling infrastructure. One man’s quest to save a bird that might already be extinct. The cultural schism dividing a major musical genre. A personal essay braiding space and family. And a jungle trek gone horribly, horribly awry. These are our editors’ favorite reads of the week. 1. The Balkans’ […]
An Icelandic Town Goes All Out to Save Baby Puffins
“Kids and senior citizens alike rally to rescue beloved young seabirds that have lost their bearings.”
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, our editors recommend notable features and essays by Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Justin Heckert, Gloria Liu, Sharon Levy, and Mychal Denzel Smith.
How the Yurok Tribe Is Bringing Back the California Condor
Condor 746, on loan from a captive breeding program in Idaho, traveled to California in spring 2022. He’s the first California condor in over a century to reach the ancestral land of the Yurok Tribe, and made the journey to mentor four young birds in a condor facility in Redwood National Park. Condors are very […]
Off the East Coast, a Massive Network of Wind Turbines Is Coming—Along With New Risks for Migrating Birds
Birds crossing the Atlantic Ocean, like gannets, will soon have to navigate wind farms — and some will die because of them. But the shift to clean energy is crucial for their survival — and for the future of our entire ecosystem. In the coming years, gannets zipping along the Eastern Seaboard will encounter unprecedented […]
My Friend Goo
When the pandemic upended her daily life, Deb Olin Unferth started walking, and one day met a goose. A measured, tender tale of loss and love and difficult friendship — one that warns you throughout that a sting is coming, but manages to sneak up and wallop you anyway. He was feisty, the town bully, […]
Plovers Quarrel: A Tiny, Endangered Bird Returns to Sauble Beach to Find Sunbathers Dug Into the Sand
After a 30-year absence, the plover, a tiny bird, returned to touristy Sauble Beach on the Ontario Peninsula. Now, the town’s residents are arguing over what the beach should be — and how both humans and these endangered birds can share the sand. Pristine white sand is the preferred backdrop for sunbathing, picnics, sandcastles and […]