EU’s legal loophole feeds gray market for world’s rarest parrot
Bianca’s Bird Farm sits on a two-lane country road outside of the city of Antwerp in Belgium. There’s no sign out front, just a keypad and a video camera. A…
Birds News
[Photos] New book is a stunning glimpse of Asia’s wildlife and landscapes
For the past two decades, wildlife photographer and writer Bjorn Olesen and travel writer Fanny Lai have published books aimed at raising awareness of conservation in Asia. Beginning in 2012,…
Nepal’s birds pay cost for country’s infrastructure development
KATHMANDU — As Nepal, one of the least industrialized countries in the world, invests in hydropower and roads to lift its people’s living standards, balancing public aspirations with conservation has…
In Kenya, vicious ants are nesting birds’ best neighbors, study finds
The remarkable partnership between East Africa’s whistling thorn trees and their resident ants is well known, but now a new study brings to light the trees’ relationship with birds. Acacia…
Conservationists in Nepal say government must step up in coming years
KATHMANDU — A rich diversity of life abounds across Nepal, from iconic big cats like the tiger and the snow leopard, to less celebrated creatures like vultures and macaques. And…
Long-term wildlife impacts at Chornobyl, Fukushima may yield ‘a new ecology’
The world’s two worst nuclear accidents, in Ukraine and Japan, along with the human exclusion zones around them, are informing scientists about radiation effects, and how ecosystems evolve with less pressure from people.
Bird-friendly maple syrup boosts Vermont forest diversity & resilience
WOODSTOCK, Vermont — As the sun rises, the ethereal song of a wood thrush echoes through Bourdon Maple Farm’s 55-hectare (135-acre) forest in Woodstock. A bright scarlet tanager wings about…
Bird-watching offers potential for conservation & economy in Colombia’s Guaviare
The meeting took place behind closed doors one September afternoon in San José del Guaviare, the capital of the department of Guaviare, in Colombia’s central-south region. Five men sat around…
To protect its iconic condors, an entire Bolivian town declared itself a reserve
In February 2021, a period of national mourning was declared in Bolivia after 34 Andean condors were found dead. The images that circulated on social media showed a desolate scene…
Iconic Indonesian raptor still threatened by habitat degradation, isolation
JAKARTA — Most of the habitat of the Javan hawk-eagle is protected, but threats of forest degradation and isolation loom over the surviving population of Indonesia’s national bird, a new…
How a group in Ecuador protects 10% of the world’s bird species
In 1997, ornithologist Robert S. Ridgely discovered a previously undocumented bird species, the Jocotoco Antpitta (Grallaria ridgelyi), in the tropical montane forests on the Amazonian slope of the Andes in…
Logging, road construction continue to fuel forest loss in Papua New Guinea
Plonked between the formidable Owen Stanley mountains to its west and the Solomon Sea to the east lies Oro, a remote province in Papua New Guinea east of the capital…
Ecologists help migratory birds adapt to climate change
A team of scientists drives across northern Europe under the cloak of darkness in a white van full of carefully caged songbirds. They’re on their way from the Netherlands to…
New AI model gives bird’s-eye view of avian distribution at vast scale
Wildlife conservation actions tend to be focused in specific locations because the data that inform them also tend to be highly localized. But what if we could visualize where a…
More capacity building funds needed for small nonprofit conservation groups (commentary)
I have worked as a grant writing professional for about 24 years and am also the part-time co-director of a small, U.S.-based wildlife conservation nonprofit called One Earth Conservation (OEC)…
South Africa’s penguins heading toward extinction; will no-fishing zones help?
CAPE TOWN — The endangered African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) could be extinct in the wild in just over a decade. To protect the bird’s food supply and slow its population…
From rat-ridden to reserve, Redonda is an island restoration role model
Seven years ago, Redonda, a volcanic island in the Caribbean Sea, resembled the moon's surface: a dusty, debris-covered, barren terrain. The island, which is part of Antigua and Barbuda, had…
PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ harming wildlife the world over: Study
While PFAS impacts on human health are well known, scientists are also finding severe impacts on wildlife, including hawksbill turtles, American alligators, Arctic kittiwakes, hooded seals, striped bass, bottlenose dolphins and other species.
Protected areas a boon for vertebrate diversity in wider landscape, study shows
Protected areas are one of the oldest conservation tools in the box. Setting aside portions of land and water for conservation can offer species a chance of recovery while preserving…
Super flock of pigeons leaves Nepali researchers asking what happened
KATHMANDU – In December 2022, Hiru Lal Dangaura, Vikram Tiwari and Subam Chaudhary were conducting a routine check on a vulture colony in the western plains of Nepal, when they…
With fewer birds seen on farms, scientists try listening for them
Growing up, Adam Dixon couldn't swim or fish in the Arkansas River which flowed through his town of Derby in Kansas. Agricultural runoff, along with industrial activities, heavily impacted the…
‘Owls are valuable only when alive’: Q&A with conservationist Raju Acharya
KATHMANDU — Nepal’s owls are perhaps the least-studied birds in the country, often overlooked by researchers more focused on the rarer vultures and cranes. Yet owls also face the same…
Cambodia approves, then suspends, marble mine in Keo Seima REDD+ project
MONDULKIRI, Cambodia — In a rare win for conservationists and Cambodia’s Indigenous communities, the Ministry of Environment has opted to suspend a planned marble mining operation within a wildlife sanctuary…
Nests of hope: Nepal’s vulture colonies hold on amid new threats
KATHMANDU — On a bright morning in the hills of Nepal, among the green needles and brown cones of a chir pine tree (Pinus roxburghii) a pair of white-rumped vultures…
Online trade in Philippine hornbills threatens birds and forests
MANILA – Hornbills in the Philippines already suffer from habitat loss and forest conversion, but the illegal sale of these endangered birds in the online market could further plunge their…
A thriving online market for wild birds emerges in Bangladesh
“As cheap as water” is a common saying in Bangladesh. Despite the fact that water is actually not cheap, salespeople nonetheless love to use the expression to draw the attention…
‘Catastrophic breeding failure’ for penguins as Antarctic sea ice vanishes
Emperor penguins in the Antarctic are suffering a “catastrophic” breeding failure as the region’s sea ice vanishes, pointing to a grim future for a species highly susceptible to the impacts…
When it rains, it pours: Bangladesh wildlife trade booms during monsoon
DHAKA — It’s the monsoon season in Bangladesh, where the annual rains are both a boon for farmers and a worry for many living in flood-prone areas. For the country’s…
Study: Tall trees and shade boost bat diversity on Africa’s cocoa farms
Insect-eating bats that prey on pests in cocoa farms prefer farms that retain large, old-growth trees that shade the plantations. Researchers aiming to find a “sweet spot” in agroforestry systems…
Has the Buddha’s legacy in Nepal helped save sarus cranes?
KATHMANDU — Long ago, in the ancient kingdom of Kapilavastu, young prince Siddhartha Gautama, who would later become the Buddha, and his cousin Devadatta were honing their archery skills when…
Fair winds or fowl: Clean energy clashes with conservation in Brazil’s Caatinga
The Araripe manakin is a Brazilian bird so unique and so threatened that it has its own national conservation action plan. The species, Antilophia bokermanni, is endemic to the Chapada…
Falcon trafficking soars in Middle East, fueled by conflict and poverty
ZARQA GOVERNORATE, Jordan; ERBIL, Iraq; QAMISHLI, Syria — In the darkness of a small, windowless room, half a dozen falcons were perched on low wooden stools, their eyes covered with…
Special series
Forest Trackers
- Narco airstrips beset Indigenous communities in Peruvian Amazon
- 15 illegal narco-trafficking airstrips found near Peru Indigenous communities
- Satellite data show bursts of deforestation continue in Indonesian national park
- Fires rip through Indigenous territories in Brazilian Amazon
Oceans
- Scientists, Māori experts uncover new insights into rare spade-toothed whale
- Coral reefs could survive climate change, but in altered state, study says
- Conservationists see progress for swordfish, problems for sharks at Atlantic fisheries summit
- As tidal power rides a wave of clean energy optimism, pitfalls persist
Amazon Conservation
- ‘World’s largest’ carbon credit deal in the Amazon faces bumpy road ahead
- New conservation model calls for protecting Amazon for its archaeological riches
- Brazil dredges Amazon rivers to ease drought isolation, raising environmental concerns
- ‘We need white men on our side to save the Amazon from destruction,’ 92-year-old Indigenous Chief Raoni says
Land rights and extractives
- Should mining companies consider no-go zones where isolated Indigenous peoples live? (Commentary)
- Brazil sets a date to remove illegal miners from Munduruku land, more details await
- Peruvian logger loses FSC label after latest clash with isolated Mashco Piro
- A national park and its rangers in Bolivia endure persisting road construction, illegal mining
Endangered Environmentalists
- Environmental journalist in Cambodia shot and killed by suspected logger
- Vietnam sentences yet another energy expert over renewables research
- Mother Nature Cambodia activists sentenced to prison — again
- Mongabay video screening at Chile’s Supreme Court expected to help landmark verdict in Brazil
Indonesia's Forest Guardians
- On a Borneo mountainside, Indigenous Dayak women hold fire and defend forest
- Fenced in by Sulawesi national park, Indigenous women make forestry breakout
- In Borneo, the ‘Power of Mama’ fight Indonesia’s wildfires with all-woman crew
- Pioneer agroforester Ermi, 73, rolls back the years in Indonesia’s Gorontalo
Conservation Effectiveness
- How effective is the EU’s marquee policy to reduce the illegal timber trade?
- How sharing and learning from failures can transform conservation (commentary)
- Is planting trees as good for the Earth as everyone says?
- Failure in conservation projects: Everyone experiences it, few record it
Southeast Asian infrastructure
- An ‘ocean grab’ for a property megaproject leaves Jakarta fishers grounded
- Study: Indonesia’s new capital city threatens stable proboscis monkey population
- Indonesia’s new capital ‘won’t sacrifice the environment’: Q&A with Nusantara’s Myrna Asnawati Safitri
- Small farmers in limbo as Cambodia wavers on Tonle Sap conservation rules
