Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was getting annoyed, fingers tapping on his lawn chair. As a reporter and a photographer crouched expectantly in the bushes behind his Los Angeles home, his two wild ravens were refusing to cooperate with a photo shoot. “I’m not going to reward their bad behavior,” he said at last, closing the […]
Read More
One night in October, an enormous swirl of birds flew over Chicago, astounding those who had their binoculars trained on the flashes of yellow, white and brown speckling the sky above. It seemed like an incredible moment for birders, but the next day ended with nearly a thousand dead birds outside one building along Lake […]
Read More
Over the past few months, a bird flu outbreak has spread swiftly through dairy cows in the United States, infecting more than 90 herds in 12 states. Along the way, the virus has caused collateral damage in several other species, spreading from dairies to poultry farms and from cows into at least three farm workers, […]
Read MoreElephant seals in South America died in massive numbers because the bird flu virus acquired mutations that allowed it to spread among mammals, according to a new study. The research offers the first genetic and epidemiological evidence of bird flu virus transmission among mammals. And the findings hold a warning: The virus, called H5N1, may […]
Read More
As Dr. Sreyleak Luch drove to work the morning of Feb. 8, through busy sunbaked streets in Cambodia’s Mekong river delta, she played the overnight voice messages from her team. The condition of a 9-year-old boy she had been caring for had deteriorated sharply, and he had been intubated, one doctor reported. What, she wondered, […]
Read More
Not only did Homer’s annual Shorebird Festival again live up to its goal of offering events for birders of all ages and abilities, but several of this year’s activities also reflected a shift in birding practices and technologies. Ted Floyd, 2024 festival keynote speaker, held a workshop on documenting birds in the digital era on […]
Read More
Manhattan has a new unlikely feathered friend, and she’s visiting luxury retailers, dining at high-end restaurants and roosting in Park Avenue’s densest, greenest trees. Known as Astoria, the wild turkey is about as tall as a toddler, with iridescent hues of orange and blue in her brown feathers, an elegant neck, a healthy figure and […]
Read More
We don’t yet know if H5N1 bird flu will spill over from animals to infect a large number of humans. Based on the few cases of transmission so far, the World Health Organization has expressed concerns that infection in humans “can cause severe disease with a high mortality rate.” But already it has wrought devastation […]
Read More
In her three decades of working with elephant seals, Dr. Marcela Uhart had never seen anything like the scene on the beaches of Argentina’s Valdés Peninsula last October. It was peak breeding season; the beach should have been teeming with harems of fertile females and enormous males battling one another for dominance. Instead, it was […]
Read More
Loren Brey, a poultry grower in Minnesota, walked onto the farm where his egg-laying turkeys nest in November to discover a handful of hens, dead from the highly pathogenic avian flu. Within a week, he lost nearly half of his entire flock. So when Mr. Brey’s turkeys began producing eggs again in the spring, he […]
Read More
Loren Brey, a poultry grower in Minnesota, walked onto the farm where his egg-laying turkeys nest in November to discover a handful of hens, dead from the highly pathogenic avian flu. Within a week, he lost nearly half of his entire flock. So when Mr. Brey’s turkeys began producing eggs again in the spring, he […]
Read More
In the month since federal authorities announced an outbreak of bird flu on dairy farms, they have repeatedly reassured the public that the spate of infections does not impact the nation’s food or milk supply, and poses little risk to the public. Yet the outbreak among cows may be more serious than originally believed. In […]
Read More
A strain of avian influenza that has killed millions of birds in recent years has now been detected in dairy cows in several states, prompting concerns about the safety of the U.S. dairy supply. Federal health and agriculture officials released a statement last week stressing that there “continues to be no concern” about the safety […]
Read More
While millions of people are preparing to watch the total solar eclipse that will make its way across North America on Monday, the animals in that affected area — in homes, on farms, in zoos and in the wild — missed the news that the moon will block the sun, briefly turning day into night. […]
Read More
With no windows, the gloomy, gray building looming four stories above the rice fields in a remote village in Indonesian Borneo resembles nothing more than a prison. Hundreds of similar concrete structures, riddled with small holes for ventilation, tower over village shops and homes all along Borneo’s northwestern coast. But these buildings are not for […]
Read More
At least one person in Texas has been diagnosed with bird flu following contact with dairy cows presumed to be infected, state officials said on Monday. The announcement adds a worrying dimension to an outbreak that has affected millions of birds and sea mammals worldwide and, most recently, cows in the United States. So far, […]
Read More