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Conservation News

A circular cardboard enclosure, divided into quadrants and lined with sand, used to hatch Piping Plover chicks. One chick is actively breaking out of its shell while another has fully left its shell.
After Four Decades, Efforts to Save Great Lakes Piping Plovers Are Seeing Signs of Major Success
June 20, 2025 — With dedication and ingenuity, a recovery team has been helping the endangered shorebirds overcome old and emerging threats while reaching new heights.
Thousands of seabirds nesting and circling overhead on an otherwise vacant island.
A Remote, Protected Seabird Paradise May Soon Host a Rocket Landing Site
June 20, 2025 — The proposed U.S. Air Force project could disturb unique nesting habitat for multitudes of birds, including 10,000-plus Red-footed Boobies and more than a third of all Red-tailed Tropicbirds.
An aerial view of the Platte River diversion in Nebraska.
On Nebraska’s Platte River, a Migratory Bird Oasis Is Caught Up in a Water Rights Fight
June 20, 2025 — For the last few years, conservationists have fought a precedent-setting proposal to send excess water from the basin south to another part of the state. They argue the region has none to spare.
A black and white American Oystercatcher, with its distinct skinny orange bill, stretches its wings atop a bed of oysters.
Inside the All-Out, 16-State Mission to Save the American Oystercatcher
June 20, 2025 — A massive network of conservation groups bet big on a business plan to reverse the striking shorebird’s decline—and won.
An aerial view of a concrete wall in a mangrove-surrounded bay.
Oysters Are ‘Nature’s Architects’—and Coastal Conservation’s Secret Weapon
June 20, 2025 — To give new life to shoreline habitats, a growing number of projects are harnessing the reef-building power of oysters.
Hundreds of little glowing lights float around a dark, forest floor.
Love Fireflies? Here's How You Can Help Scientists Save Them.
June 20, 2025 — Despite their luminescent glow, lightning bugs have remained a conservation mystery until relatively recently. Now researchers are relying on community science to track the beloved beetles.
Two people stand on an unpaved road through a forest with mountains in the background, looking through binoculars.
Arizona Surveys Find a Record-Low Number of Elegant Trogons, Raising Concerns About Drought Impacts
June 18, 2025 — For more than a decade Tucson Bird Alliance and volunteers have counted the stunning birds each spring in their only U.S. breeding stronghold.
A person holding a female cardinal affixes a metal band around her leg.
Looming Federal Cuts Threaten the Bird Banding Lab, a Cornerstone of Avian Science
June 12, 2025 — For more than a century, the USGS program has revealed crucial insights about where birds go, how they’re faring, and what we can do to help them. Its budget and staff are now on the chopping block.
Two American Oystercatchers walk on the beach with people in bathing suits by the ocean in the background.
Help Protect Beaches—and the Birds That Need Them—With a Smartphone and a Coin
June 12, 2025 — A community science project is building a sand-grain database to understand how and why coastlines change.
Why Federal Bird Science Deserves Our Strongest Support
June 11, 2025 — For decades, two programs from the U.S. Geological Survey have provided essential information about birds. They must continue to be fully funded.
Policy & Advocacy