birds

In 2004, Phillip Island launched a campaign to eliminate foxes after nine of its 10 little-penguin colonies had vanished; alongside habitat restoration, the surviving colony grew from 12,000 to 40,000 birds

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In 2004, Phillip Island launched a campaign to eliminate foxes after nine of its 10 little-penguin colonies had vanished; alongside habitat restoration, the surviving colony grew from 12,000 to 40,000 birds

Phillip Island’s little penguins once faced a crisis that threatened to erase much of their presence from the island. By the 1980s, nine of its 10 penguin colonies had disappeared, while the final colony on the Summerland Peninsula was also under pressure from introduced predators, habitat loss and human activity. According to Phillip Island Nature … Read more

She started raising butterflies at 7; by 16, this Florida girl had tracked birds and found populations rose by up to 159% after habitat restoration, she’s now headed to a national magazine

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She started raising butterflies at 7; by 16, this Florida girl had tracked birds and found populations rose by up to 159% after habitat restoration, she's now headed to a national magazine

A 16-year-old student from Sarasota, Florida, Sophia Haakman began growing butterflies at just 7. Over the years, her love for nature and its beings has evolved into a serious conservation effort. Haakman sought to find out if the hundreds of hours she spent rehabilitating local ecosystems were truly beneficial to wildlife. So she created her … Read more

A huge forested island appeared in a British Columbia reservoir, vanished, then resurfaced 30 km away 15 days later with trees, birds and other animals still aboard

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A huge forested island appeared in a British Columbia reservoir, vanished, then resurfaced 30 km away 15 days later with trees, birds and other animals still aboard

British Columbia reservoirRepresentative image from Canva In the summer of 2026, workers and residents around the Williston Reservoir in northern British Columbia witnessed something that sounded like folklore: a large, forested island broke free from the shoreline, drifted across the lake, disappeared from view, and then turned up again about 30 kilometres away, still carrying … Read more

Mike Tyson started keeping pigeons as a bullied Brooklyn boy, finding love and comfort in them; decades later, he still has hundreds of birds across the US

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Mike Tyson started keeping pigeons as a bullied Brooklyn boy, finding love and comfort in them; decades later, he still has hundreds of birds across the US

Long before Mike Tyson became one of boxing’s most feared heavyweight champions, pigeons were a source of love and comfort for him. Tyson has recalled being bullied as a child growing up in Brooklyn and finding refuge in the pigeons he kept, saying that spending time with them helped take his mind off the world … Read more

More than 100 years ago, red mangroves were introduced to Hawaii; now crews are trying to eradicate them from nearly 2 miles of waterways to restore wetlands and protect endangered birds

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More than 100 years ago, red mangroves were introduced to Hawaii; now crews are trying to eradicate them from nearly 2 miles of waterways to restore wetlands and protect endangered birds

Environmental crews and volunteers physically clear thickets of invasive red mangrove trees and tangled stilt roots from a coastal waterway in Kailua, Oahu Environmental teams in Hawaii have launched a major effort to remove invasive red mangroves from nearly two miles of waterways in Kailua. The project aims to reverse more than a century of … Read more

In 1902, edible dormice were released at an English estate; by 2018 Britain had an estimated 23,000, and the government now pays £40 per hectare a year to control damage to trees, crops and nesting birds

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In 1902, edible dormice were released at an English estate; by 2018 Britain had an estimated 23,000, and the government now pays £40 per hectare a year to control damage to trees, crops and nesting birds

dormouseRepresentative image from Canva In 1902, a small population of edible dormice was released at Tring Park, a private estate in Hertfordshire, as part of a Victorian-era fascination with exotic wildlife. More than a century later, that single introduction has grown into a national problem: by 2018, the Mammal Society estimated around 23,000 edible dormice … Read more

In 2022, bird flu caused an entire Sandwich tern colony in England to be abandoned; four breeding seasons later, the birds have returned in record numbers, creating one of the country’s largest colonies

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In 2022, bird flu caused an entire Sandwich tern colony in England to be abandoned; four breeding seasons later, the birds have returned in record numbers, creating one of the country’s largest colonies

Four breeding seasons after a deadly bird flu outbreak forced a colony of Sandwich Terns to leave their nesting ground, the seabirds have returned in record numbers, creating one of England’s largest breeding sites. Monitoring reports published by Rare Bird Alert confirm that Sandwich Terns (Thalasseus sandvicensis) nested at RSPB Pagham Harbour in West Sussex … Read more

After years of invasive rats threatening island wildlife, Tuvalu removed them from six islets; residents are now seeing birds and coconut crabs return

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After years of invasive rats threatening island wildlife, Tuvalu removed them from six islets; residents are now seeing birds and coconut crabs return

On small islands scattered across the Pacific, changes in wildlife can be surprisingly easy to notice. A few more birds along the shoreline, coconut crabs appearing where they had become scarce, or native animals moving through places they once avoided can all point to a shift in the balance of an ecosystem. In Tuvalu, that … Read more

A 9-year-old girl in the Philippines raised money to help one of the world’s rarest birds; the child became an unlikely conservation campaigner

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A 9-year-old girl in the Philippines raised money to help one of the world's rarest birds; the child became an unlikely conservation campaigner

Cebu flowerpecker. Image Credit: Joseph Smit/Wikipedia A nine-year-old girl named Gail Lim from Cebu City in Philippines has turned her love for wildlife into a meaningful conservation campaign, raising 20,000 Philippine pesos for the critically endangered ‘Cebu flowerpecker.’ She became interested in the tiny bird after learning that it is found only in Cebu and … Read more

In 1988, a California couple began restoring their 136-acre family farm; decades later, it has become a thriving habitat for birds, quail and even cougars

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In 1988, a California couple began restoring their 136-acre family farm; decades later, it has become a thriving habitat for birds, quail and even cougars

Peter Hunter kneels beside a clump of young willows clinging to the edge of Dry Creek. The slender shoots are leafless but supple, a faint tinge of red promising spring growth. On the bank above him, Hunter eyes hundreds of seedlings, cottonwoods, redbud, and other shrubs pushing up through protective plastic tubes into the pale … Read more