Bad news: Today Trump announced the repeal of the "endangerment finding," the scientific finding that says greenhouse gases (GHG) threaten human life and well-being: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/12/c... (gift). It means the EPA (now the Environmental Pollution Agency) can no longer regulate GHG. 🌎

Good news! The California Fish & Game Commission voted today to list the Southern and Central Coast mountain lions as “threatened” under the California Endangered Species Act. Thanks to all of you who signed the petition—these adorable kittens thank you, too. I definitely hear purring. 🌎

Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count (CBC) just wrapped up its 126th season. What does the CBC data tell us? View and download CBC population trends for ~450 species in the U.S. and Canada and ~50 species in Latin America and the Caribbean: www.audubon.org/community-sc...? #birds

The 2026 Audubon Photography Awards are accepting entries! The awards celebrate the beauty and diversity of birds by honoring the best photos and videos of birdlife. The contest spans the Western Hemisphere just as #birds do....

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE BOUNDARY WATERS: America’s most visited wilderness is under assault. A Chilean mining company proposes a sulfide-ore copper mine on the lands surrounding Boundary Waters. The mine would leach sulfuric acid, permanently poisoning the area’s pristine landscapes and waters.

“We're pretty close to total victory.” A small group of conservatives has worked for 16 years to stop all government efforts to fight climate change; they were just waiting for someone like Trump. Their efforts are poised to pay off. The EPA is expected to repeal the endangerment finding shortly....

Preening between birds of the same species is thought to maintain the pair bond between mated partners. Cross-species preening (image below of a Black Vulture preening a Caracara) had rarely been documented but is now being seen around the world. Theories abound...

Located in Tonto National Forest, Oak Flat is a stunning expanse of wildlands in the AZ high desert. Those public lands are at risk of being transferred to Resolution Copper, a foreign mining company that plans to use block-cave mining to collapse Oak Flat into a crater 1,000-feet deep and...

Terrified deer stranded on thin ice in the middle of a lake. What could go wrong? Everyone—from the man who called for help to the fire dept's ice rescue expert to the game wardens—knew what to do. The deer? Unhurt and released into the woods (video): wapo.st/4r6481W (gift). 🌎

Bad Bunny's halftime performance highlighted the horrible electricity situation in Puerto Rico. There's more: Trump has canceled solar projects in Puerto Rico that were part of a $1 billion fund created by U.S. Congress in 2022 to help boost energy resilience in Puerto Rico since Hurricane Maria.

Ospreys, also called seahawks, are majestic raptors found on coasts, lakes, and rivers around the world. They are the only hawk or eagle species that can submerge completely to catch fish, then take to the air again thanks to their specialized wings.

In a first-of-its-kind complaint, Michigan's AG Dana Nessel accused 4 fossil fuel majors and the top US oil lobby of acting as a “cartel” to stifle the growth of renewable energy and EVs, while suppressing information about the dangers of the climate crisis. The conduct, the lawsuit alleged,...

Northern Royal Albatross, NZ: That was fast! WYL (dad) returned after 1 day at sea. As the chick gets bigger, the parents' foraging trips will need to be longer to provide enough food for the chick and themselves (video by Lady Hawk & courtesy of Cornell Lab): www.youtube.com/watch?v=94IJ.... #birds

Good news on California Condors: The Peregrine Fund (TPF) reports that 17 young condors were successfully released in 2025, joining the Arizona-Utah flock. TPF has a management facility at the Vermilion Cliffs where the condors prepare for release and are carefully monitored after release.

BirdWise is an interactive, web-based quizzing tool from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that is designed to help build bird identification skills: academy.allaboutbirds.org/birdwise/. Try a free sample set of 35 quizzes: app.academy.allaboutbirds.org/regions/regi...? #birds

It wasn’t the honeybees that needed saving; it's our 4,000 species of native bees that are in trouble. Scientists are finding that honeybees actually accelerate the demise of native bees by spreading disease, outcompeting native bees for pollen and nectar,...

Bald Eagle Nests! Big Bear's Jackie and Shadow are working on a 2nd clutch while defending the nest from other eagles coveting their prime real estate (video by @skh4birdies.bsky.social and courtesy FOBBV) : www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMSd.... More? The West End Eagles on beautiful Catalina Island, CA.

Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf? The US Congress! The US House just sent a bill to the Senate that imperils gray wolves. Now they want to remove Endangered Species Act protections from the Mexican gray wolf, which is on the brink of extinction with only ~286 of the wolves in the US (see alt text).

In 2007, Dr. Barman, a biologist, witnessed dead Greater Adjutant Stork ("hargila") chicks on the ground after their nest tree had been chopped down in Assam, India. Saving the endangered storks became her mission. The imposing 5-ft #birds are scavengers, playing a vital role in wetland ecosystems.

While record snowfall blankets much of the US, unusually warm weather is causing an extreme snow drought in the West. In places famed for deep natural snow, such as Park City, UT, much of the ground is bare or covered with mere inches of snow. A major concern is how the snowpack levels affect...

Clean Energy Updates: Poll of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents found 50% favor utility-scale solar, jumping to 70% if panels are made in US factories with US materials and no connections to China. Trump funded the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, after proposing to eliminate it.

What is that on the snow? Foxes—in this case a red fox—hunt by listening for little critters such as mice tunneling in the snow. Prey heard, the fox erupts upward in a powerful arc before diving down, snout-first, to ambush and pin its prey.

Trump’s attacks on offshore wind have been highly visible—and losing. Less publicized: the 100s of solar and wind energy projects on land halted/delayed by federal approvals that were once routine. ~73,000 megawatts of much-needed solar projects on land are currently at risk. For many projects...

Last chance to save gray #wolves! The Senate may vote soon to make the deceptively named “Pet and Livestock Protection Act” a US law. The truth? Wolves rarely kill pets, are responsible for <1% of livestock deaths, and are essential to healthy ecosystems.

In the Peruvian Andes, puma, pampas, and Andean cats were hunted as threats to alpacas, cows, and chickens--and livelihoods. Women-led conservation changed that. Education and camera traps helped people respect the cats. They stopped burning down forests to chase the cats away and instead...

When coal is burned to produce electricity, toxic coal ash is left behind. For decades, power companies disposed of coal ash by dumping it into unlined ponds and landfills that leaked toxic chemicals into nearby waters. Coal ash toxins sicken people and kill fish and wildlife.

"Absolutely gutting." Antarctica’s fast-melting Thwaites Glacier could someday collapse, raising sea levels by as much as 15 ft worldwide. To study how the glacier is being corroded by the sea, scientists attempted to bore through the ice and place instruments in the warming ocean waters below.

Missouri's World Bird Sanctuary (WBS) is a renowned hospital/rehabilitation, education, and conservation organization. Recently WBS received a Northern Saw-whet Owl with fractures to its pelvis and left shoulder. One of the smallest owls in North America, Saw-whet Owls are a very elusive and...

Last month, likely in search of territory, a juvenile coyote jumped into the frigid San Francisco Bay; paddled more than a mile to Alcatraz Island; and arrived scrawny, shivering, barely able to walk (video): www.instagram.com/p/DTdsM0mkrkK/. He's the 1st documented coyote on the island since 1972.

The 29th Great Backyard Bird Count takes place Feb. 13-16. In your favorite place for watching birds, in as little as 15 minutes, identify and count the birds around you, then submit your counts to help scientists better understand & protect birds around the world. Find out more: www.birdcount.org?

California residents: Threatened by habitat loss, car strikes, rat poisons, poaching, wildfire, and more, Southern California and Central Coast mountain lions are in danger of extinction. There's hope: The CA Dept of Fish & Wildlife has recommended protecting mountain lions as threatened species.

LAST CHANCE TO SAVE BOUNDARY WATERS: America’s most visited wilderness is under assault. A Chilean mining company proposes a sulfide-ore copper mine on the lands surrounding Boundary Waters. The mine would leach sulfuric acid, permanently poisoning the area’s pristine landscapes and waters.

Wind Farms 5 - Trump 0: In Dec., Trump ordered work to halt on 5 wind farms off the East Coast. Today, a federal judge (appointed by Reagan) struck down the order to halt work on Sunrise Wind's multibillion-dollar wind farm off the coast of New York, the 5th time the courts have ruled against Trump.

"Ghost forests” proliferating along the US East Coast are a stark example of climate change. Sea level rise, droughts, and intense storms drive saltwater into woodlands. Persistently wet conditions weaken the trees, and the saltwater hastens their death.

A standout at the recent Sundance Film Festival was the documentary "Nuisance Bear": wapo.st/49QRsWr (gift). The Inuit call polar bears who’ve lost their fear of being around humans avinnaarjuk, or “nuisance bear.” The documentary puts us in the bears’ perspective, asking us to question...

Tragic news today for the Big Bear Bald Eagles: While Jackie and Shadow were away from the nest, both eggs were breached and one eaten by a raven. It's possible for Jackie to lay a 2nd clutch of eggs since these were lost early in the season. Jackie and Shadow will need to move on...

Who's afraid of the big, bad wolf? The US Congress! The US House just sent a bill to the Senate that imperils gray #wolves. Now they're about to vote on what would likely be the end of the Mexican gray #wolf. The bill would prematurely remove Endangered Species Act protections for the wolf...

Update: Wisdom—the world's oldest known bird at 75 years old—returned to Midway Atoll in Nov. 2025. It's been confirmed that she did not lay an egg this season: Laysan Albatross often skip breeding every 2-3 years, so that's not a sign Wisdom’s remarkable story and progeny have ended. #birds

Northern Royal Albatross: BOK (mom) offers a big meal to her 6-day-old chick. Parents feed their chicks by regurgitating a high-fat slurry of (typically) squid and fish into the chick's mouth. Watch the chick nibble on mom’s bill to stimulate a feeding: www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_tm.... #birds

The Endangerment Finding, which established that greenhouse gases (GHG) harm public health, was the basis for regulating GHG under the Clean Air Act. Repeal of the finding is key to eliminating the EPA’s climate rules, but Trump's minions have delayed finalizing the repeal because of concerns...

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (@cornellbirds.bsky.social) just launched a tool for studying biodiversity and the evolutionary relationships among all 11,000+ bird species: The Birds of the World Phylogeny Explorer. Available on Birds of the World, the interactive tool enables you to...

For all the dangers that some humans throw at wildlife (domestic cats, windows, etc.), there are other humans/heroes trying to save them (wildlife hospitals/rehabbers). A rare Northern Goshawk recently arrived at Lindsay Wildlife Experience in CA after a window strike.

On Tuesday, the US officially withdrew—again—from the Paris Accord. The largest historic emitter of greenhouse gases in the world and the 2nd largest climate polluter after China, the US joined Iran, Libya, and Yemen (such good company!) as the only countries in the world not party to the agreement.

Last chance to save gray #wolves! The Senate may vote as early as next week on the deceptively named “Pet and Livestock Protection Act.” The truth? Wolves rarely kill pets, are responsible for <1% of livestock deaths, and are essential to healthy ecosystems.

Perhaps this will inspire action on climate change? After a warm/dry early winter in the Italian Alps, Winter Olympics officials say this year’s outdoor venues now have enough machine-made snow to last for the 19 days of competition. But by 2050, of the 93 cities capable of handling logistics...

Unless nations make rapid cuts to fossil fuel emissions, people living with extreme heat will double by 2050 as global heating reaches 2°C. The tropics and southern hemisphere will suffer the worst heat; northern countries will struggle because their buildings are designed for a cooler climate.

Big Bear Bald Eagles: Jackie laid a 2nd egg on Jan. 26 @ 17:09 PT (video by @skh4birdies.bsky.social and courtesy FOBBV): www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTBh.... Shadow had just left for his night roost, so he'll get the news in the morning (he'd better bring fish!). #birds

Trump's comment on this week's storm: "WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GLOBAL WARMING???” The storm was caused by a mass of frigid air from the Arctic hitting warmer, moister air in the US. Arctic air is usually confined by the polar vortex; when the polar vortex stretches, Arctic air can spill into the US.

A massive UN report declares the world in a state of “water bankruptcy”: climate change, pollution, and decades of overuse have left sources of fresh water irreparably damaged and billions of people without enough water. Not only does the world overspend its annual water “income” (rain, snow)...

#Birds who don't migrate to warmer climates face 2 existential dilemmas when the weather turns frigid: don’t freeze and don’t starve. How do the feathered warriors survive? How do a tiny Chickadee’s feet not freeze or small flocks of even tinier Golden-crowned Kinglets not perish?