• Animals

Biden Administration Reinstates Migratory Bird Protections

• birds
• extinction crisis
• Migratory Bird Treaty Act

By Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer The Biden Administration announced that it would restore protections under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, enforcing rules that hold companies accountable for killing wild birds. The Trump Administration dramatically scaled back these rules, folding to the demands of oil companies, utilities, and other industries. Under these new rules, companies […]

• Animals

23 Species Declared Extinct in the United States

• biodiversity
• birds
• extinction crisis

By Natasha Lasky, ODP Staff Writer Twenty-three species in the United States will be declared extinct by the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) today. The extinctions include 11 birds, eight freshwater mussels, two fish, a bat, and a plant. These species will join a list of more than 150 others already declared extinct in the […]

• Animals

One Cool Thing: TikTok Bird Beats

• birds
• endangered animals
• National Audubon Society
• tiktok

You’ve heard of TikTok dances, but get ready for TikTok…bird songs? New York-based musician So Wylie is bringing birdy beats to the forefront of the “for you page.” She started by listening to the call of an owl. “I was like, this is kind of fire!” she told the National Audubon Society. “I immediately decided I was […]

• Animals

One Cool Thing: 2000 Historical Wildlife Illustrations Now Available

• #30x30
• birds
• frogs
• insects
• Wildlife Conservation Society

Forget digital photos – at least for a minute. The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), one of the largest conservation organizations in the world, yesterday made available to the public a collection of more than 2,000 historical scientific wildlife illustrations from its Department of Tropical Research (DTR), which it ran from 1916 to 1965.  The collection […]

• Animals

One Cool Thing: Changing Names of Species and Places In the Name of Justice

• birds
• equity
• justice
• name
• species

There is a growing movement to rename certain species in order to ensure racial justice and equity, John Platt writes in the Revelator. An organization called Bird Names for Birds is working to change eponyms (a person after whom a discovered species is named) and honorific common names, which can be problematic if they honor […]

• Animals

Trump Takes Aim at Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Reduces Protections for Nations Birds

• birds
• Department of Interior
• Migratory Bird Treaty Act
• rollback

On Friday, the Trump administration moved another step closer to cutting federal protections for birds despite opposition from conservation groups and experts. Former federal officials have come forward to say that cuts will severely endanger the U.S. bird population.

Why This Matters: There are approximately 7 billion birds in North America. Harmful industrial practices in the U.S. kill an estimated 450 million to 1.1 billion birds each year in the U.S., according to estimates by the Fish and Wildlife Service.