Category: Birdwatching

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

Though relatively common over much of its range, the Mourning Warbler (Geothlypis philadelphia) is secretive and notoriously hard to observe. These birds mostly stay close to the ground in dense thickets and brush where they forage and nest. Outside of the breeding season, Mourning Warblers are also fairly quiet and can easily go unnoticed. As a result, very little is known of this bird’s life history outside of the breeding season. In fact, there are sizable gaps in our understanding of its breeding biology as well — for instance, no

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

Preventing extinctions and reversing bird population declines are two key outcomes of ABC’s mission. Every acre matters for globally threatened birds, which often have small, restricted ranges and dwindling habitat.

Take the Puerto Rican Amazon (also known as Puerto Rican Parrot) for example, one of the rarest birds in the world — endemic to Puerto Rico, with fewer than 500 individuals remaining in the wild. Recovery efforts have focused on captive breeding and releasing these birds into three forests across the island, but new technology is helping fill in critical

_{This YouTube video was produced by the American Bird Conservancy.}

The spectacular Araripe Manakin was only discovered in 1996. The male’s bright, helmet-like crown led to its Portuguese nickname soldadinho-do-araripe, “Little Soldier of Araripe.”

Another local nickname for the Araripe Manakin hints at the bird’s specialized and very limited habitat. Local legend tells of a red-headed bird living by forest springs and streams at the foot of the Araripe Plateau in northeastern Brazil. This bird, known as the galo de nascente (cock of the springs), must not be hunted, as it is o dono do agua — owner of the