Living Bird Summer 2023—Table Of Contents

Microscopic secrets hidden away in hummingbird feathers manipulate light to give these tiny birds—the most colorful birds on Earth—the power to dazzle on command.

In April 2022, a wildfire scorched the 15,000-acre May Ranch in southeastern Colorado—testing the sustainability of a ranching model that blends conservation, climate-change mitigation, and making a living off the land by raising cattle.

Bright and cheery warblers are great photo subjects, if only they would sit still for a second. The trick is to put yourself in the right place, at the right time, with the right camera settings.

The sight of a hundred thousand Purple Martins swirling across a South Carolina sky points up the enduring appeal of these gorgeous dive-bombing swallows.

Probiotic products like yogurt and kombucha aim to improve our well-being by cultivating the right microbes. But new research on warblers suggests that, at least in birds, “gut flora” may owe more to evolution than to ingestion.