Every bird has a story. Drawings by Jason Polan.

The Sketch

Every bird has a story. Drawings by Jason Polan.

Hoatzin
Hoatzin

3833 The Hoatzin: Misfit, Belcher, Genetic Mystery Deep in the wilderness lurks a fat, foul beast that stinks of manure, barks and caws in...

kakapo
kakapo

3756 The Kakapo: A Survivor There are few places on earth that could provide hospitable habitat for a nocturnal, flightless parrot that weighs...

Loggerhead Shrike
Loggerhead Shrike

4611 The Loggerhead Shrike: Looks Can Be Deceiving At first glance, you could be forgiven for thinking that that grey-and-white bird sitting on a...

Northern Harrier
Northern Harrier

3950 Northern Harrier: The Gray Ghost Across North America, from the Arctic Tundra to the grasslands south of the border, if you look in the...

Southern Giant Petrel
Southern Giant Petrel

3980 The Southern Giant Petrel: Ogre of the High Seas The Procellariiformes have always seemed to me one of the more distinguished orders of...

The American Coot
The American Coot

4080 The American Coot: A Tough-Love Parent A couple years ago, just after my daughter was born, my friend gave me a book called Parenting for...

The American Dipper
The American Dipper

This pudgy little bird may not look like anything special, but beneath its underwhelming exterior beats the heart of a champion.

The Bar-Tailed Godwit
The Bar-Tailed Godwit

3661 The Bar-tailed Godwit: A Marathoner Who Makes It Look Easy You probably already know the amazing story of the Bar-tailed Godwit—who...

The Barred Owl
The Barred Owl

4488 The Barred Owl: The Interrogator This first time I saw a wild Barred Owl I thought it was going to kill me. Bushwacking alone through a...

The Black Skimmer
The Black Skimmer

3618 The Black Skimmer: A Scissor-beaked Night Hunter Bear with me for a brief thought experiment: What if humans had to eat the same way Black...

The Cattle Egret
The Cattle Egret

4610 The Cattle Egret: The Opportunist Southern folklore depicts Brer Rabbit as the quintessential easy-going trickster, who uses his wits rather...

The Galapagos Penguin
The Galapagos Penguin

3632 The Galapagos Penguin: The Beach Bum Think of a penguin. What do you see? Allow me to hazard a guess: You see a cathedral of snow and ice...

The House Finch
The House Finch

Thanks to an undercover ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ sting, this bird is more of a backyard staple than a celebrity.

The House Sparrow
The House Sparrow

3547 The House Sparrow: Little Troopers There’s an army in the bushes. You may not have noticed, but there’s a good chance it's nearby...

The House Wren: The Unjustly Accused
The House Wren: The Unjustly Accused

4237 The House Wren: The Unjustly Accused In the early 1900s, when Althea Sherman began noticing House Wrens nesting in her backyard in Iowa...

The Lammergeier
The Lammergeier

3635 The Lammergeier: Public Enemy No. 1 High in the Pyrenees Mountains lies a boneyard filled with half-devoured skeletons. The keepers of this...

The Lyrebird
The Lyrebird

3566 The Superb Lyrebird: An Artist With Commercial Appeal It's safe to say that no bird on earth can rival the viral potency of the Superb...

The Oilbird
The Oilbird

3726 The Oilbird: Is This Thing Even a Bird? You know the type: They go out after sundown and return again in the morning, and regurgitate...

Wilson's Phalarope: The Rebel
Wilson's Phalarope: The Rebel

3770 Wilson's Phalarope: The Rebel Wilson’s Phalaropes don’t care for your gender norms. In the bird world, roles for the sexes are fairly...

Wilson’s Storm-Petrel
Wilson’s Storm-Petrel

3594 Wilson's Storm-Petrel: The Water Walker What’s the most ubiquitous bird you can think of? Even the least outdoorsy of us have crossed...