Birds of a Feather Drive Together

Vivienne Strauss has been a full-time artist since 2008. While she is not formally trained as an artist, she has a background in philosophy and is an avid reader, cinephile, and nature lover. All of this has profoundly influenced her playful, sometimes quirky works rendered in oils, watercolors, paper, glue, fabric and photography and just about anything she can repurpose. She currently resides in Kentucky with her artist husband, Matte Stephens.

For our November Sketchbook, Strauss takes us on a retro-fabulous bird migration. As in all modern travel, there are rules …

November 22, 2021

How Hawai‘i Forces Us to Redefine the Meaning of ‘Native’

An Environmental Historian Argues That Being Indigenous Is More Alchemy Than Fact

by Daniel Lewis | July 11, 2018

I was born in the Territory of Hawai‘i, three weeks before statehood. As a kid I played in its dirt, ran around in the rain (my hometown of Hilo is …

When Birders With Binoculars Trump Supercomputers

If You Want to Know Which Species Are Going Extinct, Don’t Use an Algorithm. Count Ducks at Christmas.

By Lisa Margonelli | January 27, 2016

It was just after dawn on January 3 and a freezing wind blew around my binoculars and into my face as I stood scanning a steely Atlantic bay. Suddenly, where …

Why Do Birds Fall in Love?

Bickering Hummingbirds and Devoted Albatrosses Can Teach Us a Thing or Two About Courtship and Commitment

by Noah Strycker | February 12, 2015

On Valentine’s Day, our thoughts inevitably turn to the birds and the bees. And as someone who studies birds, I can tell you our feathered friends have much to teach …

The Bowerbird

by Cynthia Cheung | May 2, 2014

He builds a sitting room:
a roof of twigs, a carpet
of purple flowers.
On the floor, fruit shines
and stones make it proper.

Women come by when they feel …

Good Migrations

When the Geese Fly South, the Sacramento National Wildlife Sanctuary Is the Place to Be

by Steven T. Callan | November 19, 2013

“I’ll probably be gone all night,” announced Wally, opening the closet door and reaching for his uniform coat. “Hiller’s been getting reports of late-night duck shooting east of the refuge.”

It …

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