The truth of the matter is, the birds could very well live without us, but many -- perhaps all -- of us would find life incomplete, indeed almost intolerable without the birds.

Conservation is not just an ideal that we read about; it works.

Birds are an ecological litmus paper.

I can recognize the calls of practically every bird in North America. There are some in Africa I don't know, though

Butterflies may be better indicators of the health of our environment than birds.

I consider myself to have been the bridge between the shotgun and the binoculars in bird watching. Before I came along, the primary way to observe birds was to shoot them and stuff them.

Vultures are homely, but they clean up all the garbage and that's good. And they're elegant in the sky.