Coach John Beam changed my life when I was a 14-year-old kid on the Skyline High football field. I still remember getting flattened in a varsity drill and looking up to see Beam standing over me, demanding more because he saw more. That was his gift. He coached football, but he taught manhood: accountability, discipline, belief in yourself long before you earned it.
Earlier this fall, a flock of birds descended upon New York City, flying through the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Queens. The arrival of these birds, however, isn't literal. They came to the city in the form of murals, thanks to the National Audubon Society's Mural Project. Since its launch more than 10 years ago, the project has produced 142 total murals around New York, with the goal of centering the birds most vulnerable to extinction from climate change.
New York's community gardens have always been tiny pockets of magic-places where tomatoes, neighbors and the occasional rogue pigeon can peacefully coexist. Now they're bird sanctuaries of a more artistic kind, thanks to 21 freshly painted murals unveiled this week across gardens in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. The project, a collaboration between the National Audubon Society, , GreenThumb and Gitler &_____ Gallery , splashes 24 climate-threatened bird species (plus more than 30 native plants) across walls, sheds and fences citywide.
The 2025 Audubon Bird Photography Awards expanded internationally to include Chile and Colombia, spotlighting the rich biodiversity and shared responsibility of bird conservation across the Americas.