For Earth Day, a Photo Appreciation of Birds

• Alan Taylor
• 2:24 PM ET
• 30 Photos
• In Focus

On this Earth Day, a day set aside to remember and appreciate the environment and our responsibilities and roles within it, I wanted to gather a selection of images of the incredibly diverse bird life that we share this planet with. Tens of billions of individual animals are divided among some 10,000 species, inhabiting nearly every environment on Earth. These fascinating creatures are at home on land, at sea, or in the sky, from our polar regions to the tropics. On a day meant for us to care for our environment, it seemed appropriate to feature some of those we share it with.

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• A rufous-crested coquette seeks out nectar from porterweed, photographed in Panama. #

  Juan Carlos Vindas / Getty
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• Pink-footed geese take off to feed from Montrose Basin on October 6, 2010, in Montrose, Scotland. #

  Jeff J Mitchell / Getty
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• Two Japanese red-crowned cranes leap and dance, performing a courtship ritual in the snow. #

  Elmvilla / iStockphoto / Getty
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• A mother hen protects a group of chicks under her wings and body. #

  Matthew Troke / iStockphoto / Getty
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• A murmuration of starlings flies together before landing to sleep near the southern Israeli city of Rahat, in the Negev desert, on January 22, 2018. #

  Menahem Kahana / AFP / Getty
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• An owl is seen at the Ankara University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Animal Hospital in Ankara, Turkey, on February 28, 2024. #

  Dogukan Keskinkilic / Anadolu / Getty
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• A close view of a peacock with its colorful tail feathers on display #

  Raghu Ramaswamy / iStockphoto / Getty
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• A loon chick catches a ride on the back of a parent, photographed in Canada. #

  Pchoui / iStockphoto /........
  

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