Guardians of the Sand – Protecting the Egyptian Plover Along the Niger River
An Egyptian Plover stands poised along a sunlit riverbankthis striking and elusive species is famed for its unique nesting habits and symbolic status across African cultures. © Mathieu Bally

Guardians of the Sand – Protecting the Egyptian Plover Along the Niger River

A look into one of West Africa’s least known yet most striking shorebirds – and the local-led conservation efforts keeping it off the brink.


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Fabricated Birds: AI and the Future of Ornithology
AI-generated image. A Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) in papyrus habitat. The bird depicted here does not exist – a reminder that in the age of generative imagery, realism is no longer proof of presence. Image created by Daniel Szimuly/The Ornithologist. All rights reserved.

Fabricated Birds: AI and the Future of Ornithology

When we generated a Shoebill that never existed, the realism was flawless – and unsettling. In an age where synthetic plausibility becomes effortless, ornithology must reconsider what authenticity means and how it is protected.


Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly

Upstream of Science: The Role of Bird Art in Understanding — An Interview with Szabolcs Kókay
A reconstruction of a species now considered extinct, placed carefully within the landscape that once held it. Slender-billed Curlew with Eurasian Curlews on oil (2010). All Rights Reserved by Szabolcs Kókay

Upstream of Science: The Role of Bird Art in Understanding — An Interview with Szabolcs Kókay

Ornithology begins not with numbers, but with looking. This conversation with Szabolcs Kókay examines how bird art operates upstream from science – shaping what we notice, understand, and value.


Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly

The Ornithologist Launches ‘Conceptual Notes’: Exploring the Unanswered Questions in Ornithology
Oilbirds (Steatornis caripensis), among the few birds to use echolocation. Their nocturnal world challenges the assumption that birds are primarily visual animals – a fitting emblem for a series that explores what lies beyond familiar explanatory light. © Alex Berryman

The Ornithologist Launches ‘Conceptual Notes’: Exploring the Unanswered Questions in Ornithology

The Ornithologist has launched a new editorial series titled Conceptual Notes, designed to give space to questions, uncertainties, and unresolved patterns that sit just beyond the boundaries of conventional scientific publishing. The series responds to a familiar tension in ornithology and ecology: while journals excel at reporting methods, results, and conclusions, there is far less room to discuss the moments before hypotheses solidify, or the ambiguities that persist even after d


Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly