Rare birds, ocean plastic, patient fieldwork, and the living places behind this week's wildlife headlines.
Week of
Jun 30, 2026
Selected reports
7
Regions on map
6
Issue summary
This first Field Notes follows rare birds in Agartala, ocean plastic turned into repair, what long-term photography teaches us to notice, and a morning in Kibale Rainforest.
Issue
Untold Field Notes No. 1: Wildlife on the move
News
7 selected reports
Stories
3 Untold stories
Map
Where the stories lead
Seven reports that trace the pressure on wild places, the people responding, and the species asking for closer attention.
Photo: MongabayUS mineral leases near American Samoa would open 127,500 square kilometers of seabed near Rose Atoll to deep-sea mining scrutiny.
Photo: MongabayFiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and Solomon Islands aim to build a marine reserve corridor across a Coral Triangle biodiversity hotspot.
Photo: MongabayGray whale strandings across the Pacific suggest a catastrophic die-off tied to Arctic food-web disruption, ship strikes and warming seas.
Image via PixabayNamibia reported rhino poaching down 53 percent since 2024, showing how intelligence, rangers and communities can curb trafficking.
Photo: MongabaySouth Africa’s first national cheetah census found free-roaming cats in steep decline, highlighting the fragility of unfenced populations.
Photo: MongabayInvestigators found illegal wildlife shops growing in Laos despite enforcement, signaling sustained pressure on trafficked Asian species.
Three longer reads for staying with the people, habitats, and slow work behind the headlines.
By Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharjee
In a north-eastern Indian town where old trees fall and ponds are filled overnight, the scarcest species isn't a bird at all. It's the birdwatcher, and noticing may be the simplest conservation there is.
Read the featureKaren Gonzalez Videla begins before the forest fully wakes, following chimpanzee calls through Uganda's Kibale Rainforest.
A single morning tracking chimpanzees, from first light to the packed camera bag.
From South Asia to East Africa and the open ocean, this issue follows wildlife stories across the places shaping them.
Map note
Some stories begin in one place and quickly reach another: migration routes, trade routes, coastlines, and shared seas.
Field line
Follow the pins to see how local reports connect to wider questions of habitat, movement, and survival.
Keep reading
Keep reading the wider stream of wildlife news, from fresh research to conservation work unfolding around the world.
From Untold Field Notes No. 1: Wildlife on the move
