Break out the pink bows, the National Zoo's newly hatched brown kiwi chick is a girl. While the little bird hatched a few weeks ago, the Zoo announced just yesterday that they've determined its gender. The Zoo is excited about this for a number of reasons, including the fact that "there are more than twice as many male brown kiwis outside New Zealand as female" and the new chick's father (named Maori) is a wild-caught bird, so this little chick is another opportunity for his genes to be passed on. The Zoo also shared the news that another kiwi egg has been laid, hopefully to hatch later in the summer. Check out the Zoo's kiwi page for the latest, or stop by the live kiwi web cam. Unfortunately, last we checked the web cam was broadcasting a very empty nest... or perhaps a rare invisible species of kiwi? more ›

This baby brown kiwi may not be quite as cute as a clouded leopard cub, but its birth Tuesday morning at the Smithsonian's National Zoo's Bird House was a pretty big deal. Brown kiwis are one of the world's most endangered species, and this was only the fourth time ever that a kiwi has successfully hatched at the Zoo. Only four zoos outside of New Zealand have successfully bred kiwis. more ›

Most people now associate the words "classical music" so strongly with the past that it is easy to forget that composers are still writing music for those traditional vehicles of art music -- opera, symphony, chamber ensembles. Soprano Dawn Upshaw urges us regularly not to forget this very fact, by lending her radiant voice to so many new compositions. Indeed, she has become the muse of many contemporary composers, the favored midwife at numerous musical... more ›