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REBECCA DZOMBAK
Reporting portfolio
Here's a selection of my work — some of my favorite stories from over the years.
"Swooping in for the save." Sierra Magazine, Spring 2025.
The story of how volunteers are re-homing purple martins as they lose their nest boxes and gourds to coastline remediation efforts.
Reported from Seattle.
News & other stories
 Salmon return to Klamath River headwaters after a century away | The New York Times, October 2025 |  Washington Moves to Conserve Its State Forests | High Country News, September 2025 |  Wet Western Washington Preps For 'Inevitable' Megafire | The New York Times, July 2025 |
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 Swooping in for the save | Sierra Magazine, Spring 2025 |  Is a farm that hosts weddings still a farm? | High Country News, November 2024 [print] |  The frozen labyrinth atop Mount Rainier | National Geographic, 1 February 2024 [Honorable Mention for Northwest Science Writers Association 2024 Journalism Award] |
 Washington residents ask: What is our wildlife agency for? | High Country News, December 2023 |  Birds With Benefits: How Eagles Are Helping Dairy Farmers in Western Washington | Civil Eats, July 2023 |  Washington's runaway snow goose problem | bioGraphic magazine, January 2023 |
 Russia’s invasion could cause long-term harm to Ukraine’s prized soil | Science News, July 2022 |  Florida's largest-ever python has been found | National Geographic, June 2022 |  Soil as art | Smithsonian Magazine, Jan. 2021 |
New science
 The ant queen is dead. Long live the queen! | The New York Times, November 2025 |  Could Cascadia trigger the San Andreas? It's possible—but controversial | National Geographic, October 2025 |  Costly, deadly wildfires are on the rise | The New York Times, October 2025 |
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 This tree wants to be struck by lightning | The New York Times, April 2025 |  These birds are keeping a record of humanity, one wrapper at a time | National Geographic, April 2025 |  Trees are failing to adapt to climate change. Losing fungi partners may be why | Science News, December 2024 |
 Meet a scientist tracking cactus poaching in the Atacama Desert | Science News, December 2024 [print, Feb. 2025] |  Birds of a feather build together | The New York Times, August 2024 |  Fossils Show Giant Predatory Sea Scorpions Were Distance Swimmers | The New York Times, August 2024 |
 Secrets Emerge From a Fossil’s Taco Shell-Like Cover | The New York Times, July 2024 |  Colder comfort: wildlife's winter survival strategies | National Wildlife, December 2023 (Winter issue) |  Ticked Off: How Wildlife Repel Ticks | National Wildlife, September 2023 (Fall 2023 issue) |
 Damselfish in distress | The New York Times, August 2023 |  When it's too cold, these octopuses just rewire their brains | National Geographic, June 2023 |  How a new Lyme vaccine for mice may protect people | Science News, May 2023 |
 Mapping Arctic foxes’ spectacular solo journeys | Scientific American, May 2023 |  Capybaras thrive because they’re not picky eaters | Science News, March 2023 |  Mutant, parasitic imposter queens plague some ant colonies | The New York Times, March 2023 |
 Bears May Rub Against Trees for Protection From Parasites | The New York Times, February 2023 |  Invasive ants are a bigger threat than we thought | National Geographic, January 2023 |  Dolphins whistle their names with complex, expressive patterns | Scientific American, November 2022 |
 Ants outnumber humans 2.5 million to one—at least | The New York Times, September 2022 |  Destructive lionfish are invading Brazil | National Geographic, August 2022 |  A look inside the monumental effort to save the Andean condor | National Geographic, August 2022 |
 Eelgrass is still reeling from the last Ice Age | Hakai Magazine, August 2022 |  Penguins are slow to evolve, making them vulnerable to climate change | National Geographic, July 2022 |  The surprising consequences of a kelp switcharoo | Hakai Magazine, July 2022 |
 Dolphins use their sense of taste to identify friends | National Geographic, May 2022 |  Oregon's intertidal zone may be approaching a tipping point | Hakai Magazine, April 2022 |  Birds who build domed nests may be doomed | The New York Times, April 2022 |
 Cannibalism is more ancient than once thought | The New York Times, March 2022 |  Toxic algae blooms plagued Maya society | Scientific American, April 2022 |  First-ever photos of bobcat eating invasive python eggs show 'Everglades fighting back' | National Geographic, March 2022 |
 Tiny burrowing owls find safer homes with the help of these scientists | National Geographic, Jan. 2022 |  Corals may store a surprising amount of microplastics in their skeletons | Science News, Nov. 2021 |  Rare fossil captures ancient shrimp hiding inside a clam | National Geographic, Nov. 2021 |
 New clues may explain the mysterious origins of the Falklands wolf | National Geographic, Oct. 2021 |  Flamingos dye their sun-faded feathers to stay pretty in pink | Science News, Oct. 2021 |  Newfound ocean hotspot draws millions of migrating birds each year | Scientific American, Nov. 2021 |
 Domestic horses' mysterious origins may finally be revealed | National Geographic, Oct. 2021 |  Plastics are making beaches hotter during the day and colder at night | Smithsonian Magazine, Oct. 2021 |  These worms "hear" with their whole bodies, surprising scientists | National Geographic, Oct. 2021 |
 How tides may have led to life as we know it | National Geographic, Sept. 2021 |  How a 310 m.y.o. horseshoe crab brain was fossilized | Science News, Aug. 2021 |  Unprecedented Rocky Mtn. wildfires | Scientific American, Aug. 2021 |
 Too much fertilizer during drought hurts crops | Civil Eats, Aug. 2021 |  A third of 'Corn Belt' topsoil is eroded | Smithsonian Magazine, Apr. 2021 |  Hailstorms are hard to predict | Eos, May 2021 |
 Only the chonky survive | Eos, Jan. 2021 |
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