Researchers Find Clean Air Act Saved 1.5 Billion Birds Over the Last 40 Years
Improved air quality, reduced ozone pollution may have averted bird deaths. U.S. pollution regulations meant to protect humans from dirty air are also saving birds….
Birds News
Quantum Birds: Breakthrough Discovery on Mechanism of Magnetic Sensing in Birds
Humans perceive the world around them with five senses — vision, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Many other animals are also able to sense the…
Smaller Bodies, Longer Wings, Earlier Migrations: Untangling the Multiple Impacts of Climate Warming on Birds
When a University of Michigan-led research team reported last year that North American migratory birds have been getting smaller over the past four decades and…
Seabird Eggs Contaminated With Chemical Cocktail of Plastic Additives
Chemical additives used in plastic production have been found in herring gull eggs, new research shows. Phthalates are a group of chemicals added to plastics…
Monitoring Species Condemned to Extinction May Help Conservationists Save Others As Global Temperatures Rise
The White-tailed Swallow, Hirundo megaensis, and Ethiopian Bush-crow, Zavattariornis stresemanni, are living in ‘climatic lifeboats’ with their tiny ranges restricted on all sides by temperature…
Noise and Light Pollution Changes Which Species of Birds Visit Our Backyards
A new study reports that birds across the continental U.S. tend to avoid backyard feeders in louder areas. When light and noise pollution were both…
Falcons Have Natural “Eye Makeup” to Improve Hunting Ability
Dark ‘eyeliner’ feathers of peregrine falcons act as sun shields to improve the birds’ hunting ability, a new scientific study suggests. Scientists have long speculated…
Extremely High-Resolution Control: Songbirds Can Control Single Vocal Muscle Fibers When Singing
Singing is crucial for the recognition, sex life, and speciation of songbirds; new research published in Current Biology shows songbirds have extremely high-resolution control over…
Deception and Lies: Wild Siberian Jays Use Social Knowledge to Avoid Being Tricked
Siberian jays are group-living birds within the corvid family that employ a wide repertoire of calls to warn each other of predators. Sporadically, however, birds…
Creating a Phantom River: Experimental Broadcast of Whitewater River Noise Drives Bats and Birds Away
While many might consider a walk in the woods to be a quiet, peaceful escape from their noisy urban life, we often don’t consider just…
From Avocet to Zebra Finch: Study Finds There Are More Than 50 Billion Birds in the World
Talk about getting your ducks in a row. There are roughly 50 billion individual birds in the world, a new big data study by UNSW…
Mummified Parrots Found by Archaeologists Point to Trade in the Ancient Atacama Desert
Ancient Egyptians mummified cats, dogs, ibises, and other animals, but closer to home in the South American Atacama desert, parrot mummies reveal that between 1100…
When Singing the Wrong Song Spells Trouble: Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater Is Losing Its “Song Culture”
The critically endangered regent honeyeater is losing its “song culture” due to the bird’s rapidly declining population, according to new research from The Australian National…
Crystals Discovered in the Stomach of Fossil Bird Complicates the Mystery of Its Diet
It’s hard to know what prehistoric animals’ lives were like—even answering seemingly simple questions, like what they ate, can be a challenge. Sometimes, paleontologists get…
Higher Elevation Himalayan Songbirds Sport Thicker Down “Jackets” to Survive the Cold
Study of Himalayan songbirds in museum collections is first step toward using feathers to predict the effects of climate change for birds in extreme environments….
Birds Can “Read” the Earth’s Magnetic Signature to Navigate Back on Course
Research shows for the first time, how birds displaced beyond their normal migratory route are able to navigate back to their route and gives us…
Pelican Island: America’s First National Wildlife Refuge
A bird-loving farmer living near Florida’s Pelican Island helped spur the creation of a national system of wildlife refuges. Elaborate feathered hats—sometimes festooned with whole…
Keeping Up Appearances: Male Fairy-Wrens Show That Looks Can Be Deceiving
In many animals, female preference for males with the most elaborate appearance is an important factor in the evolution of bright and dramatic colors. Females…
