Birds Learn To Avoid Plants That Host Dangerous Insects
Young birds that eat insects with conspicuous warning colouration to advertise their toxicity to would-be predators quickly learn to avoid other prey that carry the…
Ornithology
Late Pleistocene Humans May Have Hatched and Raised “World’s Most Dangerous Bird” 18,000 Years Ago
As early as 18,000 years ago, humans in New Guinea may have collected cassowary eggs near maturity and then raised the birds to adulthood, according…
Scientists Studied Bird Poop and Found That When Birds Migrate, Their Gut Bacteria Change
The trillions of bacteria living in our guts play a crucial role in our ability to digest food and fight off disease. All other animals…
A Very Rare Discovery: 25-Million-Year-Old Ancient Eagle Ruled the Roost in Australia
63 bone fossil finding in desert is one of the “best preserved” eagles ever and a very rare discovery. A 25-million-year-old eagle fossil found in…
Solved: Charles Darwin’s Mysterious Short-Beak Enigma
Mutation in the ROR2 gene is linked to beak length in domestic pigeons, has a surprising connection with a human congenital disorder. Charles Darwin was…
Female Hummingbirds Look As Flashy as Males To Avoid Harassment
Much like in human society, female hummingbirds have taken it into their own hands to avoid harassment. By watching white-necked Jacobin hummingbirds in Panama, researchers…
Dodging Bullies: Female Hummingbirds Disguise Themselves As Males To Evade Harassment
New study finds females that who look like males get more food. New research on the glittering white-necked jacobin hummingbird reveals nearly 20% of the…
Vast Seabird Colony Creates “Halo” of Depleted Fish Stocks
A vast seabird colony on Ascension Island creates a “halo” in which fewer fish live, new research shows. Ascension, a UK Overseas Territory, is home…
Deforestation Threatens One of the World’s Largest Eagles
Harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja) — which are among the world’s largest eagle species — struggle to feed offspring in heavily deforested areas of the Amazon,…
Don’t Worry, Research Suggests Birds Won’t Become Dependent on You Feeding Them
Oregon State University researchers have some good news for the well-meaning masses who place bird feeders in their yards: The small songbirds who visit the…
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…
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…
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…
Two New Species of Screech Owls Discovered in Amazon Rainforest – Both Are Already Critically Endangered
Recordings of owls’ screeches used to help tell species apart. The Amazon rainforest is teeming with creatures unknown to science—and that’s just in broad daylight….