Birds
Birds
Articles tagged with "Birds"
Wildfire near endangered whooping crane nests sparks scientific opportunity
It's too soon to say what the long-term impacts of earlier wildfires might be on the world’s only natural wild migratory whooping crane flock. But scientists could be a step closer to finding out after a wildfire in Wood Buffalo National Park came near a handful of the endangered species' nests.
California’s endangered condors have a surprising new foe
Researchers couldn’t figure out why the birds were dying — then they turned up an unusual suspect.
These birds clack their wing bones together to woo mates at night
During courtship, male scissor-tailed nightjars crack their wings together to make a sharp snapping sound. It's the result of colliding arm bones.
Who’s the Smartest Corvid?
Crows, magpies and ravens have displayed everything from prey trickery to tool use to potential self-medication. An excerpt from a new book.
Can these chunky ground-dwelling parrots survive on their own?
When is it time to wean a species off intense conservation? The kākāpō is a test case.
The secret to pigeons’ incredible navigation was hiding in their liver
Scientists have uncovered a surprising navigation system in pigeons: iron-filled immune cells in the liver that may act like tiny magnetic sensors. Birds deprived of these cells struggled to find their way home under overcast skies, indicating they rely on Earth’s magnetic field for guidance. The discovery could solve a decades-old mystery about animal navigation and reveal an unexpected connection between immunity and sensing the environment.
How do pigeons sense Earth's magnetic field? Scientists say they’ve solved the mystery.
New research suggests that pigeons use magnetic sensors in their livers.
Homing pigeons may use a surprising navigation mechanism
How animals navigate by Earth's magnetic field is hotly debated. New research in pigeons points to iron-laden liver immune cells as the compass.
Meet the people preserving the practice of bird banding
Birds migrate across the world; so do the volunteers who come together for annual bird-banding efforts. But the impacts of U.S. funding cuts threaten to spread across the border, imperiling the future of conservation
City birds appear to like men more than women, but experts have no idea why
Despite being surrounded by a multitude of people, urban birds may be picky about who can approach them, new research suggests. After surveying over 37 city bird species in five European countries, experts found that the avians fled sooner when approached by women than by men.
Iconic endangered bird returned to New Zealand's capital after a century's absence
The kiwi , New Zealand ’s sacred national bird, vanished from the hills around Wellington more than a century ago. Now the capital’s residents are waging an improbable citizen campaign to return the endangered flightless birds to the city.
'I'm more hopeful that birds can endure than maybe even our own species'
In a new book, paleontologist Steve Brusatte tells the wild story of how birds evolved during the Jurassic and took to the skies, surviving the asteroid strike that killed their fellow dinosaurs.
This kea parrot is the first-known disabled alpha male
With half a beak, Bruce has developed an innovative fighting style that has won the kea top status in his flock, videos and documented interactions reveal.
Watch Bruce the parrot defeat his rivals with only half a beak
Kea parrots are known for being extremely curious and capable of solving complex problems ; they can even make each other chuckle. Now, for the first time, a kea named Bruce has demonstrated skilled combat techniques after losing his upper beak.
Bruce the parrot is missing his upper beak — but that hasn't stopped him from becoming an undefeated jousting champion
Bruce the parrot uses his injured beak to win competitions with other male parrots. (Image credit: Alex Grabham) A New Zealand parrot that's missing the entire top half of its beak has developed a unique jousting technique to attain top social status, researchers report in a new study.
‘How much have we missed?’: book tunes in to overlooked world of female birdsong
When we hear the beautiful call of a bird from a high bough, we’re told it’s likely to be a male – singing for territory, or belting out tunes to woo a female.
Why warblers face an increasingly treacherous spring migration
Each spring, these tiny birds fly thousands of miles north—but warming temperatures may be reshaping when and where they arrive.
The surprising hidden glow of one of Earth’s largest birds
Scientists were surprised to discover cassowaries glow under ultraviolet light. It may help the birds distinguish between different species.
Scientists just debunked a 50-year myth about Hawaii’s birds
A new study from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is reshaping a decades-old belief about the disappearance of Hawaiʻi's native waterbirds. Researchers report that there is no scientific evidence showing Indigenous People hunted these species to extinction.
World's fattest parrot — on the verge of extinction 30 years ago — has record-breaking breeding season
Conservationists are celebrating the 105th kākāpō chick to hatch during the 2026 breeding season — the highest number reported since such records began 30 years ago.
Hatchings of two California bald eagle chicks delight vast livestream audience
Over Easter weekend, thousands of people tuned in to celebrate something spectacular unfolding 145 feet up a pine tree in southern California ’s San Bernardino national forest – the hatchings of two bald eagle chicks.
The swift parrot’s distinctive call was recorded dozens of times in a patch of Tasmanian forest. Then the forest was logged
Scientists estimate the endangered bird’s population has slumped to about 750. But the logging agency responsible for clearing its habitat said it acted lawfully.
Atlantic puffins are returning to shore. Here’s how to see the fleeting spring spectacle.
After months at sea, the orange-beaked birds are gathering along coastal cliffs in a short but sensational migration. Atlantic puffins pair stand outside a nest burrow on Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom. Puffins return to coastal breeding colonies in early-to-mid April.
Shooting restricted for six British wild birds to halt population decline
Hunters will be banned from shooting a rare and beautiful duck under new proposals to halt the decline of six British wild birds.
How to Bring a Bird’s Song Back From the Edge of Extinction
In a new study, wild regent honeyeaters became vocal tutors, teaching their disappearing song to birds in a captive breeding program.
Wildfire near endangered whooping crane nests sparks scientific opportunity
It's too soon to say what the long-term impacts of earlier wildfires might be on the world’s only natural wild migratory whooping crane flock. But scientists could be a step closer to finding out after a wildfire in Wood Buffalo National Park came near a handful of the endangered species' nests.
California’s endangered condors have a surprising new foe
Researchers couldn’t figure out why the birds were dying — then they turned up an unusual suspect.
These birds clack their wing bones together to woo mates at night
During courtship, male scissor-tailed nightjars crack their wings together to make a sharp snapping sound. It's the result of colliding arm bones.
Who’s the Smartest Corvid?
Crows, magpies and ravens have displayed everything from prey trickery to tool use to potential self-medication. An excerpt from a new book.
Can these chunky ground-dwelling parrots survive on their own?
When is it time to wean a species off intense conservation? The kākāpō is a test case.
The secret to pigeons’ incredible navigation was hiding in their liver
Scientists have uncovered a surprising navigation system in pigeons: iron-filled immune cells in the liver that may act like tiny magnetic sensors. Birds deprived of these cells struggled to find their way home under overcast skies, indicating they rely on Earth’s magnetic field for guidance. The discovery could solve a decades-old mystery about animal navigation and reveal an unexpected connection between immunity and sensing the environment.
How do pigeons sense Earth's magnetic field? Scientists say they’ve solved the mystery.
New research suggests that pigeons use magnetic sensors in their livers.
Homing pigeons may use a surprising navigation mechanism
How animals navigate by Earth's magnetic field is hotly debated. New research in pigeons points to iron-laden liver immune cells as the compass.
Meet the people preserving the practice of bird banding
Birds migrate across the world; so do the volunteers who come together for annual bird-banding efforts. But the impacts of U.S. funding cuts threaten to spread across the border, imperiling the future of conservation
City birds appear to like men more than women, but experts have no idea why
Despite being surrounded by a multitude of people, urban birds may be picky about who can approach them, new research suggests. After surveying over 37 city bird species in five European countries, experts found that the avians fled sooner when approached by women than by men.
Iconic endangered bird returned to New Zealand's capital after a century's absence
The kiwi , New Zealand ’s sacred national bird, vanished from the hills around Wellington more than a century ago. Now the capital’s residents are waging an improbable citizen campaign to return the endangered flightless birds to the city.
'I'm more hopeful that birds can endure than maybe even our own species'
In a new book, paleontologist Steve Brusatte tells the wild story of how birds evolved during the Jurassic and took to the skies, surviving the asteroid strike that killed their fellow dinosaurs.
This kea parrot is the first-known disabled alpha male
With half a beak, Bruce has developed an innovative fighting style that has won the kea top status in his flock, videos and documented interactions reveal.
Watch Bruce the parrot defeat his rivals with only half a beak
Kea parrots are known for being extremely curious and capable of solving complex problems ; they can even make each other chuckle. Now, for the first time, a kea named Bruce has demonstrated skilled combat techniques after losing his upper beak.
Bruce the parrot is missing his upper beak — but that hasn't stopped him from becoming an undefeated jousting champion
Bruce the parrot uses his injured beak to win competitions with other male parrots. (Image credit: Alex Grabham) A New Zealand parrot that's missing the entire top half of its beak has developed a unique jousting technique to attain top social status, researchers report in a new study.
‘How much have we missed?’: book tunes in to overlooked world of female birdsong
When we hear the beautiful call of a bird from a high bough, we’re told it’s likely to be a male – singing for territory, or belting out tunes to woo a female.
Why warblers face an increasingly treacherous spring migration
Each spring, these tiny birds fly thousands of miles north—but warming temperatures may be reshaping when and where they arrive.
The surprising hidden glow of one of Earth’s largest birds
Scientists were surprised to discover cassowaries glow under ultraviolet light. It may help the birds distinguish between different species.
Scientists just debunked a 50-year myth about Hawaii’s birds
A new study from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa is reshaping a decades-old belief about the disappearance of Hawaiʻi's native waterbirds. Researchers report that there is no scientific evidence showing Indigenous People hunted these species to extinction.
World's fattest parrot — on the verge of extinction 30 years ago — has record-breaking breeding season
Conservationists are celebrating the 105th kākāpō chick to hatch during the 2026 breeding season — the highest number reported since such records began 30 years ago.
Hatchings of two California bald eagle chicks delight vast livestream audience
Over Easter weekend, thousands of people tuned in to celebrate something spectacular unfolding 145 feet up a pine tree in southern California ’s San Bernardino national forest – the hatchings of two bald eagle chicks.
The swift parrot’s distinctive call was recorded dozens of times in a patch of Tasmanian forest. Then the forest was logged
Scientists estimate the endangered bird’s population has slumped to about 750. But the logging agency responsible for clearing its habitat said it acted lawfully.
Atlantic puffins are returning to shore. Here’s how to see the fleeting spring spectacle.
After months at sea, the orange-beaked birds are gathering along coastal cliffs in a short but sensational migration. Atlantic puffins pair stand outside a nest burrow on Skomer Island in Pembrokeshire, Wales, United Kingdom. Puffins return to coastal breeding colonies in early-to-mid April.
Shooting restricted for six British wild birds to halt population decline
Hunters will be banned from shooting a rare and beautiful duck under new proposals to halt the decline of six British wild birds.
How to Bring a Bird’s Song Back From the Edge of Extinction
In a new study, wild regent honeyeaters became vocal tutors, teaching their disappearing song to birds in a captive breeding program.
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