Research Spotlight

12 articles in this category

1. New species identified (Rasmussen does it again!)

   A new species of bird has been discovered in northeastern India and adjacent parts of China by a team of scientists from Sweden, China, the U.S., India and Russia. The bird, described in the current issue of the journal Avian Research, has been named Himalayan forest thrush Zoothera salimalii.

   By Fern Davies, January 20, 2016
   • 0 comments
   • 2,310 views
   • 
   • Added by Fern Davies
   • January 20, 2016

2. IBP pursues science to benefit avian conservation

   This summer scientists from the Institute of Bird Populations and their colleagues published three scientific papers that showcase how the organization employs rigorous science in pursuit of bird conservation.

   By Chris Merkord, July 24, 2014
   • 0 comments
   • 2,075 views
   • 
   • Updated by Laura Bies
   • April 4, 2024

3. Diet and home range size of California Spotted Owls in a burned forest

   In a recent paper in the journal Western Birds, scientists from the Institute for Bird Populations and the Wild Nature Institute suggest that Spotted Owls foraging on gophers in burned forests do not require home ranges substantially larger than the home ranges used by owls in unburned forests.

   By Chris Merkord, October 15, 2013
   • 0 comments
   • 2,116 views
   • 
   • Added by Chris Merkord
   • October 15, 2013

4. New Forest Service Video Highlights IBP's Black-backed Woodpecker Research

   IBP is partnering with the US Forest Service to study and monitor Black-backed Woodpeckers breeding in recently burned forests of California. The Forest Service recently highlighted one component of this work in a short web-video.

   By Chris Merkord, September 16, 2013
   • 0 comments
   • 2,077 views
   • 
   • Added by Chris Merkord
   • September 16, 2013

5. Using Feathers Collected at MAPS And MOSI Stations to Link Breeding and Wintering Locales of Migratory Birds

   A new paper in the journal Molecular Ecology describes how scientists at the Institute for Bird Populations joined a team of researchers to present a new analytical approach to studying migratory bird connectivity by integrating genetic and isotopic information into a single model.

   By Chris Merkord, August 30, 2013
   • 0 comments
   • 2,518 views
   • 
   • Added by Chris Merkord
   • August 30, 2013

6. EPIC Effort for Caribbean Seabirds

   Author: Katharine Lowrie, David Lowrie, and Natalia Collier

   Landmark atlas of Caribbean seabird colonies now available: what two people in a small boat can do!

   By epicbirds, January 18, 2012
   • 0 comments
   • 3,060 views
   • 
   • Added by epicbirds
   • January 18, 2012

7. New meta-analysis on the impact of researcher presence on nest predation: you may actually be doing those birds a favor!

   Author: Ellen Paul

   Have you been worrying that your presence may cause the birds you study to have a lower rate of breeding success? Well, for some species and in some conditions, you may actually be helping them to increase their breeding success by deterring predation!

   By Fern Davies, November 13, 2011
   • 0 comments
   • 2,987 views
   • 
   • Added by Fern Davies
   • November 13, 2011

8. Shake it up baby! Twist and shout! Hummingbird feathers do the talking

   Wings that “sing” are nothing new to ornithologists. The American Woodcock and Club-winged Manakin both create sounds with feathers. New research published in Science by Yale ornithologist Chris Clark and coauthors shows that the 35 species of “bee” hummingbirds have some talking feathers of their own.

   By Fern Davies, November 9, 2011
   • 0 comments
   • 3,990 views
   • 
   • Added by Fern Davies
   • November 9, 2011

9. Bullying behavior in Nazca Boobies: intergenerational cycle of violence

   Do abused children grow up to become abusers? David Anderson and his colleagues have found evidence of an intergenerational cycle of abuse in Nazca Boobies. This paper, published in the AUK, has drawn wide attention from the press, including the New York Times and BBC Nature.

   By Fern Davies, October 13, 2011
   • 0 comments
   • 2,871 views
   • 
   • Added by Fern Davies
   • October 13, 2011

10. A tool to measure stress hormone in birds -- feathers

    When faced with environmental threats like bad weather, predators or oil spills, wild birds secrete a hormone called corticosterone. Traditionally, researchers have analyzed blood samples to detect corticosterone levels in wild birds. But recently, scientists have shown that corticosterone spikes can also be detected by analyzing bird feathers.

    By Fern Davies, August 16, 2011
    • 1 comment
    • 3,243 views
    • 
    • Added by Fern Davies
    • August 16, 2011

11. UPDATED: How Safe is Mist Netting? First Large Scale Study into Bird Capture Technique Evaluates the Risks

    Capturing birds using mist nets to study behaviour, movement or the demographics of a species is one of the most common research techniques in ornithology, yet until now there have been no large scale studies into the risks mist nets pose to birds. Writing in the British Ecological Society’s Methods in Ecology and Evolution researchers from California used a dataset of over 345,000 records to evaluate the risks of mist netting.

    By Fern Davies, June 30, 2011
    • 2 comments
    • 5,628 views
    • 
    • Added by Fern Davies
    • June 30, 2011

12. Mixed Species Bird Flocks: A Bibliography

    Author: Eben Goodale and Hari Sridhar

    Mixed-species flocks of birds are exciting models for community ecology because they can be found throughout the world, and thus by studying communities with different evolutionary histories one can search for general patterns in community structure. Here we list those descriptive studies that we have encountered that are in terrestrial landscapes.

    By Chris Merkord, September 16, 2010
    • 0 comments
    • 3,805 views
    • 
    • Added by Chris Merkord
    • September 16, 2010