ScienceDaily

A persistent question among urban ecology researchers has been the long-term impact of urbanization on bird species biodiversity. Specifically, they wonder whether the portions of cities with higher diversity are simply exhibiting an 'extinction debt' -- populations doomed to extinction but not yet disappeared -- or if other factors such as range shifts or local environmental changes play a role in changes in diversity. View the full article

A new article tells how researchers found -- in the site of Hort de la Bequera (Margalef de Montsant, Priorat) -- an artistic piece from 12,500 years ago in which humans and birds try to interact in a pictorial scene with exceptional traits: figures seem to star a narration on hunting and motherhood. View the full article

A new study is one of the first to address the potential for sugar water from hummingbird feeders to act as a vector for avian -- or even zoonotic -- pathogens. It found that the majority of microbes growing in feeders do not likely pose a significant health hazard to birds or humans. View the full article

Using data on 77 North American migratory bird species from the eBird citizen-science program, scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology say that, in as little as four decades, it may be very difficult to predict how climate change will affect migratory bird populations and the ecosystems they inhabit. Their conclusions are presented in a paper published in the journal Ecography. View the full article

Using host-specific parasites isolated on individual pigeon 'islands,' the scientists showed that descendants of a single population of feather lice adapted rapidly in response to preening. They found that preening drives rapid and divergent camouflage in feather lice transferred to different colored rock pigeons. Over four years and 60 generations, the lice evolved heritable color differences that spanned the full color range of the lice genus found on 300 bird species worldwide. View the full article

According to a new study, migratory birds in Europe and Canada have substantially advanced the timing of their spring migration due to climate change. The average migratory bird has advanced its spring migration by approximately one week in five decades, and the duration of the migration season has increased. View the full article

According to a new study, the precise patterning of bird feathers relies on signaling through ectodysplasin (EDA) and its receptor EDAR -- the same signaling pathway known to be crucial for the formation of hair follicles, teeth and scales in fish, lizards and mammals. View the full article

Scientists have revealed the African origins of New Zealand's most mysterious giant flightless bird -- the now extinct adzebill -- showing that some of its closest living relatives are the pint-sized flufftails from Madagascar and Africa. View the full article

An international team of scientists has shown that fossilized eggshells unearthed in western Romania represent the earliest known nest site shared by multiple animals. View the full article

Chickadees with better learning and memory skills, needed to find numerous food caches, are more likely to survive their first winter, a long-term study of mountain chickadees has found. View the full article

The 'perching birds,' or passerines, are the most common birds in the world today -- they include sparrows, robins, and finches. They used to be very rare. Scientists have just discovered some of the earliest relatives of the passerines, including a 52-million-year-old fossil with a thick, curved beak for eating seeds. View the full article

Twenty-five years into a 100-year federal strategy to protect older forests in the Pacific Northwest, forest losses to wildfire are up and declines in bird populations have not been reversed, new research shows. View the full article

New research shows zebra finches engage in socially guided vocal learning, where they learn their songs by watching their mothers' reactions to their immature songs. View the full article

A team of researchers has discovered that the conservation of milky storks, an endangered wading bird native to Southeast Asia, is threatened due to crossbreeding with their more widespread cousins, the painted storks. The team's findings can contribute to the design of effective solutions for conservation management of the globally endangered species. View the full article

Researchers have performed molecular analysis on fossil feathers from a small, feathered dinosaur from the Jurassic. Their research could aid scientists in pinpointing when feathers evolved the capacity for flight during the dinosaur-bird transition. View the full article