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  1. Hummingbirds use the hibernation-like state of torpor in varying ways, depending on their physical condition and what is happening in their environment, according to new research.View the full article
  2. Researchers have found that an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) was associated with the deaths of more than 330 New England harbor and gray seals along the North Atlantic coast in June and July 2022, and the outbreak was connected to a wave of avian influenza in birds in the region.View the full article
  3. The arrival of the new year is a prime time for Antarctic birds like the south polar skua, Antarctic petrel, and snow petrel to build nests and lay their eggs. However, from December 2021 to January 2022, researchers did not find a single skua nest on Svarthamaren, one of the regions where the birds go to raise their young. Similarly, the number of Antarctic petrel and snow petrel nests dropped to almost zero.View the full article
  4. Much of the progress made in understanding the scope of bird deaths from building and window collisions has come as the result of citizen science, according to a newly published study. But the study also concludes that such grassroots efforts need more buy-in from government and industry, and better funding so they can keep a foot on the gas in their efforts to reduce bird-window collisions.View the full article
  5. Bald eagles are often touted as a massive conservation success story due to their rebound from near extinction in the 1960s. But now a highly infectious virus may put that hard-fought comeback in jeopardy. New research showed highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as H5N1, is killing off unprecedented numbers of mating pairs of bald eagles.View the full article
  6. Scientists have established what could be considered a baseline map of annual avian functional and species diversity patterns in the U.S., finding that functional diversity patterns in the West, where species and functional richness are both highest during the breeding season, are the polar opposite of what is seen in the East, where functional diversity is lowest when species richness is high.View the full article
  7. As the planet warms, animals that breed in the Arctic are at particular risk. But a new study offers some encouraging news: in an apparent reaction to pressures along their former migratory route, a population of Arctic geese has rapidly adjusted, forming a new migration route and breeding location almost 1,000 kilometers from their original stomping grounds.View the full article
  8. Hurricanes are becoming more intense due to the climate crisis. Therefore, researchers have studied the wind speeds that different seabird species can withstand. The team was able to show that the individual species are well adapted to the average wind conditions in their breeding grounds, but use different strategies to avoid flying through the storm. Within their research, one behavior of the albatrosses particularly surprised the scientists.View the full article
  9. The mainly brown woodcock uses its bright white tail feathers to communicate in semi-darkness, reflecting 30% more light than any other known bird.View the full article
  10. Flamingos form cliques of like-minded individuals within their flocks, new research shows.View the full article
  11. Scientists thought a gold-throated hummingbird was a new species. DNA revealed that it's a hybrid of two different species, each with pink throats. The discovery sheds light on how birds produce feather colors and how hummingbirds evolved their dazzling hues.View the full article
  12. Australia's rarest bird of prey -- the red goshawk -- is facing extinction, with Cape York Peninsula now the only place in Queensland known to support breeding populations.View the full article
  13. Modern birds capable of flight all have a specialized wing structure called the propatagium without which they could not fly. The evolutionary origin of this structure has remained a mystery, but new research suggests it evolved in nonavian dinosaurs. The finding comes from statistical analyses of arm joints preserved in fossils and helps fill some gaps in knowledge about the origin of bird flight.View the full article
  14. Daurian redstarts move closer to humans to protect their nests from brood parasitism.View the full article
  15. New research shows that the feathers of seabirds such as the Wandering Albatross can provide clues about their long-distance foraging, which could help protect these species from further decline.View the full article
  16. Urban gardens can be hotspots for biodiversity in cities but little is known about what drives the biodiversity of species existing at the smallest frequencies, or rare biodiversity. Rare plant species in urban gardens attract rare bee and bird species, according to a new study examining urban garden sites in northern California. The results show that women, older gardeners and those who live near the gardens tend to curate more rare plants. View the full article
  17. When it comes to keeping time, an unassuming species of songbird is on a par with professional musicians, according to new research. View the full article
  18. Some species of birds in North America have not fully adjusted their distributions in response to ongoing climate change. The places these birds live have become more decoupled from their optimal climate conditions, while other features of the environment become more constraining. This trend of climate decoupling is more pronounced for habitat specialists and for species declining in abundance. View the full article
  19. According to a new study that examined memory in expert birdwatchers, having expert knowledge in a subject helps us memorize new information. This is because, while forgetting often happens when similar memories interfere with each other, expert knowledge provides a mental organizational structure, or scaffolding, that helps us keep new items that we want to learn distinct from each other. This reduces confusion between similar items -- in this case, similar-looking birds. View the full article
  20. New research shows how migratory birds are declining globally because of the way that humans have modified the landscape in recent decades. A total of 103 species of migrating birds were studied, including rapidly declining species like the turtle dove and the common cuckoo, using large-scale datasets. Advances in satellite imagery allowed the team to map threats across Europe, Africa and Western Asia. View the full article
  21. A tiny but loud, brightly colored songbird from subtropical Asia could be emerging as a new invasive species in Britain, threatening to dominate the dawn chorus of native Robins, Blackbirds and warblers. A new study warns the Red-billed Leiothrix could become as familiar in gardens, parks and woodland as Ring-necked Parakeets. View the full article
  22. Zebra finches innovate solutions to novel foraging tasks, where sometimes success is related to personality type. View the full article
  23. A research team has developed a system where cameras could spot pest birds in vineyards or orchards and launch drones to drive off the avian irritants, then return to watch for the next invading flock. All without a human nearby. View the full article
  24. Researchers shed light on the way Quetzalcoatlus would have flown, finding that the dinosaur's flying dynamics were actually very different to how it has been depicted in popular culture. View the full article
  25. A new study takes a data-driven look at influenza viruses circulating among different groups of birds and characterizes which types of birds are involved in spreading the virus. This paper publishes at a time when a highly pathogenic strain of avian influenza has been spreading across North America. View the full article
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