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Physiologists have a furthered understanding of the bird neural circuitry that allows them to distinguish where a specific sound is coming from. Their findings could help scientists understand the basics of how mammalian brains compute the time difference between a single sound arriving at each individual ear, known as 'interaural time difference'. This ability is an integral component of sound localization. View the full article -
Scientists from multiple universities now find there's more than one level of hummingbird torpor: shallow and deep, plus the transition stage between levels of torpor and the normal sleep state. View the full article
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Beautiful 'supertramp' birds in Southeast Asia are providing unique insights into how evolution is linked to flight ability and competition. New research testing decades-old theories has confirmed that the isolating effects of islands impact the evolution of even the species most accomplished at colonizing them -- and in some surprising ways. Among the eye-opening findings is the discovery that these birds settle down more readily than would be expected -- once they have colonized an island they tend to stay there rather than searching for others. View the full article
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Biologists have found an animal for the first time that communicates with the complexity of human language: song sparrows. According to a new study, male song sparrows memorize a 30-minute long playlist of their recently belted tunes and use that information to curate both their current playlist and the next one. The findings suggest that song sparrows deliberately shuffle and repeat their songs possibly to keep a female's attention. View the full article
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Biomedical scientists have discovered a new immune pathway in chickens that viruses may be targeting. The discovery, which has implications also for diseases affecting other birds, sheds greater light on birds' immune responses to zoonotic viruses -- specifically, how those may differ from responses seen in humans. View the full article
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In one of the first studies of its kind, researchers have gauged how biodiversity loss of birds and mammals will impact plants' chances of adapting to human-induced climate warming. View the full article
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A new study looking into the impacts that large industrial farming has on biodiversity found that increased farm size causes a decline in bird diversity. Researchers studied how different farming indicators impact the diversity of local birds in the farmland bordering the former Iron Curtain in Germany. They found that increased farm sizes resulted in a 15 per cent decline in bird diversity. View the full article
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Researchers found that the iridescent shimmer that makes birds such as peacocks and hummingbirds so striking is rooted in an evolutionary tweak in feather nanostructure that has more than doubled the range of iridescent colors birds can display. This insight could help researchers understand how and when iridescence first evolved in birds, as well as inspire the development of new materials that can capture or manipulate light. View the full article
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As the Arctic and the oceans warm due to climate change, understanding how a rapidly changing environment may affect birds making annual journeys between the Arctic and the high seas is vital to international conservation efforts. However, for some Arctic species, there are still many unknowns about their migration routes. Using telemetry to solve some mysteries of three related seabird species -- the pomarine jaeger, parasitic jaeger and long-tailed jaeger -- scientists discovered they took different paths across four oceans from a shared central Canadian high Arctic nesting location. View the full article
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Just like humans, New Caledonian crows are particularly careful when handling their most valuable tools, according to a new study. The research reveals that crows are more likely to store relatively complex and efficient foraging tools for future use than more basic tools. View the full article
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Ruby-throated hummingbirds use the same energy-conserving strategy to survive overnight fasts and build the fat stores they need to fuel long migrations, shows a new study. View the full article
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For thousands of years, people have been keeping wild birds. It is often a deeply ingrained part of the culture. An examination of the scientific literature on this topic finds that bird-singing contests currently take place in at least 22 countries using at least 36 species of birds. View the full article
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Though discovered more than 45 years ago, fossils of Earth's largest flying animal, Quetzalcoatlus, were never thoroughly analyzed. Now, a scientific team provides the most complete picture yet of this dinosaur relative, its environment and behavior. The pterosaur, with a 40-foot wingspan, walked with a unique gait, but otherwise filled a niche much like herons today. The researchers dispel ideas that it ate carrion and walked like a vampire bat. View the full article
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New research could ruffle some feathers in the birding world. It finds that Redpolls, a bird found in the Arctic that will sometimes come to the Southern latitudes during the winter and can be hard to differentiate, aren't actually multiple species, genetically speaking. Instead, the three recognized species are all just one with a 'supergene' that controls differences in plumage color and morphology, making them look different. View the full article
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With feet and legs like a peregrine falcon, engineers have created a robot that can perch and carry objects like a bird. View the full article
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In high enough concentrations, milkweed can kill a horse, or a human. To be able to eat this plant, monarchs evolved a set of unusual cellular mutations. New research shows the animals that prey on monarchs also evolved these same mutations. View the full article
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The most pristine parts of the Amazon rainforest devoid of direct human contact are being impacted by human-induced climate change, according to new research. New analyses of data collected over the past four decades show that not only has the number of sensitive resident birds throughout the Amazon rainforest declined, but the body size and wing length have changed for most studied species. These physical changes in the birds track increasingly hot and dry conditions in the dry season, from June to November. View the full article
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Human-caused bird extinctions are driving losses of functional diversity on islands worldwide, and the gaps they leave behind are not being filled by introduced (alien) species, finds a new study. View the full article
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New research suggests free-roaming cats are likely to blame in the spread of the potentially deadly Toxoplasma gondii parasite to wildlife in densely populated urban areas. View the full article
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Researchers have shown that there is a genetic component underlying the amazing spatial memories of Mountain Chickadees. Although the genetic basis for spatial memory has been shown for humans and other mammals, direct evidence of that connection has never before been identified in birds.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/birds/~4/cBer7dPxcicView the full article
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Natural sounds, and bird song in particular, play a key role in building and maintaining our connection with nature - but a major new study reveals that the sounds of spring are changing, with dawn choruses across North America and Europe becoming quieter and less varied. An international team of researchers led by the University of East Anglia (UEA) developed a new technique, combining world-leading citizen science bird monitoring data with recordings of individual species in the wild, to reconstruct the soundscapes of more than 200,000 sites over the last 25 years.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/birds/~4/kNe8tI3xQRQView the full article
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Scientists used to think that only mammals sought out truffles, but a new study shows that birds also pursue these underground fungi. The researchers collected the feces of two common ground-dwelling bird species in Patagonia and found they contained truffle DNA and viable truffle spores. The spread of truffles is important to the health of forest ecosystems, where truffle species and other mycorrhizal fungi have a symbiotic relationship with trees.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/birds/~4/MGsZh5RBgpcView the full article
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Across the United States, bird populations are declining due to decreases in availability of habitat. Recently, a team of scientists explored the value of the biggest chunk of green space found in cities -- residential yards --as wildlife habitat.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/birds/~4/XjtuuvsA3PgView the full article
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Wildlife agencies throughout western North America have set increasingly more conservative harvest regulations over the past 25 years to conserve sage grouse, with mixed results for bird numbers.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/birds/~4/_Rs8KBFUjXcView the full article
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Scientists have discovered that birds know to avoid the plants where toxic animals dwell.http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/sciencedaily/plants_animals/birds/~4/gfKz_bvW12sView the full article
