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Through a large-scale study with so-called geolocators, researchers were able to uncover some of the mysteries surrounding the phenomenon of the blackcap's bird migration. View the full article -
Before their big journey, many birds molt their bright feathers, replacing them with a more subdued palette. Watching this molt led scientists to wonder how feather color changes relate to the migrations many birds undertake twice each year. View the full article
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A new multi-drone imaging system was put to the test in Antarctica. The task? Documenting a colony of roughly 1 million Adélie penguins. View the full article
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Despite having bat-like wings, two small dinosaurs, Yi and Ambopteryx, struggled to fly, only managing to glide clumsily between the trees where they lived, researchers report. Unable to compete with other tree-dwelling dinosaurs and early birds, they went extinct after just a few million years. The findings support that dinosaurs evolved flight in several different ways before modern birds evolved. View the full article
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Taking a look at generosity within the crow family reveals parallels with human evolution. Working together to raise offspring and increased tolerance towards group members contribute to the emergence of generous behavior among ravens, crows, magpies and company. Biologists found that the social life of corvids is a crucial factor for whether the birds act generously or not. View the full article
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Chemicals that haven't been manufactured in the U.S. for years or even decades are still turning up in the bodies of migratory terns in the Great Lakes region, a new study finds. The research focused on three types of compounds: PBDEs, PCBs, and the breakdown products, called metabolites, of DDT. View the full article
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Volatile organic compounds identified that can be used for olfactory navigation by homing pigeons. View the full article
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A new species of small pterosaur - similar in size to a turkey - has been discovered, which is unlike any other pterosaur seen before due to its long slender toothless beak. View the full article
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Mapping out rest stops for migrating birds
ScienceDaily posted a topic in Bird Research in the Media
A team of researchers have developed a new metric called the stopover-to-passage ratio that can help determine if a majority of birds are flying over a particular site or stopping at the site to refuel or rest. The answer to this question can have important implications for what action is ultimately taken on the ground to help migratory birds. View the full article -
The zoologists have discovered that male and female Sulawesi Babblers (Pellorneum celebense, a species of bird) have evolved to attain different sizes on small islands, and in quick-fire time. They believe this is most likely due to evolutionary pressure favoring such ''dimorphism'' because the birds are able to reduce competition with each other by feeding on different, scarce resources. View the full article
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Common assumptions notwithstanding, rare species can play unique and essential ecological roles. After studying two, scientists have demonstrated that, though these species are found on all continents, they are more threatened by human pressures than ecologically common species and will also be more impacted by future climate change. Thus they are in double jeopardy. The researchers' findings show that conservation programmes must account for the ecological rarity of species. View the full article
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New research shows the glaring light in human-altered landscapes, such as livestock pastures and crop fields, can act as a barrier to big-eyed birds, potentially contributing to their decline. View the full article
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Researchers encountered a puzzle at Cape Irizar, a rocky cape located just south of the Drygalski Ice Tongue on the Scott Coast, Ross Sea. He found both ancient and what appeared to be fresh remains of Adelie penguins, mostly of chicks, which frequently die and accumulate at these colonies. However, the 'fresh' remains were puzzling, he says, because there are no records of an active penguin colony at this site. View the full article
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Surviving on a warming planet can be a matter of timing -- but simply shifting lifecycle stages to match the tempo of climate change has hidden dangers for some animals, according to new research. The study has uncovered drastic consequences for birds that are breeding earlier in lockstep with earlier starts of spring: chicks hatching earlier face increased risk of poor weather conditions, food shortages and mortality. View the full article
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Researchers found that a range of factors affected the fidelity and parenting behavior of plovers, rather than being defined by the species. View the full article
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Scientists have found that although male and female birds have an almost identical set of genes, they function differently in each sex through a mechanism called alternative splicing. View the full article
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Some birds can perform amazing cognitive feats - even though their forebrains seem to just consist of lumps of grey cells, while mammalian forebrains harbour a highly complex neocortex. A study reveals for the first time amazing similarities between the neocortex of mammals and sensory brain areas of birds: both are arranged in horizontal layers and vertical columns. View the full article
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Millions of mummified ibis and birds of prey, sacrificed to the Egyptian gods Horus, Ra or Thoth, have been discovered in the necropolises of the Nile Valley. Such a quantity of mummified birds raises the question of their origin: were they bred, like cats, or were they hunted? According to a team of scientists that carried out extensive geochemical analyses on mummies, they were wild birds. View the full article
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Cat owners fall into five categories in terms of their attitudes to their pets' roaming and hunting, according to a new study. View the full article
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Using the Wood Stork, researchers compared city storks with natural wetland storks to gauge their success in urban environments based on their diet and food opportunities. Results provide evidence of how a wetland species persists and even thrives in an urban environment by switching to human foods like chicken wings and hots dogs when natural marshes are in bad shape. These findings indicate that urban areas can buffer a species from the unpredictability of natural food sources. View the full article
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How do different bird species respond to extreme weather events that occur for different amounts of time, ranging from weekly events like heat waves to seasonal events like drought? And how do traits unique to different species -- for example, how far they migrate or how commonly they occur -- predict their vulnerability to extreme weather? View the full article
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New research finds that brood parasites living in more variable and unpredictable habitats tend to parasitize -- or squat and drop their eggs in -- the nests of a greater variety and number of hosts. View the full article
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Swans display more aggression to fellow swans than other birds, new research shows. View the full article
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Researchers sequenced the genomes of all 18 recognized species of penguin to assemble a family tree, showing that the largest of the penguins - king and emperor - split off from all other penguins not long after penguins arose 22 million years ago in Australia and New Zealand. Other penguins diversified after Drake's Passage opened, revving up the circumpolar current and allowing penguins to spread throughout the southern hemisphere. View the full article
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Bird biodiversity is rapidly declining in the US. The overall bird population decreased by 29% since 1970, while grassland birds declined by an alarming 53%. A new study points to increased use of neonicotinoid insecticides as a major factor in the decline. View the full article
