Birds News

February 18, 2025

Top Headlines

Feb. 18, 2025 — New esearch shows Aotearoa has been increasingly accepting new bird species from around the world since the start of the Ice Age, offering clues into future migration ...

Female Hoverflies Beat Males on Long-Distance Migrations

Feb. 11, 2025 — Male hoverflies are outflown by females when it comes to long-distance migration, research ...

ChatGPT for Birdsong May Shed Light on How Language Is Wired in the Human Brain

Feb. 12, 2025 — Just like ChatGPT and other generative language models train on human texts to create grammatically correct sentences, a new modeling method trains on recordings of birds to create accurate ...

Masquerading Moth Deploys Unique Optical Tricks to Evade Predators

Feb. 12, 2025 — Scientists have described a nocturnal moth's unique evolutionary trick in replicating the appearance of 3D leaf, with potential applications for the development of advanced camouflage materials and ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:14pm EST

Birds-of-Paradise Are Biofluorescent

Feb. 11, 2025 — New research reports, for the first time, the widespread occurrence of biofluorescence in birds-of-paradise. The study, based on specimens collected since the 1800s, finds biofluorescence in 37 of ...

Cold Temperatures Promote Spread of a Bird Pink Eye Pathogen at Winter Feeders

Feb. 11, 2025 — A recent study by two biological science researchers found that a pathogen for bird pink eye remained viable on bird feeders in winter months much ...

Cretaceous Fossil from Antarctica Reveals Earliest Modern Bird

Feb. 5, 2025 — Sixty-six million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, an asteroid impact near the Yucat n Peninsula of Mexico triggered the extinction of all known non-bird dinosaurs. But for the early ...

Wildlife Camera Surveys Reveal the Conservation Importance of Habitat Transition Zones

Jan. 22, 2025 — Globally, tropical rain forests are among the most species-rich habitats and are therefore often prioritized in conservation efforts. A team of ...

Antibody Treatment Prevents Severe Bird Flu in Monkeys

Jan. 30, 2025 — The antibody targets a stable part of the bird flu virus, ensuring that the immune protection can resist new variants and offer long-term protection against the globally spreading airborne ...

Protecting the Plains: Conserving Prairie Dogs Will Revitalize North America's Grasslands

Jan. 29, 2025 — Researchers have identified priority areas for conserving the black-tailed prairie dog in the United States. Protecting these regions will also ...

Empty Headed? Largest Study of Its Kind Proves 'Bird Brain' Is a Misnomer

Jan. 21, 2025 — It's difficult to know what birds 'think' when they fly, but scientists in are getting some remarkable new insights by looking inside birds' heads. Evolutionary biologists and neuroscience ...

Super Enzyme That Regulates Testosterone Levels in Males Discovered in 'Crazy' Bird Species

Jan. 23, 2025 — A single gene that regulates testosterone levels in a 'crazy' species of shore bird controls the development of three wildly different types of ...

Fossil Discovery in the Geiseltal Collection: Researchers Identify Unique Bird Skull

Jan. 22, 2025 — Around 45 million years ago, a 4.6 feet-tall (1.40 meters) flightless bird called Diatryma roamed the Geiseltal region in southern Saxony-Anhalt. An ...

Little Birds, Little Poops, Little Food Safety Risk

Jan. 21, 2025 — Smaller poops from smaller birds carry very low risk of foodborne pathogens on farms, finds a new ...

Cavity-Nesting Birds Decorate With Snake Skin to Deter Predators

Jan. 16, 2025 — When a bird drapes its nest with snake skin, it isn't just making an interesting decor choice. Researchers find that for some birds, it keeps predators at ...

Songbirds Socialize on the Wing During Migration

Jan. 15, 2025 — Evidence from over 18,300 hours of recorded flight calls suggests songbirds may 'talk' to other species as they migrate, forming social connections and -- just maybe -- exchanging ...

Bird Flu Is Mutating, but Antivirals Still Work

Jan. 15, 2025 — Researchers have identified nine mutations in a bird flu strain from a person in Texas. Bad news: this strain is more capable of causing disease and replicates better in the brain. Good news: ...

Polygamy Is (Not) for the Birds

Jan. 13, 2025 — Researchers have uncovered new insights into the evolution of bird behavior, revealing why certain mating systems persist while others disappear over ...

Why Do Birds Make So Many Different Sounds? A Study Gets at the Underlying Factors

Jan. 8, 2025 — Researchers conducted a global study of the factors that influence bird sounds, using more than 100,000 audio recordings from around the ...

Bats Surf Storm Fronts During Continental Migration

Jan. 2, 2025 — Birds are the undisputed champions of epic travel -- but they are not the only long-haul fliers. A handful of bats are known to travel thousands of kilometers in continental migrations across North ...

New Study Finds Marine Animals Save Energy by Swimming in a Depth 'Sweet Spot'

Dec. 16, 2024 — Researchers have found that marine animals across mammals, birds and reptiles swim at similar relative depths when traveling and not feeding to save ...

Flu Virus Remains Infectious in Refrigerated Raw Milk, Study Reveals

Dec. 16, 2024 — Influenza or flu virus remains infectious in refrigerated raw milk for up to five days, according to a new study. The findings come at a time when outbreaks of bird flu -- a different subtype of the ...

Barn Swallow Research Offers Real-Time Insight on How New Species Form

Dec. 12, 2024 — In a new study, scientists describe how different traits used to choose mates in barn swallow populations are driving the bird to diverge, which could eventually lead to the formation of new ...

Surveys Show Full Scale of Massive Die-Off of Common Murres Following the 'Warm Blob' in the Pacific Ocean

Dec. 12, 2024 — Colony surveys of common murres, an Alaskan seabird, show the full effects of the 2014-16 marine heat wave known as 'the blob.' Analysis of 13 colonies surveyed between 2008 and 2022 finds ...

Once-Endangered Kirtland's Warblers Show Extensive Signs of Inbreeding in Genome

Dec. 10, 2024 — The genome of a once-endangered songbird shows extensive signs of inbreeding, according to a new study. Because inbreeding can negatively impact survival and reproduction, the results could guide ...

Wild Birds' Gut Microbiome Linked With Its Ornamentation and Body Condition

Dec. 10, 2024 — Researchers spent five years studying the gut microbiomes of Northern cardinals, a common backyard songbird known for its vivid red plumage. Their study explores how microbiome diversity impacts the ...

Virtual Fences Are a Pollinator-Friendly Option for Ranchlands

Dec. 9, 2024 — Fences are an effective stationary method of corralling livestock, but their sharp borders can create sudden changes in native grassland vegetation and the pollinators and birds that live there. ...

Single Mutation in H5N1 Influenza Surface Protein Could Enable Easier Human Infection

Dec. 6, 2024 — A single modification in the protein found on the surface of the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 influenza virus currently circulating in U.S. dairy cows could allow for easier ...

Bird-Inspired Drone Can Jump for Take-Off

Dec. 6, 2024 — Researchers have built a drone that can walk, hop, and jump into flight with the aid of birdlike legs, greatly expanding the range of potential environments accessible to unmanned aerial ...

Scientists Identify Mutation That Could Facilitate H5N1 'Bird Flu' Virus Infection and Potential Transmission in Humans

Dec. 5, 2024 — Avian influenza viruses typically require several mutations to adapt and spread among humans, but what happens when just one change can increase the risk of becoming a pandemic virus? A recent study ...

Island Biodiversity Rides on the Wings of Birds

Dec. 3, 2024 — Bird wing shape -- a proxy for long-distance flying ability, or dispersal -- is a trait that influences biodiversity patterns on islands around the world, according to ...

Backyard Chickens Are Here to Stay

Dec. 3, 2024 — Chickens have been a mainstay in Australian backyards for generations. New research reveals that owners see their chickens as a blend between pet and livestock as well as a trustworthy source of ...

New Research Reveals Bird 'Divorce Rates' Linked to Rainfall

Nov. 28, 2024 — A 16-year study on a closed population of Seychelles warblers (Acrocephalus sechellensis) on Cousin Island, Seychelles, has uncovered significant findings about how environmental factors -- ...

Discovering the Traits of Extinct Birds

Nov. 27, 2024 — Analysis of 216 extinct species by biologists found birds endemic to islands, occupied ecologically specific niche, lacking flight, with large bodies and sharply angled wings were the ones likely to ...