Birds News

December 24, 2024

Top Headlines

Flu Virus Remains Infectious in Refrigerated Raw Milk, Study Reveals

Dec. 13, 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 same influenza virus -- in dairy cattle have ...

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 ...

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 that ...

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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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

New Research Reveals Bird 'Divorce Rates' Linked to Rainfall

Nov. 25, 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 ...

Fowl Play: Why the Hunt for Thanksgiving's Favorite Bird Could Get Tougher

Nov. 27, 2024 — If hunters continue to follow their current strategies and prey continue their same routine, turkeys may become tougher to harvest in the future, according to new ...

How Climate Change Threatens This Iconic Florida Bird

Nov. 25, 2024 — A new analysis of data from a long-term study finds that warmer winters driven by climate change reduced the number of offspring raised annually by the federally threatened Florida scrub-jay by 25% ...

Thanksgiving Special: Dinosaur Drumsticks and the Story of the Turkey Trot

Nov. 20, 2024 — Wings may be the obvious choice when studying the connection between dinosaurs and birds, but a pair of paleontologists prefer drumsticks. That part of the leg, they say, is where fibular reduction ...

Vultures and Artificial Intelligence(s) as Death Detectors: High-Tech Approach for Wildlife Research and Conservation

Nov. 19, 2024 — In order to use remote locations to record and assess the behavior of wildlife and environmental conditions, the GAIA Initiative developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that reliably and ...

Study Challenges Long-Held Theories on How Migratory Birds Navigate

Nov. 19, 2024 — Migratory birds are known for their ability to traverse thousands of kilometres to reach their breeding or wintering grounds. Research found that these birds, in this case, Eurasian reed warblers ...

New Model Can Help Understand Coexistence in Nature

Nov. 18, 2024 — Different species of seabirds can coexist on small, isolated islands despite eating the same kind of fish. A researcher has been involved in developing a mathematical model that can be used to better ...

Biologists Reveal the Genetic 'Switch' Behind Parrot Color Diversity

Nov. 15, 2024 — From the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro to the shoulders of pirates: parrots are synonymous with color for people across the world. In a new study, scientists uncover a 'switch' in the DNA of ...

Biodiversity in the City: Designing Urban Spaces for Humans and Animals

Nov. 15, 2024 — Animals and plants also live and thrive on public squares. This creates opportunities for greater biodiversity and well-being for the human population. Researchers have studied at 103 locations in ...

Backyard Birds Learn from Their New Neighbors When Moving House

Nov. 14, 2024 — Scientists have found a trigger for social learning in wild animals. An experiment on great tits has pinpointed a single factor --immigration -- that can cause birds to pay close attention to others, ...

Stress Is Contagious -- For Animals, Too

Nov. 13, 2024 — What happens to animals when their friends are stressed? Is it possible to document the spread of stress within groups of ...

Bird Brain from the Age of Dinosaurs Reveals Roots of Avian Intelligence

Nov. 13, 2024 — A 'one of a kind' fossil discovery could transform our understanding of how the unique brains and intelligence of modern birds evolved, one of the most enduring mysteries of vertebrate ...

Scarlet Macaw Parents 'Play Favorites,' Purposefully Neglect Younger Chicks

Nov. 8, 2024 — Researchers have discovered that scarlet macaws purposefully neglect feeding the youngest chicks in most broods, even when resources are plentiful. This results in only one or two chicks being able ...

Scientists Find Space-for-Time Substitutions Exaggerate Urban Bird--Habitat Ecological Relationships

Nov. 7, 2024 — A common way ecologists predict population counts may be an unreliable way of forecasting future bird counts in urban areas, meaning scientists may be overestimating and underestimating the losses of ...

Research Reveals How Stormy Conditions Affect Albatrosses' Ability to Feed

Nov. 6, 2024 — Researchers used biologging technology to analyse movements, activity patterns and eating habits of two species of Southern Ocean albatrosses to see how they responded to extreme weather. The study ...

Washington Coast Avian Flu Outbreak Devastated Caspian Terns, Jumped to Seals

Nov. 6, 2024 — An epidemiological study found that 56 percent of a large breeding colony of Caspian terns died from a 2023 outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza at Rat Island in Washington state. ...

Fossil of Huge Terror Bird Offers New Information About Wildlife in South America 12 Million Years Ago

Nov. 4, 2024 — Evolutionary biologists report they have analyzed a fossil of an extinct giant meat-eating bird -- which they say could be the largest known member of its kind -- providing new information about ...

Evolutionary Paths Vastly Differ for Birds, Bats

Nov. 1, 2024 — New research has found that, unlike birds, the evolution of bats' wings and legs is tightly coupled, which may have prevented them from filling as many ecological niches as ...

More Resources Needed to Protect Birds in Germany

Nov. 1, 2024 — Researchers developed citizen science platforms as a new data source to evaluate the effectiveness of the 742 protected areas for birds across Germany. This research shows that although these areas ...

More Social Species Live Longer

Oct. 29, 2024 — New research has revealed that species that are more social live longer and produce offspring for a greater time-span. This is the first study on this topic which spans the animal kingdom, from ...

What Animal Societies Can Teach Us About Aging

Oct. 28, 2024 — Red deer may become less sociable as they grow old to reduce the risk of picking up diseases, while older house sparrows seem to have fewer social interactions as their peers die off, according to ...