Andean Condors Can Soar 100 Miles Without Flapping
A new study sheds light on just how efficiently the world’s largest soaring bird rides air currents to stay aloft for hours without flapping its wings.
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birds
Coastal Watchdog Orders California Beach Closed to Protect Nesting Birds
Endangered California shorebirds who took advantage of pandemic beach closures to expand their nesting area on a Northern California beach won’t be evicted, the California Coastal Commission announced Wednesday after it reached an agreement with State Parks to keep the beach closed through the fall.
Read moreHummingbirds Able to Perceive Expansive Array of Colors Humans Can Not
Hummingbirds may be largely known for their furiously quick-flapping wings and avid love for sugar, but new research released Monday shows they have earned another claim to fame: an ability to see colors the human eye could only dream of.
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Galapagos Welcomes Six New Darwin’s Flycatcher Chicks
Six little vermilion flycatcher chicks have hatched in the Galapagos Islands, officials said Tuesday, in a boost to the dwindling numbers of the seriously endangered, brilliantly colored songbird.
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Plan to Log in Spotted Owl Habitat Examined by Ninth Circuit Panel
Attorneys sparred over the government’s plan to log trees after wildfire tore through an area designated as critical habitat for spotted owls – leaving behind exactly the type of snags that the threatened birds prefer for nesting and foraging.
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EU Top Court Dings Austria, Finland for Allowing Wild Bird Hunting
Despite their long cultural traditions, Finland and Austria must abolish the practice of bird hunting under an order issued Thursday by the European Court of Justice.
Read moreGolden Conure
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife downgraded the status of the golden conure (Gauruba guarouba), a popular pet bird, from endangered to threatened.
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Bald Eagles, Eaglets Found Nesting in Arms of Arizona Cactus
For the first time in decades, bald eagles have been found nesting in an Arizona saguaro cactus.
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‘Sentinel’ Bird Found to Help Rhinos Evade Poachers
Africa’s red-billed oxpeckers – known as “the rhino’s guard” or Askari wa kifaru in Swahili – truly live up to their indigenous names, according to research published Thursday which found the birds are instrumental in helping black rhinos avoid poachers and other humans.
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Larger Flocks of Whooping Cranes Pose Survival Risks
Fewer wetlands in the Great Plains have contributed to larger flocks of endangered whooping cranes during migration cycles, a phenomenon that could benefit the bird’s recovery or intensify risks from extreme weather and disease outbreaks, according to a study released Thursday.
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Expert Says Trump Rule Could Kill Billions of Birds
At a former open pit copper mine filled with billions of gallons of toxic water, sirens and loud pops from propane cannons echoed off the granite walls to scare away birds so they don’t land.
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Nightingale Wing Spans the Latest Victim of Climate Change
The common nightingale, one of the most well-known and musically enchanting songbirds in the world, have begun to suffer from shorter wing sizes – and climate change may be the culprit.
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Feds Withdraw Protections for California-Nevada Sage Grouse
The Trump administration continued its pattern of rolling back or declining to pursue protections for the greater sage grouse, the iconic bird which has seen its population numbers dwindle across a broad swath of rangeland in the American West.
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Bird Tricks for Surviving Life in the Big City: Have Big Brains or More Babies
If common knowledge says animals with bigger brains are better suited to the complexities of urban environments, then why are there so many pigeons in cities? Research published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution on Tuesday provides evidence for two city survival strategies for birds: bigger brains and breeding often.
Read moreGolden Conure
The American Federation of Aviculture sued Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in federal court for failing to downlist the golden conure, a popular pet bird, from endangered to threatened status.
Read morePipeline Construction
Although Kinder Morgan violated the conditions of a biological opinion and incidental take statement designed to protect a federally protected bird species during its construction of a natural gas pipeline in the Texas Hill Country, a federal court in the state ruled, plaintiffs seeking to prohibit the company from engaging in clearing and construction are still not entitled to a preliminary injunction.
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Threatened Bird
The Center for Biological Diversity sued Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in New Orleans Federal Court for failing to list the wetlands-dwelling eastern black rail as endangered due to loss of habitat.
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Parrots Get Probability, Use Stats to Make Choices: Study
Parrots can learn to choose based on probability, making them the first animal outside of the great ape family that uses statistical modeling in their decision-making process, researchers said Tuesday.
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Half-Century of Data Reveal Fluctuations in Fall Migration of Birds
In recent decades, researchers have found that spring migration of birds occurs earlier and earlier, and a new review of migration data shows that the less-studied fall migration period is also in flux.
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