Science

North American Birds Are Shrinking, Likely a Result of the Warming Climate
December 04, 2019 — A new study found significant declines in bird body sizes after analyzing decades of data collected by Chicago’s Field Museum.
Are Parrots Strategic Eaters—or Just a Bunch of Slobs?
November 21, 2019 — Research confirms that parrots around the world are messy foragers, but some scientists think it could be a strategy to grow tastier fruit.
Florida's Shorebirds Saw a Big Breeding Bump After Hurricane Michael
November 14, 2019 — The hurricane's storm surge created optimal nesting habitat for Snowy Plovers and other beach birds, newly released data show.
Despite Their Tiny Brains, These African Birds Can Form Complex Relationships
November 08, 2019 — A new study finds that Vulturine Guineafowl live in multilevel societies, marking the first time such behavior has been described in avians.
Borneo's Elusive Spectacled Flowerpecker Is No Longer a Mystery
November 08, 2019 — After a decade since its first sighing, the bird has finally been formally described as a new species, but much remains unknown about its ecology.
How Chickens Could Inspire New Treatments for Deafness
November 07, 2019 — Birds can't lose their hearing. So why do we?
The World’s Top Natural History Museums Have a Male Bird Bias
October 23, 2019 — A new study finds that only 40 percent of bird specimens are female, a skew in the biodiversity catalogue that limits ecological research.
Listen to the Loudest Bird Ever Recorded
October 21, 2019 — For female White Bellbirds, hearing a suitor's mating call is like putting her head in the speaker at a rock concert, a new study shows.
These ‘Goth Cardinals’ Don't Breed Like All the Other Birds
October 15, 2019 — Scientists are finally unraveling a 100-year-old mystery about the Phainopepla's unusual nesting behaviors.
North America Has Lost More Than 1 in 4 Birds in Last 50 Years, New Study Says
September 19, 2019 — For the first time, researchers have estimated the volume of total avian loss in the Western Hemisphere—and it’s not just threatened species that are declining. Many backyard favorites are also losing ground.