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NY biologists map strategy to save spruce grouse

Genetic analysis at the state museum confirms what biologists squishing through Adirondack bogs already knew: New York's population of the spruce grouse, a chicken-like bird of the boreal forest, is...

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Four-winged dinosaur's feathers were black with iridescent sheen

A team of American and Chinese researchers has revealed the color and detailed feather pattern of Microraptor, a pigeon-sized, four-winged dinosaur that lived about 130 million years ago. The non-avian...

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World's largest natural sound archive now online

(Phys.org)—After 12 years of work, Cornell's Macaulay Library archive, the largest collection of wildlife sounds in the world, is now digitized and fully available online.

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Students capture the flight of birds on very high-speed video

Stanford mechanical engineering professor David Lentink and his students capture slow-motion video from the fastest wings in the bird world, with an eye toward building flying robots that take design...

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Scientist discovers new bird species in Peru's 'cloud forests'

A graduate student at the University of Kansas is the lead author on a recently published description of a new bird species, the Junin Tapaculo, found in the remote Andes Mountains of central Peru.

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Massive southern invasions by northern birds linked to climate shifts

With puzzling variability, vast numbers of birds from Canada's boreal forests migrate hundreds or thousands of miles south from their usual winter range. These so-called irruptions were first noticed...

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Researcher studies communal nesting in birds

Balanced in a small boat on the reedy edge of a Panama lake, Christina Riehl rigged a camera above the nest of a bird called the greater ani, a species of cuckoo that lives in Central and South...

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'Butterbutt' warbler is likely three different species, DNA reveals

One of North America's most beloved songbirds – the yellow-rumped warbler – may need to be considered at least three separate species, says a study published Aug. 24 in The Auk. This discovery...

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Testing the idea that environmental challenges drive the evolution of bigger...

Given how proud we are of our big brains, it's ironic that we haven't yet figured out why we have them. One idea, called the cognitive buffer hypothesis, is that the evolution of large brains is driven...

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A warbler's flashy yellow throat? There are genes for that

Birds get their bright red, orange and yellow plumage from carotenoid pigments—responsible for many of the same bright colours in plants. But how songbirds turn carotenoids into the spectacular variety...

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How light pollution lures birds into urban areas during fall migration

On their fall migration south in the Northern Hemisphere, scores of birds are being lured by artificial light pollution into urban areas that may be an ecological trap, according to the University of...

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Citizen science birding data passes scientific muster

As long as there have been birdwatchers, there have been lists. Birders keep detailed records of the species they've seen and compare these lists with each other as evidence of their accomplishments....

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Geneticists solve long-standing finch beak mystery

Bridgett vonHoldt is best known for her work with dogs and wolves, so she was surprised when a bird biologist pulled her aside and said, "I really think you can help me solve this problem." So she...

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Scientists construct new family tree for perching birds

Scientists have reconstructed the tree of life for all major lineages of perching birds, also known as passerines, a large and diverse group of more than 6,000 species that includes familiar birds like...

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First scientific description of elusive bird illuminates plight of Borneo's...

Scientists with the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and collaborators surveying the birdlife of Borneo have discovered a startling surprise: an undescribed species of bird, which has...

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Twenty-year study tracks a sparrow song that went 'viral' across Canada

Most bird species are slow to change their tune, preferring to stick with tried-and-true songs to defend territories and attract females. Now, with the help of citizen scientists, researchers have...

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Community science birding data does not yet capture global bird trends

Binoculars in hand, birders around the world contribute every day to a massive database of bird sightings worldwide. But while community science observations of birds can be useful data, it may not be...

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Oriole hybridization is a dead end: study

A half-century of controversy over two popular bird species may have finally come to an end. In one corner: the Bullock's Oriole, found in the western half of North America. In the other corner: the...

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Finding rare birds is never a picnic, contrary to popular Patagonia belief

One of birdwatching's most commonly held and colorfully named beliefs, the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect, is more a fun myth than a true phenomenon, Oregon State University research suggests.

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Weird warbler reveals genetics of its mismatched colors

An incredibly rare hybrid warbler with mismatched color patterns has allowed researchers to disentangle the genetic drivers of two traits that usually come as a package deal—the black face mask and the...

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Some birds observed stealing hair from living mammals

Dozens of online videos document an unusual behavior among tufted titmice and their closest bird kin. A bird will land on an unsuspecting mammal and, cautiously and stealthily, pluck out some of its hair.

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Seagrass restoration study shows rapid recovery of ecosystem functions

As the dominant seagrass species on the U.S. West Coast, eelgrass supports a wide range of ecosystem services and functions, making its preservation and restoration a top priority for the region....

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Common arctic finches are all the same species

For birders struggling to figure out what kind of Redpoll they're watching, new research from the University of Colorado Boulder says don't worry—the different species are actually all one and the same.

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Agroforests in the tropics provide key conservation landscapes for amphibians

Although tropical forest ecosystems around the world have been modified and fragmented by agroforests planted to produce commodities such as coffee, rubber and areca palm, amphibian communities can...

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Some nomadic birds look for social cues to stop migrating

Birds of a feather not only flock together but also appear to settle down together.

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Do videos show ivory-billed woodpecker, or is it extinct?

The federal government has been asked to consider at least two videos made in recent years as evidence that ivory-billed woodpeckers may still exist.

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Birdsong reveals rare hybrid coupling 10 million years in the making

In June of 2020, Stephen Gosser, a self-described "diehard birder," was out in the woods of Western Pennsylvania when he thought he heard the song of the elusive and strikingly beautiful scarlet...

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To know where the birds are going, researchers turn to citizen science and...

Computer scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in collaboration with biologists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, recently announced in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution a...

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Crow or raven? New birdsnap app can help

Researchers at Columbia Engineering, led by Computer Science Professor Peter Belhumeur, have taken bird-watching to a new level. Using computer vision and machine learning techniques, they have...

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The surprising key to magpie intelligence: It's not genetic

If you've ever had the pleasure of encountering Australia's iconic magpies, you know these birds are intelligent creatures. With their striking black and white plumage, loud warbling voices and complex...

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