News tagged with bird island

An extinct species of scops owl has been discovered in Madeira

An international team of scientists, including some from Majorca and the Canary Islands, have described a new type of fossil scops owl, the first extinct bird on the archipelago of Madeira (Portugal). Otus ma ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Mar 23, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Featherweight songbird is a long-distance champ

A tiny songbird weighing just two tablespoons of sugar migrates from the Arctic to Africa and back, a distance of up to 29,000 kilometres (18,000 miles), scientists reported on Wednesday.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Feb 15, 2012 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 5

Scientists use fossil feathers reveal lineage of extinct, flightless ibis

A remarkable first occurred recently at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History when ornithologists Carla Dove and Storrs Olson used 700- to 1,100-year-old feathers from a long extinct species ...

Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

created Nov 22, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Humans not the only ones that pass down abusive behavior

(PhysOrg.com) -- In a recent study published in The Auk, researchers claim they have found evidence that humans are not the only species where child abuse is a socially transmitted behavior.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Aug 10, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 3 | with audio podcast report

Texas wetland restoration could be model for Gulf

(AP) -- Brown pelicans, long-necked egrets, flamingo-like roseate spoonbills and squawking seagulls fly lazily around a Texas Gulf Coast island. Nearby, a toddler-aged wetland seeded with marsh grass completes ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Jun 30, 2011 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Wild animals age too

Until now, the scientific community had assumed that wild animals died before they got old. Now, a Spanish-Mexican research team has for the first time demonstrated ageing in a population of wild birds (Sula ne ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created May 10, 2011 | popularity 4 / 5 (4) | comments 6

100-year-old specimens help determine when avian pox hit Galapagos

A research team from across the United States and Ecuador has pinpointed 1898 as the year the avipoxvirus, or avian pox, hit the Galapagos Islands and started infecting its birds. This estimation is vital ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 13, 2011 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Humans helped vultures colonize the Canary Islands

The Egyptian vulture population of the Canary Islands was established following the arrival of the first human settlers who brought livestock to the islands. A genetic comparison of Iberian and Canarian birds, published in ...

Biology / Evolution

created Dec 13, 2010 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Environmentalists get rare look at island off NY

(AP) -- The classified ad might read: "Island for sale. Gem of a property, teeming with fish and wildlife, only a two-hour drive from nation's largest metro area. Features power plant, sewage treatment. Ripe ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Oct 06, 2010 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Birds Fight Alien Parasites: Darwin's Finches Develop Antibodies to Flies, Pox Virus

(PhysOrg.com) -- Unlike Hawaii and other island groups, no native bird has gone extinct in the Galapagos Islands, although some are in danger. But University of Utah biologists found that finches - the birds ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Jan 06, 2010 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Tropical birds waited for land crossing between North and South America: study

Despite their ability to fly, tropical birds waited until the formation of the land bridge between North and South America to move northward, according to a University of British Columbia study published this ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Dec 09, 2009 | popularity 3.8 / 5 (4) | comments 1

Darwin's mockingbirds DNA research may help species recovery

(PhysOrg.com) -- New research could help protect the future of a rare bird in the Galapagos Islands that was an inspiration for Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, scientists report in a paper ...

Biology / Evolution

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 4 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scientists nail quail mystery

(PhysOrg.com) -- A Massey biology researcher has used DNA analysis to prove quail on Tiritiri Matangi Island are Australian and not remnants of an extinct New Zealand species.

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 23, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Migratory route of Eleonora's falcon revealed for first time

Satellite tracking has allowed a research team to uncover the mysteries of the migration of Eleanora's falcon for the first time. In total, the bird flies more than 9,500 kilometres across the African continent ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 16, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (4) | comments 0

Albatross camera reveals fascinating feeding interaction with killer whale

Scientists from British Antarctic Survey, National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, and Hokkaido University, Japan, have recorded the first observations of how albatrosses feed alongside marine mammals ...

Biology / Plants & Animals

created Oct 07, 2009 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (7) | comments 2