Birds (class Aves) are a clade of endothermic, egg-laying vertebrates characterized by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, a lightweight but strong skeleton with pneumatic bones, and forelimbs modified as wings. They possess a highly efficient respiratory system with air sacs and unidirectional airflow, a four-chambered heart, and high metabolic rates supporting sustained activity and, in most species, powered flight. Reproduction is oviparous with hard-shelled, calcium-rich eggs and extensive parental care. Birds exhibit diverse morphologies and ecological strategies, yet share key synapomorphies such as feathers and a furcula, reflecting their origin within theropod dinosaurs.
Up to 30% of bird diversity hotspots, places where large numbers of different bird species occur, in the western United States face threats from high-severity wildfires in the future that could eliminate critical forest habitats, ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 18, 2026
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Scientists are sounding the alarm over the spread of bird flu across Antarctica, with a leading Chilean researcher telling AFP Tuesday of an observed strain "capable of killing 100% of infected fauna."
Ecology
Feb 18, 2026
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The value of wetlands on the landscape cannot be overstated—they store and filter water, provide wildlife habitat, cool the atmosphere and sequester carbon. Yet, in the farmland area of Canada's Prairies, wetlands are being ...
Ecology
Feb 17, 2026
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Researchers have found more evidence that microplastics are impacting freshwater wildlife in different countries around the world. A new study, led by the University of Glasgow and published in the journal Environmental Research, ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 17, 2026
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Look at the armpits—or, technically, the "wingpits. That's what Scott Mehus, education director at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha, Minn., told a group of bird watchers recently as they prepared to scan the winter skies ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 17, 2026
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A camera-trap survey conducted throughout 2025 has revealed the bewildering breadth of biodiversity hidden within the Annamite Mountains, a largely unexplored forest haven stretching for 1,100 kilometers through Laos and ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 14, 2026
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Minutes after getting to a park in the middle of Phoenix, you can see flashes of green in the sky and hear chatter because love is in the air—or at least, the lovebirds are.
Plants & Animals
Feb 14, 2026
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Islands are famous for producing some of the world's strangest creatures, and now a new international study shows that the evolution of bird species on Hawaiian islands includes an ibis with unusually small eyes and limited ...
Evolution
Feb 11, 2026
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New research on avian malaria, which has decimated Hawaii's beloved birds, explains how non-native birds play a key role in transmission and contribute to the widespread distribution of the disease. This disease threatens ...
Ecology
Feb 10, 2026
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20
When we think about birds, we often picture their colorful plumage: the iridescence of a peacock's tail or the electric blue flash of a kingfisher. Or we might consider how they use voices, from the song of the nightingale ...
Plants & Animals
Feb 9, 2026
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