Birds as a research topic encompass the study of Aves across diverse biological and ecological disciplines, including anatomy, physiology, behavior, evolution, and systematics. Research focuses on adaptations for flight (e.g., lightweight skeletal structure, high metabolic rates, specialized respiratory systems), sensory and cognitive capacities, communication via vocalizations, and complex social and mating systems. Ornithological studies also investigate avian roles in ecosystems as pollinators, seed dispersers, predators, and prey, as well as their biogeography and migration strategies. Birds serve as key model systems in evolutionary biology, speciation, bioacoustics, neurobiology, and conservation science, particularly in the context of habitat alteration and climate change.
Human-driven changes to landscapes worldwide are 'thinning out' the ecological services supplied by wild birds, eroding the functions that support stable and resilient ecosystems.
Plants & Animals
Nov 26, 2025
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Flight is a rare skill in the animal world. Among vertebrates, it evolved only three times: in bats, birds, and the long-extinct pterosaurs. Pterosaurs were the pioneers, taking to the skies more than 220 million years ago, ...
Evolution
Nov 26, 2025
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The male Lady Amherst's pheasant knows how to put on a show when it comes to attracting mates. As well as elaborate courtship displays, they will unfurl their golden feathers to form a cape around their neck, which can prove ...
Earlier this year, a group of researchers published a paper on the remarkable phenomenon of sex reversal in several Australian birds, including wild magpies and kookaburras.
Plants & Animals
Nov 26, 2025
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Making new friends has its challenges, even for birds. Researchers at the University of Cincinnati found that monk parakeets introduced to new birds will "test the waters" with potential friends to avoid increasingly dangerous ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 20, 2025
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For decades, scientists have known that only a few groups of birds—songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds—can learn to produce new sounds. But a new article in The Quarterly Review of Biology reveals that many more birds can ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 19, 2025
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A 30-year "snapshot study" of birds in the Pacific Northwest is showing their surprising resilience in the face of climate change. The project started when School of Biological Sciences Assistant Professor Benjamin Freeman ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 17, 2025
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Since late 2021, a panzootic, or "a pandemic in animals," of highly pathogenic bird flu variant H5N1 has devastated wild birds, agriculture, and mammals. Unlike previous outbreaks, aggressive culling of domestic birds has ...
Veterinary medicine
Nov 13, 2025
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Insectivorous birds found in the understory of the Eastern Himalayas are under threat due to habitat degradation, a new study from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has found.
Plants & Animals
Nov 12, 2025
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A new global study finds that the visual beauty of birds—their colors and shapes—predicts which wild species are traded by people. By analyzing data for over 9000 bird species, researchers discovered that the birds people ...
Plants & Animals
Nov 11, 2025
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