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.
A new study, published in the Journal of Raptor Research, reveals that Africa's smallest diurnal bird of prey, the pygmy falcon (Polihierax semitorquatus), operates within one of the smallest breeding home ranges ever recorded ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 26, 2026
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A new study has uncovered a fundamental link between brain size and offspring size, helping to solve a long-standing evolutionary puzzle: Why do birds lay such disproportionately large eggs?
Evolution
Jun 23, 2026
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Drones and artificial intelligence could provide valuable information to guide efforts to slow the alarming extinction rate of birds across the globe, research from The University of Queensland has found.
Plants & Animals
Jun 22, 2026
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Animal pairs engage in mutual signaling by simultaneously performing a diverse repertoire of behaviors. A famous example is the sophisticated dance (mutual displays) performed by bird pairs.
Plants & Animals
Jun 20, 2026
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Birdwatching is one of the most common and popular ways people experience nature. But it's not often that even the most enthusiastic birdwatcher returns to the same place more than 800 times to witness the changes over four ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 17, 2026
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For humans, death is surrounded by culture, emotion, ritual and language. But the question can be framed in a much more basic way: What would an animal have to understand in order to recognize that someone has died?
Plants & Animals
Jun 16, 2026
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It was something infectious disease expert Heather Ferguson never expected to see in her lifetime: a mosquito-borne virus originally from Africa spreading in Scotland.
Ecology
Jun 16, 2026
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101
Few animals put on a show quite like manakins. In the rainforests of Central and South America, males of these small tropical birds, with strikingly bright plumage, often gather at communal display sites (leks), where they ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 14, 2026
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Sealed within an eggshell, how can chicks prepare for the world into which they are about to hatch, with no obvious direct communication channel across the shell? Adult zebra finches produce distinctive high-pitched warning ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 11, 2026
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12
Wind turbines generate climate-friendly electricity, but they can pose a danger to migratory birds. A study led by the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL) published in Nature Sustainability ...
Ecology
Jun 10, 2026
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