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.
An analysis of two theropod dinosaur fossils has shown that they had a type of carpal bone (pisiform) in their wrists—a bone considered important to flight in birds.
Evolution
Jul 9, 2025
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417
Unlike most other bird species, the brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) lays its eggs in the nests of other bird species and leaves the host to raise its young—a behavior known as brood parasitism. To become a successful ...
Researchers at the Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute at Columbia University discovered that hippocampal place cells in black-capped chickadees fire when the bird merely gazes at a distant location, revealing a unified ...
Attention would-be warbler watchers and pigeon peepers: Ornithologists at UCLA and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County are recruiting volunteers for Project Phoenix, a multi-year citizen science initiative investigating ...
Plants & Animals
Jul 2, 2025
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121
The formerly endangered peregrine falcon produced a bumper crop of at least 23 juveniles this year in the Pittsburgh region.
Plants & Animals
Jun 30, 2025
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39
Whether you feed bread to ducks at the local pond or hang a bird feeder on your back porch, the food you're offering wild birds plays a role in their ability to tolerate infection. New research from the University of Arkansas ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 25, 2025
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98
A study focused on protecting Scotland's capercaillie population by managing predators through non-lethal means has seen brood numbers double in target areas.
Plants & Animals
Jun 25, 2025
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61
Climate change and habitat loss could cause more than 500 bird species to go extinct in the next 100 years, researchers from the University of Reading have found.
Plants & Animals
Jun 24, 2025
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103
The osprey population on the Eastern Shore of Virginia has dropped to just 18 birds, and scientists at Williams & Mary's Center for Conservation Biology say it's a sign of an "early complete collapse" of the species.
Plants & Animals
Jun 23, 2025
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134
Sour foods are often avoided by mammals, but many birds regularly feed on highly acidic fruits. Evolution has provided them with a clever strategy to eat extremely acidic fruit.
Evolution
Jun 20, 2025
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95
