avian
grrlscientist | January 7, 2008tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Clark's Grebe, Aechmorphus clarkii, in the foreground with a Western Grebe, Aechmorphus occidentalis, behind. Both were photographed on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (north end of the Great Salt Lake) in the spring of 2005. Similar birds, but the field marks are straw-yellow bill (Clark's) cf. greenish-yellow bill (Western); white feathering around the eye (Clark's) cf black (Western), and whiter flanks on the Clark's Grebe. This pair of birds was hanging out together, and that was not unusual, making one wonder…
grrlscientist | December 31, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Gull with Reflection.
California Gull, Larus californicus, with reflection -- Great Salt Lake, Antelope Island Causeway, April 2005.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [really large view]
People Hurting Birds
The bald eagle injured when it flew into a utility line in Plumsted last week has died. Don Bonica of Toms River Avian Care in New Jersey had taken the bird in with hopes of rehabilitating it, but the attempt was unsuccessful, he said. "When I went out to take care of it this morning, it was dead," Bonica said. The bird…
grrlscientist | December 24, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Male Broad-billed Hummingbird, Cynanthus latirostris, with a pollen cap.
Image: Greg Scott [wallpaper size].
Birds in Science
A new research paper shows that female blue tits use plumage color to clue in males of the species to their genetic quality: the brighter their blue cap coloring and their yellow collar coloring, the better mothers they make.
Some birds nesting in the central and eastern United States have moved their range over a hundred miles farther north in less than three decades. Scientists at…
grrlscientist | December 17, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Male Broad-billed Hummingbird, Cynanthus latirostris.
Image: Greg Scott [MUCH larger view].
Birds in Science
A new study by the University of Exeter, UK has revealed that stressed out birds are more likely to take risks than their relaxed counterparts. The research team selectively bred zebra finches to create "laid-back", "normal", and "stressed" groups of birds. These groups differ by their levels of stress hormone, which in birds is corticosterone. The research team observed the behavioral strategies of birds to…
grrlscientist | December 10, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Winter in NYC means the return of migratory White-throated Sparrows, Zonotrichia albicollis (this bird is in its first winter plumage). There are thousands of these birds in Central Park and in the other parks here, subsisting on grass seeds along with crumbs and other foods that people give them.
Image: Kevin T. Karlson [larger view].
Birds in Science
Divers exploring a water-filled sinkhole in the Bahama Islands recently recovered one of the world's largest and most pristinely preserved collections of animal and…
grrlscientist | December 3, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
A brown pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, relaxes on a people-watching and photography trip at the Port Aransas Birding Center, Texas.
Image: Scott Lewis [MUCH larger view].
Birds in Science
A £200,000 study into what happens when people hear birdsong is taking off. Researchers at Aberdeen University in Great Britain will spend two years listening to birds to find out how their songs, calls and cries become a part of people's lives. "Listening to birds: an anthropological approach to bird sounds" has received…
grrlscientist | November 26, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Swainson's Hawk, Buteo swainsoni, in flight.
Image: Justawriter [wallpaper size].
People Hurting Birds
An extremely rare lesser spotted eagle, shot earlier this year by dumbass human hunters on the island of Malta, has been saved from death but may never be able to return to the wild. The bird, nicknamed Sigmar after Germany's environmental minister, underwent three operations to repair damage it suffered after being shot, but it may not be enough for the bird to live in the wild again. The bird can feed itself and…
grrlscientist | November 19, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Black-necked weaver, Ploceus nigricollis.
Image: Basia Kruszewska, author of India Ink. [Wallpaper size]
Birds in Research
A native Hawaiian bird has surprised researchers with its ability to survive malaria, apparently thanks to a number of resistant populations that have spread throughout the Hawaiian forest. The discovery hints that genes for natural resistance to the avian disease may lurk inside the genomes of many of Hawaii's endangered birds. Two years ago, researchers reported that one species, the amakihi,…
grrlscientist | November 12, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Song sparrow, Melospiza melodia.
Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU. [larger size].
Birds in Science
Dinosaurs like Velociraptors had one of the most efficient respiratory systems of all animals, similar to that of modern diving birds like penguins, fossil evidence shows. The bipedal meat-eaters, the therapods, had air sacs ventilated by tiny bones that moved the ribcage up and down. "Finding these structures in modern birds and their extinct dinosaur ancestors suggests that these running dinosaurs had an efficient respiratory…
grrlscientist | November 5, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Lesser flamingo, Phoenicopterus minor, in flight.
Lake Natron in Tanzania, Africa, is the only site in East Africa where Lesser Flamingos reliably breed.
Image: James Warwick[wallpaper size].
Birds in Science
The changing of the seasons finds millions of birds migrating over thousands of kilometres. How they find their way is a question that has perplexed biologists for decades. It is known that birds have built-in compasses attuned to the Earth's magnetic field. But how those compasses work and what they are made of…
grrlscientist | October 29, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Falconer Geoff Clayton with eight-year-old golden eagle Shirko as they attend the Inter-Governmental Conference on Migratory Birds of Prey in Loch Lomond.
Image: PA [larger view]
Birds in Science
The ability to ramp up testosterone levels drives certain male sparrows to mate, but also makes them bad dads, a new study suggests. Researchers had thought that the total amount of testosterone might determine the mating habits and aggressive tendencies of male dark-eyed juncos, a type of sparrow. But the new study of juncos…
grrlscientist | October 22, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
A pair of Moluccan Red Lories, Eos bornea rothschildi (upper right and lower left (upside down)), and a pair of Rainbow Lorikeet, Trichoglossus haematodus haematodus (center; one bird is hanging upside down), near the north coast of Seram, Indonesia.
Image: Kevin Sharp [wallpaper size].
Birds in Science
The ability to ramp up testosterone levels drives certain male sparrows to mate, but also makes them bad dads, a new study suggests. Researchers had thought that the total amount of testosterone might determine the…
laelaps | October 16, 2007
Some of you may have noticed some changes to the front page of Sb and some new photos in the category sections, and I'm proud to say that one of my photos made the cut for this week under the Life Science section. Hence, I've decided to post the "full" version of the photo here. In case anyone's unfamiliar with the animal, it's an Indian Peafowl, Pavo cristatus, although not everyone could merely enjoy the aesthetics of the striking display of the male bird. Writing to Asa Gray, Charles Darwin once related;
...I remember well the time when the thought of the eye made me cold all over, but I…
grrlscientist | October 15, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Male SincoraÌ Antwren,
Formicivora grantsaui.
Potentially a new bird species that was recently discovered in Brazil.
Image: Sidnei Sampaio. [larger view].
Birds in Science
When male birds know they're about to get it on, that action is more likely to spawn a bigger brood of eggs compared to spontaneous copulation, a new study finds. Previous studies have shown that when two male birds mate with a female in a competition to pass on their genetic material, they end in a draw and both become fathers to an equal number…
grrlscientist | October 8, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Can anyone out there identify these mysterious birds? I have no information about the birds, such as location, but several experts are already proposing their guesses (one thinks it's a Chough, another one disagrees). Several ornithologists think these birds are captives rather than wild birds. [larger view].
Birds in Science
Urban birds are regular tough guys compared to their country cousins. The avian urbanites adapt to changing environments and noisy, crowded habitats, a new study shows. Birds that hang out on…
grrlscientist | October 1, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Back from the brink:
The endangered Rimatara lorikeet or Kuhl's lory, Vini kuhlii,
has been successfully reintroduced to Ätiu.
Image: Phil Bender.
Birds in Science
Migrating birds, it seems, can "see" the Earth's magnetic field which they use as a compass to guide them around the globe. Specialized neurons in the eye, sensitive to magnetic direction, have been shown for the first time to connect via a specific brain pathway to an area in the forebrain of birds responsible for vision, German researchers said on…
grrlscientist | September 12, 2007tags: birds, "white" American Robin, Turdus migratorius, Image of the Day
"White" American Robin, Turdus migratorius, on a sidewalk in Casper, Wyoming.
Image: Norma Brown. [wallpaper size].
I am going to speculate here, but I think that, because this bird is pale colored everywhere it would normally be brown, grey or black, this bird's melanin-producing gene(s) have been deactivated. However, because the bird's breast is red, as is typical for this species, carotenoids (red pigments obtained from the bird's diet) are still being added to the bird's feathers when they are growing, as normal…
grrlscientist | September 11, 2007I promised that I would post the link to the interview with Irene Pepperberg by All Things Considered, so here it is. It also includes a streaming version [3:53]
grrlscientist | September 10, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Clark's Grebe, Aechmorphus clarkii, in the foreground with a Western Grebe, Aechmorphus occidentalis, behind. Both were photographed on the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge (north end of the Great Salt Lake) in the spring of 2005. Similar birds, but the field marks are straw-yellow bill (Clark's) cf. greenish-yellow bill (Western); white feathering around the eye (Clark's) cf black (Western), and whiter flanks on the Clark's Grebe. This pair of birds was hanging out together, and that was not unusual, making one wonder…
grrlscientist | September 3, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Among the animals Darwin spotted on the Galapagos Islands were the blue-footed boobies, Sula nebouxii excisa. The males show off their blue feet to potential mates with high-stepping dances.
Image: Stephen C. Quinn, AMNH. [larger].
Birds in Science
A new study published in the leading ornithological journal Ibis has uncovered that for the vast majority of bird species, there are more males than females. The discovery suggests that populations of many of the world's threatened birds could therefore be overestimated,…