birds

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Bird Culture Innate: Study
 Bird Culture Innate: Study 

May 4, 2009 2:46 AM CDT

Bird Culture Innate: Study

Isolated finches develop the same song over time

(Newser) - DNA may carry the blueprint for culture, a study of zebra finches has revealed. When raised in isolation, the birds' complex mating song—usually taught by male elders—develops into a harsh clamor. But as their offspring learn the song, they tweak it slightly and recreate the melody within a...

Scientists: Parrots Groove to the Beat

(Newser) - Yes, it's an actual study: Parrots can dance. Really and truly dance. A painstaking review of lab video—and YouTube—revealed that the birds have rhythm, the Boston Globe reports. Frame-by-frame analysis of birds’ motion to music shows that they bob and weave in perfect sync to a beat, a...

All Flu Is Bird Flu: Scientists
 All Flu Is Bird Flu: Scientists 
ANALYSIS
Apr 28, 2009 3:44 PM CDT

All Flu Is Bird Flu: Scientists

... even swine flu

(Newser) - People, pigs, and birds aren’t alone in their influenza woes. Horses, whales, and seals catch the virus, but scientists think all flu is actually avian flu, explains Brian Palmer in Slate. Birds carry each of the 144 types of influenza, which is able to jump species by mutating to...

$40K Reward Offered for Condor Shooter

Green groups hire private eye to probe California attack

(Newser) - Environmental groups probing the shotgun shooting of two California condors have hired a private eye and raised $40,500 in reward money for information leading to the culprits, the Los Angeles Times reports. The condors—two of just 81 in California and 322 in the world—were found last month...

Female Finches 'Pick' Sex of Chicks

(Newser) - The female Gouldian finch can control the sex of her egg to produce the strongest possible offspring, the BBC reports. The species comes in two head colors, red and black, and same-color mates are more compatible. If a female finds herself with a different color mate, her offspring will be...

A Third of America's Bird Species in Trouble

Development sending large numbers of native species into decline

(Newser) - Almost a third of America's bird species are in peril from habitat destruction and other threats, according to a federal report released yesterday. The study, which may spur the Obama administration to increase regulation in some areas to protect the animals, found that  67 of America's over 800 bird species...

Fossil Discovery Hints Dinos Were Warm and Fuzzy

Feathers may have arisen with the earliest dinosaurs

(Newser) - The evolutionary history of feathers just got a whole lot fuzzier, reports the BBC. A 130-million-year-old fossil has been found in China with “protofeathers,” leading scientists to believe that one of the two main families of dinosaurs—previously thought to have had scaly hides—may in fact have...

Songbirds Faster Than We Thought

(Newser) - Researchers have tracked the migratory paths of songbirds for the first time, using small data-gathering “backpacks,” the Washington Post reports. The avian wanderers, who are so small they cannot be tagged with transmitters, move about 3 times as a fast as previously thought. The recovered data shows that...

Feds Find Birds in Both Engines

Investigation confirms pilot's story in Hudson River crash

(Newser) - Federal safety officials say they've confirmed that there were birds in both engines of the US Airways airliner that landed safely in the Hudson River last month. Remains from both engines have been sent to Washington's Smithsonian Institution to have the particular bird species identified. Officials added that an engine...

Black Box Reveals Both Engines Failed

Investigators postpone search for missing engine

(Newser) - Both engines on the airplane that crashed into the Hudson River last week lost power simultaneously at 3,200 feet, a clue from black box recorders for investigators still searching for the missing left engine, AP reports. Tugboats have begun hauling wreckage to New Jersey where it will be examined...

NY Crash Is Sign That Bird Strikes Are Soaring

(Newser) - Yesterday’s US Airways crash is just the most high-profile illustration of the growing problem of bird strikes, Time reports. Such run-ins quadrupled from 1,759 in 1990 to 7,666 in 2007. The problem, ironically, may be improving technology: Most jets now have two engines rather than four, leaving...

Calif. Pelicans Hit by Mystery Illness

Experts puzzled as dying birds turn up miles from coastal home

(Newser) - A mystery disease causing disoriented pelicans to crash to earth in unusual locations near the California coast has wildlife experts stumped, reports the Los Angeles Times. Bruised and fatigued birds are being found on highways and in backyards far from their usual seaside haunts. Some appear to be dying, but...

Sorry, Chicken; Fossil Proves Egg Came First

(Newser) - The contents of a fossilized dinosaur nest may help resolve the age-old chicken-and-egg question, LiveScience reports. That birds evolved from dinosaurs is no secret, but the new discovery shows that the pointy-ended bird egg developed before the bird itself, paleontologists say. The nest is believed to have belonged to one...

Cops Tase, Kill Renegade Emu
 Cops Tase, Kill Renegade Emu 
Sep 3, 2008 1:31 PM CDT

Cops Tase, Kill Renegade Emu

Bird dies after state troopers are forced to tase it

(Newser) - An Emu ran wild on the Pennsylvania Turnpike for two hours Monday and died after state troopers used a taser on it, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. Motorists said the bird ran up and down the shoulder of the road until getting stuck in traffic lanes with high barriers on either...

Crows Recognize Human Faces: Study

Birds distinguished friendly and unfriendly masks, squawked at perceived foe

(Newser) - If you ever offend a crow, don’t expect it to forgive and forget. University of Washington researchers found that the birds recognize human faces long after an encounter, the New York Times reports. Participants wore specific masks when they captured campus crows; after their release, the birds angrily scolded...

Rising Seas to Swallow Reserve
 Rising Seas to Swallow Reserve
Aug 25, 2008 1:46 PM CDT

Rising Seas to Swallow Reserve

Caretakers forced to retreat before rising waters

(Newser) - A portion of a major UK nature reserve is being abandoned to the rising tides, the Independent reports. In the face of eroding sea defenses, Titchwell Marsh has decided to make a “managed retreat” inland, giving up much on a substantial portion of the birdwatching hotspot. “The erosion...

Doom Looms for Spotted Owl
 Doom Looms for Spotted Owl
Aug 14, 2008 3:01 AM CDT

Doom Looms for Spotted Owl

Invasion of aggressive Eastern owl threatens controversial bird

(Newser) - The outlook appears bleak for America's most controversial bird, reports the Seattle Times. Despite logging bans in huge swathes of old-growth forests initiated 14 years ago to protect the northern spotted owl, researchers have discovered its numbers have dropped by nearly half. The decline is blamed on pre-1994 habitat loss...

'One in a Million' Conjoined Birds Found in Arkansas

Pair dies after landowner rescues them fallen from tree

(Newser) - A pair of barn swallows born joined at the hip are being sent to the Smithsonian Institute for study, the AP reports. An Arkansas landowner found them fallen out of a tree this week and kept them for a day, but they refused to eat and died. Conjoined birds are...

Study Rewrites Birds' Family Tree

DNA research reveals new information about bird relations

(Newser) - A five-year study of bird DNA is turning the world of ornithology on its head. The study revealed such drastic new information about the evolution of birds that dozens will need new scientific names, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Notable finds: Falcons are not related to hawks or eagles; hummingbirds—colorful...

Condors Pulled From Calif. Fires

Calif. wildlife group moves to protect rare birds

(Newser) - Wildfires in Northern California spurred the rescue of eight California condors from their Monterey County refuge, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The unusual operation was performed by a US Coast Guard helicopter crew after a wildlife organization said that the fires threatened the condor sanctuary. The birds were taken to...

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