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Birds

Becoming an expert birder might support brain health, according to a new study.

Becoming an Expert Birder Can Reshape Your Brain and Might Help Protect It From Aging, New Research Suggests

Compared with novices, seasoned birders had denser, more structurally complex brain regions involved with tasks like object identification, visual processing, attention and working memory

The American woodcock has been migrating through the New York City area for, probably, millennia. But in recent years, the bird’s fame has skyrocketed.

These Rotund and ‘Charmingly Goofy’ Birds Are Delighting New Yorkers and Dancing on Social Media. What Is the American Woodcock?

The endearing animals make a pit stop in Bryant Park during their migrations to northern breeding grounds, gathering fans and starring in viral videos

Purple martins are long-distance migrants that nest in human-provided boxes across North America.

Purple Martins Rely on Human ‘Landlords’ to Provide Nest Boxes Each Spring. Can That Dynamic Last?

The large swallows have nested alongside human settlements for centuries. Now, the birds’ breeding success depends on caretakers who are beginning to age out of the role

A regent honeyeater at the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia, which is one of the study sites where the critically endangered birds are being bred

This Critically Endangered Bird’s Song Was About to Disappear. Scientists Saved It by Recruiting Some Wild Vocal Tutors

Wild-born male regent honeyeaters passed their cultural knowledge to young captive-born birds

Participants listened to pairs of mating calls made by numerous creatures, including male green treefrogs.

Humans and Animals Often Like the Same Mating Calls, Supporting a 150-Year-Old Observation by Charles Darwin

New research by Smithsonian scientists suggests that preferences for certain sounds might be evolutionarily conserved

The feathers belonged to birds from four large parrot species, according to researchers.

Humans May Have Transported Live Parrots Over the Andes Mountains Along Sophisticated Trade Routes Before the Rise of the Inca Empire

Archaeologists were puzzled when they found parrot feathers in a pre-Inca burial in coastal Peru. A new study suggests that the birds were captured in the wild and kept alive over lengthy journeys

Scientists tracked the breeding behaviors of king penguins on Possession Island, part of the French-controlled Crozet archipelago.

King Penguins Seem to Be Benefiting From a Warming World. While That’s Good News for Now, It Could Spell Trouble for the Future

The birds are breeding earlier, and more of their chicks are surviving. But researchers fear this success may not last

Even common backyard birds like house finches are disappearing.

North American Bird Losses Are Accelerating. New Research Suggests Fertilizers and Pesticides May Be to Blame

Scientists found the severest changes in decline rates in places that include hallmarks of high-intensity agriculture

One of the birds is known as A1, or ‘Hlow Hoo-let,’ which means “At last I (or we) fly!”

These California Condors Might Be Tending to the Species’ First Egg in the State’s Northern Region in More Than a Century

Experts haven’t confirmed the existence of an egg, but the nesting birds’ behaviors suggest one was laid in early February

Sue the T. rex is one of the largest and most complete skeletons of the species ever discovered. She's housed at the Field Museum in Chicago and was analyzed in this study along with three other specimens.

Like an ‘Eight-Ton Chicken,’ Tyrannosaurus Rex May Have Run on Its Tiptoes to Catch Speedy Prey

A new study suggests that the giant dinosaurs’ locomotion resembled that of modern-day birds

The annual "catastrophic" molt of the emperor penguin makes the birds especially vulnerable to climate change.

Emperor Penguins’ Annual Molt Might Put Them in Peril. The Sea Ice They Rely on During This Vulnerable Period Is Disappearing

The birds’ already risky molting strategy—in which they shed and regrow all their feathers at once—is becoming even more hazardous due to climate change

A reconstruction of Archaeopteryx, including its recently discovered oral papillae, flexible tongue, and bill-tip organ at the end of its beak.  

Scientists Still Have So Much to Learn About Archaeopteryx, the Dinosaur That May Have Flown Like a Bird

A new study suggests features in the prehistoric creature’s mouth helped it eat more efficiently, giving the species the energy needed to go airborne

Bird flu devastated a colony of northern gannets, seabirds almost the size of albatrosses, on Bass Rock in Scotland. Researchers working with the birds are holding onto hope that the breeding population will slowly build the colony back.

After a Devastating Bird Flu Outbreak, Scotland’s Seabirds Are Slowly Recovering—and So Are the Scientists Who Witnessed Their Decline

The world’s largest colony of northern gannets was decimated by bird flu in 2022. Now, as their numbers climb again, researchers are collecting data to understand the virus’ lasting effects

European robins normally live in western Eurasia and parts of North Africa, but this one somehow ended up in Canada.

Bird-Watchers Flock to Montreal to Catch a Glimpse of Canada’s First Known European Robin

Experts don’t know how the little songbird traveled across the Atlantic Ocean

Seabird poop, along with food waste, feathers and carcasses, accumulates as guano, which is prized as a nutrient-rich fertilizer.

Seabird Poop May Have Fueled This Pre-Inca Kingdom’s Rise to Power in South America

The Chincha Kingdom used nutrient-rich seabird guano as fertilizer for maize, according to a new study

The waved albatross.

Why a Marine Ecologist Was Thrilled to See a Critically Endangered Bird Very Far From Home

The farthest north the waved albatross had been seen was Costa Rica, so what was it doing off the coast of California?

Paleontologists have found early examples of theropods, the group that would eventually include tyrannosaurs. But precisely how another group of dinosaurs, known as the bird-hipped ornithischians, evolved remains a major question in paleontology.

An Asteroid Ended the Age of the Dinosaurs. But How Did Their Reign Begin? Mysterious Early Reptiles May Hold the Answer

Researchers are uncovering the evolutionary steps that set the stage for dinosaurs to rule the planet

A polar bear cub walks along the ice in Svalbard, Norway.

See 24 Astounding Images From the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest—and Vote for Your Favorite

The public will choose the winner of the People’s Choice award in a vote that runs from February 4 to March 18

The small dinosaur Patagonykus—one of an odd-looking group called alvarezsaurs—puzzled experts with its stout claws and bird-like bones.

Small, Stubby-Armed Dinosaurs Have Confounded Paleontologists. Are Answers Finally Within Reach?

Recent discoveries about an alvarezsaur called Manipulonyx have drawn renewed attention to this group of bird-like, clawed creatures and the mysteries around their anatomy and behavior

A gentoo penguin peers up from its colony’s nesting grounds on Booth Island, in the Antarctic Peninsula. The species, an adaptable forager that can switch prey when krill are scarce, has expanded into parts of the Antarctic Peninsula that were once too icy to inhabit.

The Penguins That Thrive—and the Ones Left Behind—as Antarctica Warms

A new decade-long study tracked 37 penguin colonies and found that the birds are breeding earlier. The shift marks one way among many that climate change is transforming life at the bottom of the world

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