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Birds

We may see them as pests, but raccoons see humans as ripe for plundering. According to Suzanne MacDonald, they are "the only animal that would break into captivity because they think it’s a better deal."

How Humans Created the Ultimate Superpests

As urbanization continues to push wildlife to the brink, humans may need to reevaluate their role in habitat destruction

An African grey parrot, probably thinking intelligent thoughts.

Unique Brain Circuitry Might Explain Why Parrots Are So Smart

Their bird brains are not bird-brained

Whoooo, me? This surprised owl took first place in the Audubon Photography Awards.

Peep the Stunning Winners of the Audubon Society’s Photo Contest

You’ll want to tweet these.

Killdeer like to nest in wide open spaces in areas with good visibility. This is not the particular killdeer that almost derailed the music festival, but one look into those eyes and you know that it could have if it wanted to.

A Nesting Bird Nearly Derailed a Canadian Music Festival

The brooding killdeer laid its eggs on a patch of cobblestone where the main stage of Ottawa’s Bluesfest was supposed to be set up

Researchers studied delicate hyoid bones, which support and ground the tongue, in fossils like these from Northeast China.

Actually, T. Rex Probably Couldn’t Stick Out Its Tongue

The tongues of bird-like dinosaurs and pterosaurs, however, may have been more mobile

Guam kingfishers tend to incubate for 21 to 23 days. This female emerged from her shell after 22.

This Royally Adorable Baby Kingfisher Perpetuates a Species Extinct in the Wild

A fine soon-to-be-feathered friend joins the menagerie at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

This insect can survive being eaten by birds, researchers have found.

Do Mama Stick Insects Get Eaten to Transport Their Eggs?

This may explain why the insects, who can’t travel far on their own, spread across unconnected lands

Microraptors, dandruff and all.

New Research

Dinosaurs Had Dandruff, Too

Our ancient feathered friends shed skin in a similar way to modern birds and humans

The asteroid didn't just wipe out the dinosaurs—it wiped out the forests. Which meant anything that lived had to learn to live on the ground.

New Research

How the Ancestors of Birds Survived the Dino-Killing Asteroid

Forest cover was crucial to avian evolution, a new study on the mass extinction event asserts

The woman behind the gun

Keeping Feathers Off Hats–and On Birds

A new exhibit examines the fashion that led to the passage, 100 years ago, of the Migratory Bird Act Treaty

Fossil reconstruction and illustration of Ichthyornis dispar.

3-D Scans of Fossil Beaks Show How Modern Birds Came to Be

The early seabird had the sharp teeth of its dinosaur relatives but a bird-like body

Why Birds Flock to This South African Nature Reserve

For sheer biodiversity, it’s hard to top iSimangaliso Wetland Park. A World Heritage Site since 1999, it boasts a wealth of varied species

Giant, Intact Egg of the Extinct Elephant Bird Found in Buffalo Museum

Fewer than 40 such eggs are held in public collections today

Cool Finds

Murder Most Fowl: Forensic Scan Shows the Legendary Oxford Dodo Was Shot

Micro-CT scans shows lead scattered across the back of the skull of what is believed to be the taxidermied remains of the dodo brought to Britain

Creating a phylogeny of all bird life will help researchers map birds' evolutionary relationships and create conservation plans.

New Research

What We Can Learn From a New Bird Tree of Life

Sequencing the DNA of more than 10,000 birds could reveal how best to conserve our feathery friends—and when they evolved from dinosaurs

The Carolina parakeet, so named for the region where it was discovered, was known for its “disagreeable screams” and great beauty.

Why Did the Carolina Parakeet Go Extinct?

It hasn’t been seen for a century. But will the bird species ever fly again?

Meet the Nomad Girl Who Hunts With a Golden Eagle

Aisholpan Nurgaiv is a Kazakh girl trained by her father from childhood to be an eagle huntress and is the star of the award-winning documentary

In the new book North on the Wing from Smithsonian Books, author Bruce Beehler (above left) follows the spring migration of songbirds.

Thirty-Seven Warblers in a Hundred Days

A Smithsonian ornithologist follows the songbird migration north from the Gulf of Mexico. A new book tells his story

Under a blacklight, scorpions put on quite a show.

Puffin Beaks Are Fluorescent, and They’re Not the Only Ones

Scorpions, stick insects and caterpillars are among the many critters that glow under UV light

Sixty-eight percent of meadow pipits have disappeared from the French countryside.

Pesticides Have Led to a ‘Catastrophic’ Decline in France’s Bird Populations

The chemicals have decimated the insects that birds rely on for food

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