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Birds

Emperor penguin chicks huddle for warmth. New research shows that huddling behavior, or aggregation, may vary across penguin colonies.

New Research

Here’s the Latest on Penguins

From invasive “fairies” to huddling chicks, penguins are the perfect pick-me-up

A great reed warbler croons at his breeding grounds in the Netherlands.

New Research

These Birds Spend Winter Practicing Their Love Songs for the Ladies

Some migratory species may spend their time in Africa getting ready to woo mates in the spring

Cool Finds

GoPro-Armed Vultures Capture Lima’s Trash Problems

By sniffing out illegal dumps, the watchful buzzards will hopefully inspire action to clean up the city’s streets

University of Colorado Denver researcher Martin Lockley (right) and Ken Cart pose beside large a dinosaur scrape they discovered in Western Colorado.

New Research

Dinosaurs May Have Dug Trenches to Woo Mates

Ancient grooves discovered in Colorado suggest dinos had bird-like mating rituals

A white stork forages for food at a landfill in Beja, Portugal.

Anthropocene

These Photographs Show the Bleak New Home for the White Stork: A Landfill

Dutch wildlife photographer Jasper Doest followed the path of the white stork’s migration route, forever altered by human activity

New Research

How Do Hardworking Hummingbirds Keep Cool?

Special “windows” in the feathers covering their tiny bodies prevent overheating while hovering and flying

New Research

These Parrots Use Pebbles as Tools to Grind up Seashells

Polly want a mineral supplement?

A female medium ground finch, one of at least 14 species of Darwin’s finches in the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

Age of Humans

Charles Darwin’s Famous Finches Could Be Extinct in Half a Century

The finches on the Galapagos Islands are suffering from a parasitic fly introduced to the islands by humans

New Research

Rainbow Collars Could Help Keep Cats From Wiping Out Birds

This colorful trick may stop Fluffy from murdering local songbirds

Thick-billed murres gathering on Coats Island in the Canadian Arctic. New research is finding that these and other birds are bringing ocean pollution back onto land; the birds eat contaminated fish and poop out the chemicals.

Age of Humans

Seabirds Are Dumping Pollution-Laden Poop Back on Land

Chemicals we’ve poured into the ocean are coming back to sting us thanks to seabirds defecating in their onshore colonies

Screenshot from video "Phantom 3 get kidnapped by two eagles"

Austria

A Drone Encounters Two Eagles, and the Birds Win

A pair of arial predators snatched a photographer’s drone from the skies of Austria

Pepper, the southern boobook. The southern boobook is Australia’s smallest and most common owl. It gets its name from the sound of its hoot.

Bird Watching Has Never Been More Fun

These photos by portraitist Leila Jeffreys are for the birds

New Research

African Vultures Could Go Extinct Within the Next Century

Poachers, poison and collisions with wind turbines are killing these important scavengers

Cebreros station

Cool Finds

Falcons Protect This Deep Space Antenna

Nesting birds and their droppings can keep space scientists’ telescopes from getting a clear signal

The Kirtland's warbler needs humans to cut and replant the trees it nests in. Without this work, the species' painstaking recovery from less than 1,000 males to over 2,000 could be erased.

Age of Humans

This Bird Didn’t Start the Fires, But It May Need Them to Survive

An endangered bird once threatened by humans now relies on us for its survival

New Zealand North Island Robin

New Research

How to Give a Robin an IQ Test

Testing whether individual animals are smarter than others of their species is tricky

New Research

New Proof That Ancient Egyptians Bred Birds of Prey

A recent 3-D scan of a mummified falcon shows it was force fed sparrows and mice

A mother hummingbird in Arizona incubates her eggs under the indirect protection of her neighborhood hawk.

New Research

Hawks Act as Unwitting Muscle for Hummingbirds

In Arizona, hummingbirds seem to deliberately seek out bodyguard hawks to shield them from nest-robbing jays

New Research

90 Percent of Seabirds Have Eaten Plastic

And plastic pollution will threaten even more birds as production grows

The Andean cock-of-the-rock display is known for its unique mating behavior and is a favorite of birders.

Smithsonian Journeys Travel Quarterly: Inca Road

Why Birdwatchers Flock to Ecuador

Home to the highest density of bird species per acre on Earth, the country is a birder’s paradise

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