Bird Flu Is Back in the US. No One Knows What Comes Next
The fast-moving pathogen, which has already invaded Europe, was found in East Coast ducks. The last outbreak that tore through the US killed 50 million birds......»»
Team finds direct evidence of "itinerant breeding" in East Coast shorebird species
Migration and reproduction are two of the most demanding events in a bird's annual cycle, so much so that the vast majority of migratory birds separate the two tasks into different times of the year......»»
Researchers find babbling by zebra finch chicks is important step to memorizing songs
When babies learn to talk or birds learn to sing, the same principle applies: listen and then imitate. This is how the first babble becomes the first word or vocalization. Male zebra finch chicks initially memorize the song of an adult bird. Later, t.....»»
Cut light pollution and treat glass to help migrating birds, say researchers
Spring bird migration has begun. Under cover of darkness, 2.5–3.5 billion birds will fly northward to their breeding grounds in the United States and Canada. According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, now is one of the most important times of yea.....»»
Saturday Citations: Listening to bird dreams, securing qubits, imagining impossible billiards
It's Saturday, which means that in a universe where the arrow of time moves backward, people have to go to work tomorrow. In such a hypothetical universe, Garfield hates Fridays—tough to imagine. This week, we looked at several hundred breaking sci.....»»
Bird Flu Is Spreading in Alarming New Ways
H5N1 has infected cattle across the US and jumped from a mammal to a human for the first time. Experts fear it may someday evolve to spread among humans......»»
What do bird dreams sound like?
For more than 20 years, researchers have known that areas of birds' brains dedicated to singing show neural patterns during sleep akin to the ones they use while awake and singing......»»
Scientists find blue light makes buildings more deadly to migrating birds
Bird collisions with buildings are nothing new, but a new study by scientists at The University of New Mexico sheds light on a potential cause......»»
Four in five bird species cannot tolerate intense human pressures, data show
Currently 14% of the world's 11,000 bird species are threatened with extinction. A new study assessed the populations of bird species across a spectrum of landscapes from pristine habitats to human-dominated environments......»»
Bird flu flare: Cattle in 5 states now positive as Texas egg farm shuts down
The risk to the general public remains low, federal officials say. Enlarge / Chicken eggs are disposed of at a quarantined farm with bird flu in Israel's northern village of Margaliot on January 3, 2022. (credit: Getty | JALAA M.....»»
After 10 years of work, landmark study reveals new "tree of life" for all birds living today
The largest-ever study of bird genomes has produced a remarkably clear picture of the bird family tree. Published in the journal Nature today, our study shows that most of the modern groups of birds first appeared within 5 million years after the ext.....»»
A frozen chunk of genome rewrites our understanding of bird evolution
An enormous meteor spelled doom for most dinosaurs 65 million years ago. But not all. In the aftermath of the extinction event, birds—technically dinosaurs themselves—flourished......»»
Computational tools fuel reconstruction of new and improved bird family tree
An international team of scientists has built the largest and most detailed bird family tree to date—an intricate chart delineating 93 million years of evolutionary relationships between 363 bird species, representing 92% of all bird families......»»
Daily Telescope: A flying telescope gets photobombed by some planets
It's a bird... It's a plane... It's a telescope. Enlarge / The SOFIA telescope. (credit: Chris Johnson) Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a littl.....»»
Cows in Texas and Kansas test positive for highly pathogenic bird flu
The risk to the public is low, and the milk supply is safe. Enlarge (credit: Getty | Peter Cade) Wild migratory birds likely spread a deadly strain of bird flu to dairy cows in Texas and Kansas, state and federal officia.....»»
Solar eclipse could scramble bird behavior
On April 8, the shadow of a total solar eclipse will race across North America. At the same time, researchers from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and partners will be hurrying to measure the impact of daytime darkness on the movements of birds, bats,.....»»
Bird flu: What is it, how does it spread and how can we protect ourselves from it?
There has been an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso's capital. The viral disease, also called avian influenza, killed 441 chickens out of a flock of 641 on a farm......»»
Goat dies of bird flu for first time in US, Minnesota officials say: Why it"s "significant"
Minnesota has reported the U.S.'s first ruminant—a group of animals including cattle, sheep, and goats—to test positive for avian influenza......»»
Bird flu is causing thousands of seal deaths. Scientists aren"t sure how to slow it down
Avian influenza is killing tens of thousands of seals and sea lions in different corners of the world, disrupting ecosystems and flummoxing scientists who don't see a clear way to slow the devastating virus......»»
Q&A: Celebrity owl Flaco"s recent death in NYC highlights how bird strikes with buildings are strikingly common
The recent death of Flaco, a Eurasian eagle owl who escaped from New York City's famed Central Park Zoo last year, brought new attention to the issue of bird strikes: Experts estimate that roughly a billion birds die in the U.S. every year in collisi.....»»
Magpies under siege from climate and man-made noise
The combined impact of climate change and human-generated noise are proving double trouble for wild urban-dwelling bird species, changing their behavior in ways that could threaten their survival......»»