These photos showcase some of the intricately created birds' nests found in the Natural History Museum in Tring, UK, home to one of the world's largest ornithological collections

Eurasian reed warblers don’t just get a sense of direction from Earth’s magnetic field – they can also calculate their coordinates on a mental map

Eurasian reed warblers don’t just get a sense of direction from Earth’s magnetic field – they can also calculate their coordinates on a mental map

In an effort to understand ancient Neanderthal food preparation techniques, researchers butchered five wild birds using flint stone tools and roasted them

Title: Traffic Noise Is (Bad) for the Birds
Category: Health News
Created: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 8/28/2018 12:00:00 AM

New studies suggest smoke from western megafires may be damaging bird health and leading to strange behavior

Here's how the aerial acrobats are able to survive on a nearly all-sugar diet, fly higher than many helicopters can and migrate over the open ocean

Eurasian reed warblers don’t just get a sense of direction from Earth’s magnetic field – they can also calculate their coordinates on a mental map

Pangong lake

Will this season break records for maximum gossip?

A new interactive map of Maximum City plots the flora and fauna of the megapolis

Why writing a book is not that different from becoming a first-generation entrepreneur

Rovio entertainment’s decision to remove Angry Birds from the Google play store is leaving fans disappointed 

The recent Chennai Rains, one marked by the advent of the north east monsoon on October 15, might not have followed the original script, the one penned by weather watching professionals, but it has taken a predictable course in one sense: throwing birds off course. During this period, two birders had unlikely visitors in their neck of the woods — a chestnut winged cuckoo in Pallikaranai and a lesser frigate bird in Perambur

Artist Ragavan Suresh creates scientific watercolour drawings of endemic birds of the Western Ghats, endangered animals, and orchids to draw attention towards conservation

Ranjani Sivakumar’s Birdsong by Birdsong, to be performed in Hyderabad on September 2, explores the relationship between birds and music, sourced from the works of poets and writers

As the world became deafeningly silent during the lockdown, birdsong was the only solace

They are also the friendliest and are not afraid to share space with humans

The Indian Racing Festival, featuring the Indian Racing League and FIA Formula 4 Indian Championships, will begin on August 24 in Chennai

This Endemic Bird Day (May 13), look out for birds that are local to your region, and document them to participate in a nation-wide birding event. City birders share their plans for the day

New research reveals the secret behind the remarkable intelligence of some bird species

Related: Blind cave fish evolved a shrunken brain to save energy

Calling someone “bird brain” used to be considered as an insult. Birds’ brains are very small compared to those of mammals, and what’s more, they lack the heavily wrinkled cerebral cortex, which is characteristic of the human brain, and widely believed to the seat of intelligence. It was, therefore, widely assumed that birds aren’t very clever creatures, but recently this has started to change.

Related: Ravens cooperate with friends not foes

New research shows that frigatebirds can sleep on the wing, with just one or both halves of their brain

When Charles Darwin arrived at the Galápagos Islands in 1839, he had the opportunity to observe the habits of frigatebirds, and marvelled at their graceful flight manoeuvres and their ability to soar up high. “When it sees any object on the surface of the water,” he wrote, “[it] descends from a great height… with the swiftness of an arrow; and at the instant of seizing with its long beak and outstretched neck, the floating morsel, it turns upwards, with extraordinary dexterity, by the aid of its forked tail, and its long, powerful wings.”

Related: Sleepy brains neglect half the world | Mo Costandi

Related: Birds pack more cells into their brains than mammals

Islamabad : Reduced human activities outside due to COVID-19 lockdown has not only contributed to the revival of nature through lowering pollution level and limiting human interference but also provided an opportunity to the migratory birds to fly freely without any threat of poaching.World...

Josh Finlayson of heralded roots-rock outfit Skydiggers joins us to chat about the group's latest album, Let's Get Friendship Right. What started as a project based on the five stages of grief blossomed into something far more expansive and diverse. Finlayson tells us about how the album came to be, the significance of recording at The Tragically Hip's Bathouse Studio, how his creative partnership with bandmate Andy Maize has stayed so strong over the years, and more.

Plus, Mike sat down with Kintaro Akiyama of Toronto's Birds of Bellwoods to discuss how songwriting works in a very democratic group and the evolution of their sound from straightforward folk-rock to incorporating more electronic elements, as evidenced by their new single “Easy." They also talk about the unique Rock the Rink tour, which finds Birds of Bellwoods sharing an audience with Olympic figure skaters like Tessa Virtue, Scott Moir, and Patrick Chan.

Cathy Yan has followed in Patty Jenkins’ footsteps by directing a DC movie.

In a male-dominated industry, the executive says she has not been held back

A part of the system CaO-SiO2–Al2O3–Fe2O3–MgO which is of relevance to iron-ore sintering has been studied in detail. For a bulk composition corresponding to 10.45 wt% CaO, 5.49 wt% MgO, 69.15 wt% Fe2O3, 13.37 wt% Al2O3 and 1.55 wt% SiO2 synthesis runs have been performed in air in the range between 1100 and 1300°C. Products have been characterized using reflected-light microscopy, electron microprobe analysis and diffraction techniques. At 1250°C, an almost phase-pure material with composition Ca2.99Mg2.67Fe3+14.58Fe2+0.77Al4.56Si0.43O36 has been obtained. The compound corresponds to the first Si-containing representative of the M14+6nO20+8n polysomatic series of so-called SFCA phases (Silico-Ferrites of Calcium and Aluminum) with n = 2 and is denoted as SFCA-III. Single-crystal diffraction investigations using synchrotron radiation at the X06DA beamline of the Swiss Light Source revealed that the chemically homogenous sample contained both a triclinic and monoclinic polytype. Basic crystallographic data are as follows: triclinic form: a = 10.3279 (2) Å, b = 10.4340 (2) Å, c = 14.3794 (2) Å, α = 93.4888 (12)°, β = 107.3209 (14)° and γ = 109.6626 (14)°, V = 1370.49 (5) Å3, Z = 2, space group P{overline 1}; monoclinic form: a = 10.3277 (2) Å, b = 27.0134 (4) Å, c = 10.4344 (2) Å, β = 109.668 (2)°, V = 2741.22 (9) Å3, Z = 4, space group P21/n. Structure determination of both modifications was successful using diffraction data from the same allotwinned crystal. A description of the observed polytypism within the framework of OD-theory is presented. Triclinic and monoclinic SFCA-III actually correspond to the two possible maximum degree of order structures based on OD-layers containing three spinel (S) and one pyroxene (P) modules (〈S3P〉). The existence of SFCA-III in industrial iron-ore sinters has yet to be confirmed. Polytypism is likely to occur in other SFCA-members (SFCA, SFCA-I) relevant to sintering as well, but has so far been neglected in the characterization of industrial samples. Our results shed light on this phenomenon and may therefore be also helpful for better interpretation of the powder diffraction patterns that are used for phase analysis of iron-ore sinters.

Scientists from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center at the National Zoo have taken blood samples from thousands of birds and mosquitoes in an effort to track the progress of the West Nile Virus in the eastern United States. Come along in this video as Smithsonian scientists net birds living in downtown Washington, D.C., extract small amounts of blood, and then release them back into the "wild."

The post Video: Common birds in Washington, D.C. are helping Smithsonian scientists track intensity of the West Nile Virus appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Birds do it. Bees do it. And in a laboratory in northern California, scientists using bumblebees recently figured out the best way to measure it--vertical lift!

The post Laboratory tests reveal precise way to measure vertical lift in bumblebees and other small insects and birds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Despite the general perception of exurban development as environmentally preferable to urban sprawl, this is not necessarily correct. Housing development is detrimental for natural bird communities even at low housing levels.

The post Exurban development is changing communities of birds in Eastern Forests appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Smithsonian scientists report fledgling catbirds in suburban habitats are at their most vulnerable stage of life, with almost 80 percent killed by predators before they reach adulthood. Almost half of the deaths were connected to domestic cats.

The post Alarming number of fledgling, suburban catbirds fall prey to domestic cats, study finds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

As researchers investigate the impact of the Burmese python in the Everglades, scientists from the Smithsonian Institution, South Florida Natural Resources Center and the University of Florida examined the snake’s predation of the area’s birds. They found that birds, including endangered species, accounted for 25 percent of the python’s diet in the Everglades.

The post Invasive Burmese pythons are taking a toll on Florida’s native birds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

“Our results support the idea that environmental conditions on tropical non-breeding areas can influence the departure time for spring migration,” said Colin Studds, a postdoctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute's Migratory Bird Center and lead author of the study.

The post Smithsonian scientists find declining rainfall is a major influence for migrating birds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Some--birds called wire-tailed manakins, residents of tropical forests in the Americas--are cooperators as well as competitors. They cooperate, forming alliances for a common cause.

The post Manakins, birds of tropical forests, form alliances for common good appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

For the first time, researchers from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute’s Migratory Bird Center analyzed how songbirds are affected by both general noise and the acoustics of hard human-made surfaces in urban areas.

The post Urban songbirds adjust melodies to adapt to life in the big city, Smithsonian scientists find appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A recent decline in Ovenbirds (Seiurus aurocapilla), a ground-nesting migratory songbird, in forests in the northern Midwest United States is being linked by scientists to a seemingly unlikely culprit: earthworms.

The post Earthworms to blame for decline of Ovenbirds in northern Midwest forests, study reveals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Their research revealed that the types of waterbirds that inhabit urban estuaries are influenced not only by urban development, but also by a far more natural process―rain.

The post Scientists find that rain may not always be a welcome thing to waterbirds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

A new study has unveiled how the tiny hummingbird adapts to flying in heavy rain.

The post Video shows how hummingbirds adjust flight in heavy rain appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Scientists determine there is more to the shape and length of bird bills than just how they “get the worm.”

The post New study determines bill size in birds varies according to climate appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Domestic cats in the United States kill some 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals each year, most of them native mammals like shrews, chipmunks […]

The post Cats kill 2.4 billion birds annually appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Small migratory male birds that winter in a stressful environment age faster than those that winter in a high-quality habitat, according to research stemming from […]

The post Small migratory birds age faster in stressful places, study reveals appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

The black-headed paradise-flycatcher of western and central Africa is a small colorful forest bird that thrives on the flying insects it chases down by swooping, […]

The post These mites should make birds quiver right down to their quills appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Q: Are things getting better or worse for birds in the United States? The 2014 The State of the Birds report provides both encouraging and […]

The post The State of the Birds: FAQs appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

Wetlands Wetlands are one of the habitats to benefit most from conservation. The North American Wetlands Conservation Act has enabled strategic conservation projects covering a […]

The post The State of the Birds: Four critical habitats (videos) appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.

One hundred years after the extinction of the passenger pigeon, the nation’s top bird science and conservation groups have come together to publish The State […]

The post “The State of the Birds” assesses health of nation’s birds appeared first on Smithsonian Insider.