Birds have evolved some very strange features and behaviors in order to woo mates. Birds-of-paradise feathers are a natural vantablack. Bowerbirds build elaborate and colorful nests. And it seems that Costa’s hummingbirds control how females hear the sound of their dives. A pair of researchers at the University of California, Riverside studied six hummingbirds in…
Birds probably know quantum physics better than many humans—it just comes to them innately. To help them navigate long distances across the globe, birds are thought to have proteins in their eyes that could perhaps let them literally see the Earth’s magnetic field, a bit like a natural heads-up display. Two teams of scientists now…
Scientists have discovered a nearly complete skeleton of a baby bird only about the size of a cockroach—perhaps the smallest baby bird fossil ever found from the dinosaur era, according to a new paper. Not everything was big during the time of the dinosaurs. Among the gargantuan beasts were some of the smallest beings you…
There’s nothing quite like the thrill of seeing a rare bird. But not all birds are rare because of their species. Some are common birds that are just… really weird looking. Take this yellow cardinal that has drawn birdwatchers and scientists to Alabama. Reports AL.com: Auburn University biology professor Geoffrey Hill said the cardinal in…
If you’ve seen BBC’s Planet Earth, you may recall of one of its sillier scenes: the superb bird-of-paradise mating dance. A female hops up to a male, who unveils a mane of feathers and puts on a performance like a drunk rendition of “Bohemian Rhapsody” at a karaoke bar. But when the male bird faces…
Birding is the best. It’s Pokémon Go but more unpredictable and real. There are few educational thrills quite like waking up early in the morning and grabbing your binoculars to travel far away, chasing rumors that a rare bird might be pecking at a tree in a graveyard. I’m biased here, but there’s now scientific…
