Bird ‘Fitbit’ and muscle samples indicate fit fliers

New research on the muscles of black-legged kittiwakes suggests some of the birds are simply better athletes than others.

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birds exercise muscles science-and-technology

Vampire finches: how little birds in the Galápagos evolved to drink blood

Finches have evolved to feed off blood from red-footed and Nazca boobies – and we've seen it first-hand.

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evolution birds natural-selection mutualism darwins-finches parasitism galapagos

Cities can help migrating birds on their way by planting more trees and turning lights off at night

Cities are danger zones for migrating birds, but there are ways to help feathered visitors pass through more safely

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birds migration trees citizen-science parks migratory-birds sustainable-cities light-pollution pavement urban-trees ebird

Vampire finches: how little birds in the Galápagos got a taste for big bird blood

Finches have evolved to feed off blood from red-footed and Nazca boobies – and we've seen it first-hand.

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evolution birds natural-selection mutualism darwins-finches parasitism galapagos

What to feed ducks – according to science

Your local ducks (and other wild birds) will thank you.

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birds food nutrition ducks parks urban-wildlife ponds bread wild-animals

Bird charity warns of harm from new wind farm

The Hornsea Three development lies 75 miles off England's largest sea bird colony in Yorkshire.

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birds wind-power wind-farms rspb hornsea kittiwakes

Forest fires really do benefit spotted owls

Contrary to current perceptions and forest management strategies, wildfires may actually benefit populations of spotted owls.

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conservation birds wildfire forests endangered-species featured earth-and-environment

Dancing starling spectacle solves power cut mystery in Airth

Engineers investigating the unexplained outages found they were caused by murmurations of starlings.

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birds starlings rspb murmurations airth

From permafrost microbes to survivor songbirds – research projects are also victims of COVID-19 pandemic

Three scientists describe the fieldwork they've had to delay in 2020 because of the pandemic. These are setbacks not just for their careers, but for the body of scientific knowledge.

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climate-change covid-19 birds pandemic permafrost microbiology research scientific-research scientists covid-19-pandemic field-research fieldwork svalbard songbirds united-nations-framework-convention-on-climate-change

Flightless birds were more common before human-driven extinctions – new study

Evolution towards flightlessness has been much more common through history than scientists once thought.

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birds extinction bird-flight dodo moa