https://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Gently holding a blackcap warbler in his palm, ornithologist Christos Barboutis blew on its feathers to reveal the size of its belly: a good indicator of how far the bird can migrate. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-remote-greek-island-migratory-birds.html Ecology Fri, 27 Sep 2024 04:27:09 EDT news646630022 A small team of biologists and animal movement specialists in the Netherlands and the U.K. has found that birds such as the emu have a grounded running style at medium speeds, allowing them to conserve energy compared to the ungrounded running style of other animals such as humans. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-bird-grounded-styles-energy.html Plants & Animals Evolution Thu, 26 Sep 2024 10:18:54 EDT news646564720 Understanding the factors that influence how species select their habitats is crucial to inform conservation strategies, especially for vulnerable species. A new study about how wintering individuals of the Kirtland's Warbler (Setophaga kirtlandii) in the Bahamas use available space and food resources showed that the home range and core area of several populations within this island are tightly linked with the age of the vegetation and the way food resources are distributed in the environment. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-landscape-scale-threatened-bird-species.html Ecology Wed, 25 Sep 2024 12:45:03 EDT news646487097 Reports of H5N1 bird flu outbreaks at California dairy herds are continuing to rise as the nation's largest milk producer scrambles to contain the spread. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-bird-flu-outbreaks-california-dairy.html Veterinary medicine Agriculture Wed, 25 Sep 2024 09:40:02 EDT news646472844 More than 64,000 turkeys at a Merced County poultry operation are being killed after agriculture officials recently discovered they were infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-thousands-turkeys-california-merced-county.html Agriculture Tue, 24 Sep 2024 07:40:01 EDT news646381813 Millions of birds migrate every year to escape winter, but spending time in a warmer climate does not save them energy, according to research by the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB). Using miniaturized loggers implanted in wild blackbirds, scientists recorded detailed measurements of heart rate and body temperature from birds every 30 minutes from fall to the following spring—the first time the physiology of free flying birds has been quantified continuously at this scale over the entire wintering period. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-scientists-quantify-energetic-migratory-lifestyle.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 18 Sep 2024 05:00:01 EDT news645785641 Researchers have discovered that seabirds, including penguins and albatrosses, have highly-sensitive regions in their beaks that could be used to help them find food. This is the first time this ability has been identified in seabirds. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-highly-sensitive-beaks-albatrosses-penguins.html Evolution Ecology Tue, 17 Sep 2024 19:10:01 EDT news645784141 Ducks are still commonly killed with lead shot in England despite a ban and voluntary moves by shooting groups, research published in Environmental Pollution shows. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-ducks-uk-regularly-shot.html Environment Tue, 17 Sep 2024 15:31:03 EDT news645805861 Aotearoa New Zealand is a land of birds, from the smallest of wrens to the mightiest of moa. The ancestors of some species have been here for tens of millions of years, while others arrived only a few million years ago. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-kiwi-moa-immigrants-australia-fossils.html Molecular & Computational biology Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 17 Sep 2024 12:01:04 EDT news645793262 Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany, in collaboration with the Swiss Ornithological Institute in Switzerland and the University of Vienna in Austria, investigated how young golden eagles improve their flight skills as they age. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-golden-eagles-flight-skills-age.html Plants & Animals Ecology Mon, 16 Sep 2024 14:26:31 EDT news645715586 A hawk-eyed photographer has thrilled scientists by snapping a threatened bird of prey in Papua New Guinea, more than five decades since it was last officially documented, the World Wildlife Fund said Friday. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hawk-eyed-snaps-threatened-bird.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 13 Sep 2024 04:33:05 EDT news645420777 For paleontologists who study animals that lived long ago, fossilized remains tell only part of the story of an animal's life. While a well-preserved skeleton can provide hints at what an ancient animal ate or how it moved, irrefutable proof of these behaviors is hard to come by. But sometimes, scientists luck out with extraordinary fossils that preserve something beyond the animal's body. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-paleontologists-fossil-birds-teeth-seeds.html Paleontology & Fossils Tue, 10 Sep 2024 11:00:01 EDT news645176821 Researchers have proposed that the common name for the seabird the "flesh-footed shearwater" should be changed to sable shearwater in a bid to redress its racist origin. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-scientists-bird-problematic.html Plants & Animals Fri, 06 Sep 2024 11:35:12 EDT news644841302 While there is no denying 'survival of the fittest' still reigns supreme in the animal kingdom, a new study shows being smartest—or at least smarter—is pretty important, too. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-chickadee-cognitive-skills-impact-lifespan.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 05 Sep 2024 16:05:03 EDT news644771101 New data summaries from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's eBird platform will help state wildlife planners assess the status of bird populations that live in or pass through their state—a crucial tool in protecting species. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-state-boosts-bird.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 05 Sep 2024 15:50:01 EDT news644769813 In the past two months alone, the flaming carcasses of electrocuted birds have ignited at least three wildfires in Colorado. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-flaming-carcasses-electrocuted-birds-colorado.html Environment Thu, 05 Sep 2024 08:30:02 EDT news644743729 As North America heats up due to climate change, animals are responding in three primary ways: moving north, heading to higher elevations and making phenological changes—adjusting annual cycles such as when they breed. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-birds-shifting-space-adjust-global.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 04 Sep 2024 11:43:04 EDT news644668982 A team of virologists with the U.K.'s Animal and Plant Health Agency, working with colleagues from the British Antarctic Survey, the KEMH Pathology and Food, Water & Environmental Laboratory, and the Department of Agriculture, both in the Falkland Islands, has found that the global spread of the H5N1 avian influenza virus has made its way to multiple bird species in Antarctica. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-h5n1-avian-influenza-virus-multiple.html Ecology Veterinary medicine Wed, 04 Sep 2024 10:00:02 EDT news644662668 Research led by Griffith University reveals how urban areas in Brisbane are losing bird species with characteristics that people find most "aesthetically pleasing." https://phys.org/news/2024-09-melodious-birds-poor-urban.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 03 Sep 2024 12:12:03 EDT news644584321 Ferruginous Hawks (Buteo regalis) that spend their winters in California seem to be going up in number, yet their preferred grassland habitat has been declining for over 20 years. Most other grassland bird species are, sadly, doing the expected: plummeting in tandem with the open areas that used to define much more of western North America. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-hawk-defies-habitat-decline.html Plants & Animals Ecology Tue, 03 Sep 2024 10:25:39 EDT news644577935 Zion National Park is home to a California condor, an endangered bird with a wingspan of more than 9 feet, that soars the same skies she shared with her brother before he died. https://phys.org/news/2024-09-california-condors-zion-national-dies.html Ecology Mon, 02 Sep 2024 08:20:02 EDT news644479882 Have you been to the beach this summer? I took my daughter there the other day and got her a pasty for lunch. She was happily munching it while staring out to sea, back turned to the café where we bought the pasty. Suddenly, there was a flapping of wings behind us and something swooping down. Next thing I knew the pasty was gone, and my daughter was in tears. A seagull had struck and flown off with a free lunch, again. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-seagulls-dont-chips.html Plants & Animals Ecology Sat, 31 Aug 2024 08:20:01 EDT news644224502 A team of biologists in the U.K. and Canada has found that at least one type of bird has its own distinct nest building style. In their study, published in the journal Science, the group conducted a two-year study of nest-building by sparrow weavers in the Kalahari Desert. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-groups-weaver-birds-distinct-styles.html Plants & Animals Ecology Fri, 30 Aug 2024 08:45:31 EDT news644226324 One sheep dribbles, another limps, a third can barely stand: the bluetongue virus is causing havoc for Dutch farmer Erik van Norel, who thought he had seen the back of it. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-bluetongue-anguish-dutch-farmers.html Agriculture Fri, 30 Aug 2024 08:30:01 EDT news644225020 The current strain of avian flu, H5N1, is responsible for the culling of millions of domestic birds and has sickened more than a dozen farmworkers in 2024, most recently in Colorado. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-avian-flu-infected-dairy-cows.html Cell & Microbiology Veterinary medicine Thu, 29 Aug 2024 11:29:07 EDT news644149744 If you live in Australia or New Zealand, the coming of spring is a mixed blessing. The days get warmer. Flowers bloom. Birds nest. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-magpies-magpie-larks-lapwings-swoop.html Plants & Animals Ecology Thu, 29 Aug 2024 11:10:09 EDT news644148605 U.S. wildlife officials beginning next year will drastically scale up efforts to kill invasive barred owls that are crowding out imperiled native owls from West Coast forests, under a plan finalized Wednesday that faces challenges from barred owls returning after they've already been removed. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-invasive-owls-ramp-west-coast.html Ecology Wed, 28 Aug 2024 13:44:27 EDT news644071450 Tropical birds known for their massive bills, hornbills include 32 Asian and 27 African species in the avian family Bucerotidae. Many hornbills have a casque on their upper mandible, which in some species is spectacularly colorful. Many species also share a unique breeding strategy, in which nesting females incubate eggs and raise chicks inside sealed natural tree cavities for up to 100 days, depending entirely on males to bring them food. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-price-implications-international-african-hornbills.html Plants & Animals Ecology Wed, 28 Aug 2024 11:10:01 EDT news644054498 What good are wasps? It's a question we hear all the time. And, let's face it, wasps are routinely demonized. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-wasps-pests-nz-potential-pest.html Ecology Tue, 27 Aug 2024 11:07:03 EDT news643975621 Most fungi need only wind or water to disperse their spores. But some, including truffles, need a little help from animals. https://phys.org/news/2024-08-fruit-fungi-forests-species-loss.html Evolution Ecology Mon, 26 Aug 2024 11:28:00 EDT news643890473