Fledgling Theories

A tree is a tree

One side effect of our collective global coffee addiction is the transformation of native forest into coffee plantations. But are all coffee plantations created equal? Ho

There and back again: a natural selection tale

We usually think about natural selection making small changes, generation by generation, over long time spans. But during extreme weather events, high mortality means nat

Why did the Sanderling cross the globe?

We might assume it's because the grass is greener on the other side. But this month's study suggests that some migrant Sanderlings headed to the tropics are getting less

Harp ye Gerald angles! Winter means time to practice singing, for birds and people.

'Tis the season for caroling.... and some of us enunciate better than others. On its wintering grounds in Tanzania, the Thrush Nightingale sings an inconsistent, disjoint

Cranes that go bump in the night

Flying is a dangerous business. Birds must dodge trees, powerlines, windows. Anyone who has seen a robin flit at full speed into a dense thicket knows birds have an extra

Birds and cities are like grape juice and paper towels

In TV advertisements, it seems paper towels can always absorb more grape juice.  Are urban areas similarly able to take in more and more introduced bird species? Does thi

If a bird sings in a forest and a microphone hears it, does it still make data?

Studying birds typically involves in-person observation, but with the rapid advance of high quality audio recorders and microphones, bird researchers are finding they can

She ain't heavy, she's my sister

Not all brood parasites are on the hunt for an unsuspecting bird of another species to take advantage of. In fact, there are many bird species who lay the occasional egg

Egg Hunt Arms Race

Is there an evolutionary arms race between birds trying to hide eggs and birds trying to find eggs?  If so, who is racing who? Brood parasites (like many species of Cowbi

Feed the birds, tuppence a bag

Feeding the birds is big business these days, but how has all that food availability affected bird communities? It turns out that your feeder (combined with all your neig

Is that umbrella looking at me? And other concerns of an urban bird

Do birds get used to people walking past?  Today we are talking about whether birds in rural and urban areas differ in how easily they are spooked by passers by, both hum

Antbird Espionage

Specially adapted antbird species can track and follow army-ant swarms in the Ecuadorian forest to take advantage of the arthropods the ants flush from the forest floor.

This little birdie migrated, this little birdie stayed home

No matter where you live, you probably see some bird species that seem to stay put all year long. But did you know these species might still be migrating? Today we're tal

Feathered Fruit Peelers

Does it help or hurt a plant to have birds eat their seeds? Birds can help plants by moving their seeds to new places, but what happens to seeds inside birds’ guts? For s

Your Christmas Bird Count data at work!

Long running, citizen science data collection projects like the Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count and the North American Breeding Bird Survey are more than just a fu

Floods and Plagues, Ticks vs. Tides

For the endangered Saltmarsh Sparrow, nesting is a pick-your-battles endeavour. Nest too far below the high tide line, and you could lose your babies to flooding. Nest to

Fly straight on 'til morning... then what?

Like Peter Pan, migrating birds fly through the night, straight on 'til morning... but then what? Usually as dawn arrives, birds make landfall in suitable stopover habita

Auditory Archive: Yellowhammer dialects across two countries and 100 years

Roughly 100 years ago, some Yellowhammers (Emberiza citrinella) were captured in England and released in New Zealand. They successfully bred there, establishing a new pop

Feathery Chemistry: using isotopes to track migration

Stable isotopes are a pretty hot topic in bird research these days. But what are they, and how are they used? What can isotopes tell us about where and how birds are migr

Spring timing! Can birds adjust to match the arrival of spring? Does it even matter?

As the planet gets warmer and spring comes earlier each year, birds may have to adjust their spring behaviors and migration timing to keep up with the weather! But what h