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Crop - Reconstruction of the Haast?s eagle (Artist: Katrina Kenny)

Extinct New Zealand bird hunted like an eagle and ate like a vulture

1 December 2021

The Haast’s eagle had a beak and talons suited for capturing live prey, but its skull was adapted for ripping out organs


common waxbills

Red feathers determine which common waxbill is the boss

3 November 2021

For a songbird called the common waxbill, dominance isn't governed by body size, intelligence, or even temperament, but by the intensity of the colours in their chest feathers


Wild cockatoos make utensils out of tree branches to open fruit pits

Wild cockatoos make utensils out of tree branches to open fruit pits

31 August 2021

In Indonesia, Goffin’s cockatoos have been seen whittling tools such as wedges and scoops that help them break into the pits of sea mangoes


Acorn Woodpeckers

Male woodpeckers that share mates with brothers live longer lives

17 August 2021

Male acorn woodpeckers that share mates with their brothers live longer lives, have better quality homes and father more baby woodpeckers than those that choose a monogamous lifestyle


buoy with eyes

Floating googly eyes on a stick scare seabirds away from fishing nets

4 May 2021

Buoys fitted with cartoon-like eyes act a little like scarecrows, keeping seabirds safely away from areas of the sea where they might get caught in fishing nets


bald eagle

Mysterious death of bald eagles in US explained by bromide poisoning

25 March 2021

Since the 1990s, hundreds of bald eagles have died across the south-eastern US – now we know it is because their prey were laced with bromide, but the source of the toxin is unclear


antlion

Playing dead really works to help insects avoid being eaten by birds

3 March 2021

Insects avoid being eaten by playing dead, because birds are easily distracted by other nearby insects that are still moving


passenger pigeon

Genetics leaves little doubt that humans wiped out passenger pigeons

3 February 2021

Analysis of museum specimens shows that the passenger pigeon and other North American birds weren't in genetic decline before they vanished, suggesting their sudden extinction was down to humans


sparrows

Sparrows are healthier living in groups with diverse personalities

27 January 2021

Individual house sparrows show distinct personality types, and they are healthier when they live in groups that reflect a diversity of sparrow personalities


kiwi

Bird beak extra sense evolved more than 70 million years ago

2 December 2020

Some birds can detect the movement of hidden prey by plunging their beaks into soil or water – and the “sixth sense” may have begun to evolve in predatory dinosaurs


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