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Birds from two different species raise chicks together in one nest

12 July 2023

A pair of common redstarts and a pair of black redstarts were seen brooding in the same nest in Italy – a kind of cooperative breeding that has never been documented before

Freak storms stopped tens of thousands of birds breeding in Antarctica

13 March 2023

Huge snowstorms between December 2021 and January 2022 made Antarctic petrels, snow petrels and south polar skuas abandon attempts at nesting and return to sea

Beautiful little Zebra finch in the wild.

Zebra finch songs alter the behaviour of their chicks' mitochondria

8 December 2021

In warm weather, zebra finches sing heat calls to their unborn offspring, and this programs the nestlings to produce less heat inside their cells

Male birds can be good singers or good looking, but not both

16 October 2018

The prettier the bird, the worse it sings. A study of over 500 species has revealed that birds evolve to attract mates in one of two ways, and don’t combine them

Male peacocks can make females' heads vibrate at a distance

18 June 2018

Peahens have fan-shaped crests on their heads, and it seems males can make these crests resonate by making a specific noise with their tails

Young 'dinosauromorphs' may have begged for food like baby birds

26 January 2018

Tens of millions of years before dinosaurs evolved into birds, a proto-dinosaur had surprising features that suggest its young needed parental care after hatching

Let's hope chickless penguin colony can come back from the brink

22 November 2017

Last season, a huge colony of Adélie penguins saw just two young survive. As they gather to breed again, a repeat would be alarming, says Olive Heffernan