miércoles, 1 de junio de 2011

December 2010

Study shows alarming drop in Kenyan vultures BirLife International (on a Biological Conservation paper) Five New eBird Animated Occurrence Maps eBird Birds and killer windows: Interview with Dr. Dan Klem UrbanBirdscapes (blog) Blue tits with territories near streetlights mate better. The Washington Post Mirrorlike Feathers Give Bird of Paradise Its Shine LiveScience On the discovery rate of new bird species (an interesting blog post) Biological Ramblings NextEra Energy Res. plans to replace 2,400 turbines and shut down some others at the infamous Altamont Pass wind farm. Los Angeles Times Giant Storks May Have Fed On Real Hobbits LiveScience Humans Helped Egyptian Vultures Colonize the Canary Islands ScienceDaily (on a BMC Evol. Biol. paper) Soaring Is Better Than Flapping for Birds Big and Small AVoCet: a global database of well-documented, downloadable bird sounds AVoCet Electrocution of Birds and Collision With Power Lines: Solutions to a Global Problem ScienceDaily How birds see magnetic fields – an interview with Thorsten Ritz DISCOVER Common cuckoos have evolved host specialisation but not local adaptation BBC Earth News (J Evol Biol paper)

November 2010

75% British barn owls bred in man-made nest boxes. BBC EarthNews Engineer Provides New Insight Into Pterodactyl Flight: they soared using thermally driven air. ScienceDaily DNA uncovers a new parrot species... and it is already endangered. ScienceDaily Leading Canadian conservation groups say wind farm doesn’t belong in Important Bird Area BirdLife International Some amazing shots (enjoy!) NewScientist How Hummingbirds Fight the Wind: Robotic Wing May Reveal Answer ScienceDaily Physicists say bird song could be less complex than it seems (or... if you think you understand something build it) ScienceDaily Across the Southeast of USA, volunteer banders study apparent shifts in the cold-weather ranges of several hummingbird species. National Wildlife Colouring the temperature of a starlings' roost. BBC EarthNews The 'bird people' of St Kilda (Interesting article and two videos on how this people made a living from birds) BBC EarthNews Young light-bellied Brent geese learn their migratory destinations from parents ScienceDaily BOU Small Research Grants. Awards of up to £2000 per project aimed at supporting small projects outright and to part-fund medium-sized research programmes. (DEADLINE December 31, 2010) BirdGrantsBlog Sparrowhawks behind sparrows decline in UK. MailOnline (on this Auk paper) Prehistoric Winged Reptiles 'Pole-Vaulted' Into Flight ScienceDaily Alaskan Birds with Beak Deformities A DC Birding Blog (on a USGS new)
Cyprus: Two MILLION birds caught illegally 10,000Birds (on a BirdLife Cyprus new) Feather-Loss Disorder in African and Magellanic Penguins Conservation Magazine (on a Waterbirds paper) European Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 (amazing Kingfisher capture) BBC EartNews Polar bears can't eat geese into extinction, but predating on gesse eggs may help bears to survive ScienceDaily (on an Oikos paper) Altitudinal moult migration in hummingbirds Conservation Magazine (on a J Trop Ecol paper) Bird-mimics steal meerkats' food BBC EarthNews (on a Proceedings of the Royal Society B paper) How ostriches run faster than us BBC News Why power lines 'invisible' to bustards cranes and storks? BBC News Golden eagles score key victory in battle with wind farm firms in Scotland NEWS.scotsman.com A Peregrine's (Nocturnal?) Diet A DC Birding Blog Study launched to assess the impact of wind farms on golden eagles. ScienceDaily Cosmetic uropygial gland in flamingos. ScienceDaily (on a Beh Ecol Sociobiol paper)

October 2010

Clever New Caledonian crows go to parents' tool school BBC EarthNews Database Matches Plants to Birds A DC Birding Blog Bird brains show chain reactions govern timing of complex tasks. ScienceDaily (on a Nature paper) Philippines May Have More Unique Bird Species Than Thought ScienceDaily(on a Biological Conservation paper) Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2010 BBC News Penguins flirt with homosexuality BBC EarthNews (on an Ethology paper) Sparrows identify 'troublemakers' from innocent birds BBC EarthNews (on an Anim Beh paper) Kinship affects investment by helpers in long-tailed tits The Rattling Crow Blog (on a Proc R Soc London paper) Red parrot feathers resist bacterial degradation Punctuated equilibria Cat bell collars could halve native bird deaths stuff.co.nz Is Anxiety Contagious? Scientists Study Owls and Voles to Find out ScienceDaily (on a Beh Brain Res and Neurosc Biobehav Rev paper) Wind turbines wrong colour for wildlife BBC Earth News A potential link between metabolism and animal personalites. ScienceDaily (on a Trends Ecol Evol paper) Geolocators show red knots' flights extraordinary Philly.com Spanish petrels avoid oil spill damage from Prestige tanker BBC Earth News (on a Marine Pollution Bulletin paper) Bioenergy Choices Could Dramatically Change Midwest, US, Bird Diversity ScienceDaily (on a PNAS paper) Placing the passenger pigeon into the family tree of pigeons and doves. ScienceDaily Vultures Use Face Flushing Technique for Instant Status Updates ScienceDaily Climate risks greater for long distance migratory birds. BBC News (Proc R Soc London paper) Using melanosomes to infer the unusual color of a fossil penguin. Punctuated Equlibrium blog (on a Science paper) A personal summary about the 143rd meeting of the Deutschen Ornithologen-Gesellschaft (on recent advances in bird migration) Wesley Hochachka for Round Robin A preliminary analysis of banding data on the migration of the irruptive Pine Siskins across the United States Project FeederWatch (The Cornell Lab) Barred plumage in birds: camouflage and sexual communication ScienceDaily (on a J Evol Biol paper)

September 2010

Ancient terror bird stabbed its prey to death NewScientist Catastrophic forest fire in Madeira threatens Europe’s rarest seabird BirdLife International Parasite threatens many of Britain's best-loved birds Greg Laden's Blog (on a PLoS ONE paper) Mice can learn to detect faces infected with avian flu ScienceDaily Avian Influenza Virus May Persist on Feathers Fallen from Domestic Ducks ScienceDaily A new blog provides information on GRANTS for ornithological research projects Bird Grants Up to 80% of the Spilled Oil Remains in the Gulf A DC Birding Blog eBird receive a million bird observations monthly. Cornell Lab and Audubon are working together to use this information to show bird distribution maps as never seen before. Round Robin (The Cornell Blog of Ornithology) Increased Destruction of Bird Populations Are Predicted With Rise in Global Temperatures ScienceDaily Why many bird species have totally dependent offspring? Oxford University On how budgerigars use male "calls" (not "songs") to choose mate. ScienceDaily Audio on crossbill migration by Pim Edelaar (2yr old but still interesting) BBC Radio Amazing Natural History blog post: bivalves vs. birds. Tetrapod Zoologuy A report on cannon netting shorebirds Biological Ramblings Orcas regularly feed on penguins in Antarctica BBC Earth News Why do Great tinamous Tinamus major lay conspicuous eggs on the ground? An interesting idea NewScientist

August 2010

Ancient terror bird stabbed its prey to death NewScientist Catastrophic forest fire in Madeira threatens Europe’s rarest seabird BirdLife International Parasite threatens many of Britain's best-loved birds Greg Laden's Blog (on a PLoS ONE paper) Mice can learn to detect faces infected with avian flu ScienceDaily Avian Influenza Virus May Persist on Feathers Fallen from Domestic Ducks ScienceDaily A new blog provides information on GRANTS for ornithological research projects Bird Grants Up to 80% of the Spilled Oil Remains in the Gulf A DC Birding Blog eBird receive a million bird observations monthly. Cornell Lab and Audubon are working together to use this information to show bird distribution maps as never seen before. Round Robin (The Cornell Blog of Ornithology) Increased Destruction of Bird Populations Are Predicted With Rise in Global Temperatures ScienceDaily Why many bird species have totally dependent offspring? Oxford University On how budgerigars use male "calls" (not "songs") to choose mate. ScienceDaily Audio on crossbill migration by Pim Edelaar (2yr old but still interesting) BBC Radio Amazing Natural History blog post: bivalves vs. birds. Tetrapod Zoologuy A report on cannon netting shorebirds Biological Ramblings Orcas regularly feed on penguins in Antarctica BBC Earth News Why do Great tinamous Tinamus major lay conspicuous eggs on the ground? An interesting idea NewScientist

July 2010

Three million years ago North and South America joined, leading to new migration routes and explaining species diversity today. ScienceDaily Senescence and dominance in roosters ScienceDaily On the polymorphism of Oystercatcher bills Tetrapod Zoologist (Blog) How do Oystercatchers learn how to forage and keep alive Greg Laden's Blog Tags reveal puffin food 'hotspot' BBC News An interesting article by Corina Logan (PhD student) on corvid social behaviour NewScientist I Wouldn't Mate With You If You Were the Last Finch on Earth? (blog post on a PLoS ONE paper) Mike the Mad Biologist (Blog) Egyptian vultures use twigs to gather wool for their nests NewScientist Avian empathy Living the Scientific Life (Blog) Sensitive males: inbreeding depression in an endangered bird ScienceDaily Ostrich feathers useful for Ostrich (and dinosaur) bipedal locomotion ScienceDaily Effect of Fire on Birds Evaluated in the Pyrenees ScienceDaily In Zebra finches, muscles controlling male vocal organs are crucial to sing over a wide range of frequencies; females only make short, lower-frequency calls. ScienceDaily Concern over plans to downgrade Indian national park BBC News Citizen Science: Birders Contribute Valuable Data on Invasive Plant Species (Ecological Applications paper) ScienceDaily

June 2010

The uropygial gland and the spread of avian influence viruses ScienceDaily Builders urged to allow for swift nests BBC News The Catalan Journal of Ornithology announces its annual prize to the best 2009 paper. Institut Català d'Ornitologia Caring for Caspian Tern chicks (slideshow) Round Robin Pleasing to the Eye: Even Brooding Female Birds Are Sensitive to Visual Stimulation ScienceDaily Evolution of Bird Bills: Birds Reduce Their 'Heating Bills' in Cold Climates ScienceDaily Hiking quietly benefits birds... and birders Conservation Maven Harmful Bacteria Carried by Pigeons ScienceDaily Living Fast and Dangerously: Hormones Influence the 'Pace of Life' of Songbirds ScienceDaily Bright sexy birds are poor fliers (Naturwissenschaften paper) BBC EarthNews How endangered are the Gulf's brown pelicans? NewScientist Wetland Aliens Cause Bird Extinction ScienceDaily The neuroscience of birdsong (an interesting blog post) NeuroKüz 86 turbines of a wind farm in Ontario killed 602 birds and 1,270 bats between July and December 2009 The Globe and Mail Amazing bird photo with a story – A new section of "Birdlife Community" worth following Birdlife International Oldest prehistoric pelican also had big beak BBC News Great bustards "on the rise" in Britain RSPB (via Surfbirds) Bar-Tailed Godwit Sets Record for Long-Distance Non-Stop Flight ScienceDaily (PLoS Biology paper) Invasions linked to more people and more money ScienceDaily (PNAS paper)

May 2010

American crows declined more severely in urban than rural areas after West Nile virus reached the northeastern US Conservation Magazine Oiled bird photos. "Enjoy!" The Big Picture Bee stripes may not keep birds away BBC News Spatial and Temporal Bias in Species Occurrence Data ScienceDaily (PLoS Biology paper) New remote tools for bird habitat selection research NASA Do Ravens Show Consolation? PLoS ONE paper Bird feeding: concerns raised over benefit to UK birds BBC Earth News Prehistoric Birds Were Poor Flyers, Research Shows ScienceDaily Coastal Birds Carry Toxic Ocean Metals Inland ScienceDaily Personality of Geese Determines Their Foraging Behaviour (Ecology Letters paper) ScienceDaily A webcam inside a Puffin burrow (nest) in Shetlands. RSPB Oil Spill: Worse Than Government or BP Can Handle A DC Birding blog Birds and Mammals Share a Common Brain Circuit for Learning (Journal of Neuroscience paper) ScienceDaily Even Small Patches of Urban Woods Are Valuable for Migrating Birds ScienceDaily ‘Vulture restaurants’ may be excluding smaller scavengers Conservation Magazine Costs and Benefits of Testosterone in Birds (American Naturalist paper) ScienceDaily How Far Can a Bird Fly Nonstop During Migration? (PLoS Biology paper) A DC Birding Blog X-Rays Reveal Chemical Link Between Birds and Dinosaurs ScienceDaily Cages and Emetics Rescue Wading Birds: Decoy Eggs Injected With a Drug to Induce Vomiting in Predators SinceDaily Stable isotopes to study the potential impact of Bald eagle reintroduction (a PNAS paper) The New York Times Magpie Parents Seem to Induce Mortality of 'Unwanted' Chicks ScienceDaily Fragmented Forests Result in More Snakes, Fewer Birds ScienceDaily Stabilizing selection on testosterone production. An American Naturalist paper. ScienceDaily Cranes set to return to skies after 400-year absence BBC News How egg spotting birds catch out cuckoos (PHOTO GALLERY) BBC Earth News Yesterday the oil slick from the sunken oil drilling rig reached coastal wetlands A DC Birding Blog Red kite recovery in north Scotland put in jeopardy by illegal killing Surfbirds News (RSPB) Clever New Caledonian crows can use three tools (see video here) BBC News High-speed video has revealed for the first time how male common snipes generate their distinctive drumming mating calls. (see video in this link) BBC News

April 2010

Some amazing bird photos... ENJOY! WeLoveBirds.org Scientists Get Bird's-Eye View of How Cuckoos Fool Their Hosts ScienceDaily (on a PNAS paper) Global Warming May Be Causing Evolutionary Changes in Bird Migration ScienceDaily Volcano Causing Problems for Wildlife? A DC Birding Blog On the stability (or not) of bird songs across decades The New York Times (on a Biology Letters paper) Webcams Provide a Window on Bird Nests A DC Birding Blog Free bird surveys now available for every UK farmer Surfbirds News (RSPB) South Atlantic becomes more seabird-friendly BirdLife International Pigeon 'Backpacks' Track Flock Voting ScienceDaily Bonelli’s Eagle: Improving the Conservation of an Endangered Species Across Europe ScienceDaily A Possible Way for Wild Birds to Spread Influenza A DC Birdign Blog Wildlife Still Exposed to Exxon Valdez Oil 20 Years After Disaster ScienceDaily A blue White Stork (photo) Noticias de Navarra What do Great Tits Reveal about the Genetics of Personality? Living the Scientific Live (Blog) A Well-Defended Territory Is What Some Female Hummingbirds Find Most Attractive in a Mate ScienceDaily UV reveals fossil feathers Living the Scientific Life Measuring passerine fever with transmitters ScienceDaily Eating Like a Bird Helps Forests Grow ScienceDaily Computer system tracks penguins by their chest markings Conservation Magazine White Stork wait for FIFA World Cup (or... Dozens of White storks fail to migrate and instead bred at South Africa) Surfbirds Small garden birds hit by cold weather. BBC News Songbird Genome Sings of the Communicating Brain ScienceDaily How Ducks Host Influenza Unharmed: Could Findings Shield Humans from Bird Flu Viruses? ScienceDaily Superpredation patterns in four large European raptors (see some pictures here) BBC Earth News (see original Population Ecology paper here)

March 2010

New Bird Fossil Hints at More Undiscovered Chinese Treasures ScienceDaily Warmer Summers Could Create Challenges for Nesting Arctic Seabirds ScienceDaily Fruit antioxidants may be the reason of food selection ScienceDaily Wandering Albatross: Is Foraging Efficiency a Key Parameter in Aging? ScienceDaily Bird Bones May Be Hollow, but They Are Also Heavy ScienceDaily Female birds find males with glossy feathers more sexy BBC EarthNews Fishing Discard Ban Could Damage Sea Bird Success, Scientists Warn ScienceDaily Are big brains better for long trips? NeuroDojo Blog The Young, the Weak and the Sick: Evidence of Natural Selection by Predation PLoS ONE Songbirds Provide Insight Into Speech Production ScienceDaily High Arctic Species Doing Poorly A BC Birding Blog See here photos by BBC on some of the declining species. Proposed Legislation Would Prevent Millions of Bird Deaths due to Collision with Windows Surfbird News Swift nesting sites 'hit by home improvements' BBC News Rare white puffin visits its black cousins off the Isles of Scilly TimesOnline The Message Is in the Egg: Before they've hatched, canary chicks receive clues about what life will be like for them outside the egg About.com 'State of the birds 2010' highlights threats to migrants BirdLife International To the Antarctic or Brazil for New Feathers: Thin-Billed Prions Select Their Moulting Grounds Individually ScienceDaily Climate change makes birds smaller in North America BBC EarthNews First Condor Nest in 100 Years Appears at Pinnacles National Monument Laist Automating bird surveys with remote sensors Conservation Maven A seabird (Vanuatu Petrel) not seen at sea for more than 80 years, and rediscovered last year, has finally been photographed. Birdwatch Voluntary use of copper ammunition by hunters reduce blood lead levels in ravens. Center of Biological Diversity Mystery of 75 starlings falling from the sky BBC News Scientists Solve Puzzle of Chickens That Are Half Male and Half Female: "cell sex", not hormones, produce sexual traits of a given sex Science Daily DNA from the largest bird ever sequenced from fossil eggshells Not Exactly Rocket Science (Blog) BirdNote Radio. Radio shows about birds, the environment, and more.... periodistic style with outstanding scientific advisors such as Gordon Orians. (listen an example here) Biologging technologies: new tools for conservation ScienceDaily (Link: a collection of papers from a Biologging conference published in Endangered Species Research) How that cork in your wine bottle helps forests and biodiversity Mongabay.com Songbird study may help vocal learning in humans Explaining Science to the Public (Blog) Simple Math Explains Dramatic Beak Shape Variation in Darwin's Finches Science Daily Mosquitoes -- Not Birds -- May Have Carried West Nile Virus Across U.S. Science Daily Supercharged swifts take flight speed record BBC Earth News Interesting video on Pygmy owls in a Porland "urban" park OPB TV Dinosaurs Had Wrists Like Birds LiveScience Can birds affect tree growth? EcoTone (PHOTO:Experimenters survey insects on a cottonwood tree exclosure) A warthog is pictured being groomed by a huge hornbill bird, a scene never reported before. BBC Earth News Hungry, Carnivorous Birds with Their Prey (PHOTO slideshow; ENJOY!) Treehugger Study links mercury contamination with changes in birdsongs Conservation Maven Cape Cod National Seashore planns to poison crows to protect Piping Plovers Cape Cod Times 3 California condors die of lead poisoning in Arizona, 1st such deaths in 3 years Los Angeles Times Roseate tern decline perplexes researchers Wicked Local Orleans

February 2010

Natural Antioxidants Give Top Barn Swallows a Leg on Competitors ScienceDaily Twig structures that the birds build for courtship are surprisingly resilient to bush fires New Scientist Meat on a String: A Possible Limit to Corvid Intelligence? A DC Birding Blog Scientists Image Brain at Point When Vocal Learning Begins ScienceDaily Some good research-photos... ENJOY! NewScientist House Finch behavior increases Mycoplasmal conjunctivitis spread A DC Birding Blog Iron in the Beaks of Birds A DC Birding Blog A study with temporary adhesive radio transmitters show stop-over duration related to fat. Ravens 'not behind' wader decline BBC News UK's rarest farmland bird fights back Surfbirds News (RSPB) Citizen science: using birder lists to detect species decline Conservation Maven Bird communities as bioindicators of stream degradation Conservation Maven A ban on fishing around a colony of threatened penguins in South Africa has brought swift benefits to the beleaguered birds. Yahoo!News Why love birds 'dance' to the Sun BBC News Seabird movement patterns tied to fishing boat schedules EcoTone Bird-from-Dinosaur Theory of Evolution Challenged: Was It the Other Way Around? ScienceDaily 3D bird skeletons; a new interactive web Ivory-billed Woodpecker Recovery Plan A DC Birding Blog Absurd feathery ornaments: not just sexy, but functional! SEANET Blog Great tits: birds with character EurekAlert! Positive association between MHC and pathogen diversity Estación Biológica de Doñana Geolocators on Cory’s Shearwaters (Calonectris diomedea) increase the duration of the birds’ trips and decrease their foraging efficiency Estación Biológica de Doñana Amazing videos of birds in flight University of Montana Birds changing wing shape as possible adaptation to environmental change Conservation Maven Phoenix the Red-tailed Hawk Injured From Plane Crash BirdFreak Extended Laying Interval of Ultimate Eggs of the Eastern Bluebird A Blog Around the Clock some amazing bird pictures... ENJOY! BBC News Evaluating coastal feeding habitat for marine birds Conservation Maven Seabirds' Movement Patterns Tied to What Fishermen Toss Away ScienceDaily With Climate Change, Some Birds Are Taking Off for Migration Sooner; Not Reaching Destinations Earlier ScienceDaily Birds Follow Their Noses During Migration ScienceDaily

January 2010

Feathers first arose for colour display and only later they become useful for flight and insulation. ScienceDaily (See original Nature paper here) Ancestors of the African ostrich and the Australasian emu among others became flightless independently, in close association with the extinction of the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago ScienceDaily 'Microraptors' Shed Light on Ancient Origin of Bird Flight ScienceDaily Identifying minimum patch sizes for breeding success in birds Conservation Maven Moonlight Makes Owls More Chatty PLoS ONE Pacific dunlins lose weight and fly more as a response to increased threat of predation by falcons. ScienceDaily How 40 Endangered Sea Eagles Bring in $3 Million a Year to Small Scottish Island treehugger The airflow through alligators' lungs is strikingly bird-like, suggesting that one-way airflow evolved in an ancestor of dinosaurs. New Scientist Big Plant-Eating Birds That Dwell With Others on Islands Live Longest ScienceDaily Possible New Species Found in Borneo A DC Birding Blog Doing It For the Kids: The Evolution of Migration Living the Scientific Live Blog (see original Science paper here) A new study using motion sensitive video cameras has revealed how New Caledonian crows use tools in the wild. ScienceDaily What Makes Birds Cooperate Against Predators? A DC Birding Blog (see original paper here) Gray Squirrels Not Causing Bird Declines in the Brithis Isles A DC Birding Blog 'World's Least Known Bird' Discovered Breeding in Afghanistan ScienceDaily Where do puffins go in the winter? EurekAlert! As in Humans, Sleep Solidifies a Bird's Memories ScienceDaily Artic terns migrate as far as thought LiveScience Grit can reduce the poisonous effects of ingested lead shot on waterbirds Estación Biológica de Doñana (see original paper here) Global versus Local Bird Conservation Focus A DC Birding Blog (read original online-free PLoS ONE paper here) Birds Fight Alien Parasites: Darwin's Finches Develop Antibodies to Flies, Pox Virus ScienceDaily (original online-free PLoS ONE paper here) Eight New Species Proposed as Endangered A DC Birding Blog When do you throw in the towel and concede that a rare species has gone extinct? Conservation Maven (see original Biological Conservation paper here)

December 2009

Zoo penguins help Antarctic birds BBC News "Nest boxes" for Burrowing Owls JournOwl Results Are In From First Antarctica Christmas Bird Count AudubonMagazine.org Fewer Migratory Birds in Dutch Woods Due to Climate Change ScienceDaily New Warbler Discovered in Laos ScienceDaily Poisonous Prehistoric 'Raptor' Discovered in China ScienceDaily Cuckholding crows don't necessarily have healthier chicks Denim and Tweed Birds Favor Most Promising Offspring LiveScience Ventriloquist Birds Call to Warn Friends and Enemies ScienceDaily New issue of the Catalan Journal of Ornithology already online (and free) Institut Català d'Ornitologia Sexual selection and avian influenza in Ducks Estación Biológica de Doñana Sparrows' Sex Life Offers Clues About Global Warming Hartford Courant Birds may expand the range of Lyme disease and its vector tick EcoTone Complex life of marsh birds: Coots foil nest invaders, reject impostors ScienceDaily Fungi reveal internal feather structure to the miscroscope Not Exactly Rocket Science New Leaf Warbler from Vietnam A DC Birding Blog The negative impact of salvage logging on birds Conservation Maven Removing Barred Owls to protect Northern Spotted Owls OregonLive.com Clues to what birds do on a trans-Sahara trip The New York Times (see original Biology Letters paper here Sexual selection also produces sexy plumages in females Live Science (see original Nature paper here) Tropical birds waited for land crossing between North and South America ScienceDaily (see original PNAS paper here) Another livestock drug endangers vultures ScienceNews Foraging associations between treeshrews, drongos and sparrowhawks on Great Nicobar Island, India Not Exactly Rocket Science (see original Biology Letters paper here) Early birds may have dropped teeth to get airborne NewScientist Climate change and birds 10,000 Birds Homosexual selection: The power of same-sex liaisons NewScientist. (see related TREE paper here) Some birds listen, instead of look, for Mates ScienceDaily (see free PLoS ONE paper here) Iron Curtain kept out alien birds BBC News Birds call to warn friends and enemies e! Science News Egg membrane thickness increases during development Estación Biológica de Doñana (see original Naturwissenschaften paper here) British birdfeeders split blackcaps into two genetically distinct groups Not Exactly Rocket Science (see original Current Biology paper here) Clever ravens cooperatively hunt BBC Earth News Ecologically relevant spatial memory use modulates hippocampal neurogenesis NeuroDojo (see original paper here) A historic paper on Cuckoo behavior A DC Birding Blog This is one of the 60 papers now available because of the 350th anniversary of The Royal Society How hummingbirds get their nectar with tiny ‘straws’ The New York Times 200,000 seabirds killed annually by European longlines Desdemona Despair

November 2009

Birdsong helps scientists to count bird populations BBC News Why Do Hummingbirds “Sing” with Both Their Tail and Their Syrinx? NeuroDojo (see original Am Nat paper here) Feet shape and hunting techniques in raptors A DC Birding Blog (see original PLoS ONE paper here) Tiny birds have more complex songs than big birds TopNews.in (see original paper in J. Evol. Biol.) New method to determine chick sex ScienceDaily Europe's red kites in peril RSPB Explore online what Darwin wrote about birds in his correspondence Extinct Moa rewrites New Zealand's history ScienceDaily (link to original PNAS paper) Why do Toucans have large bill? Unruled Notebook blog (link to original Science paper) A new species of finch may have evolved in the Galapagos The Evolution List blog (link to original PNAS paper by Peter & Rosemary Grant) Studies suggest males have more personality EurekAlert! A rare mockingbird could be reintroduced to the Galapagos Islands - with the help of some specimens collected by Charles Darwin BBC News Hundreds of thousands of signals from satellite transmitters fitted on penguins, albatrosses, and marine mammals write the first atlas of South America’s Patagonian Sea. Wildlife Conservation Society Wind-farms increase extinction probability (en ESPAÑOL: Los parques eólicos aumentan la probabilidad de extinción) Estación Biológica de Doñana Ancient penguin DNA raises doubts about accuracy of genetic dating techniques ScienceDaily Birds need between 5 and 20 times as much light as humans to see colors ScienceDaily Brown Pelican delisted A DC Birding Blog Rare birds monitored by dog GPS BBCNews A new life for Croatia's griffon vultures Telegraph Female canaries sing sexily with testosterone ScienceDaily Making commercial plantations better for birds Conservation Maven Pelicans filmed eating gannet chicks (VIDEO) BBC EarthNews Endangered birds share traits with extinct species JournOwl Too sanitary for vultures Estación Biológica de Doñana (original Science Letter) A marvellous hummingbird display BBC EarthNews see video Extinction crisis continues apace BirdLife International