Birds, features and articles | Educational Science

Dec 1, 2023

Weird Chinstrap penguins sleep over 10,000 times a day for just 4 seconds at a time

Chinstrap penguins are one of nature's most extreme nappers, snatching more than 10,000 microsleeps lasting up to four seconds long every day, according to a new study. The penguins, which live in breeding colonies each containing tens of thousands of individuals, must remain constantly vigilant against threats to their nests...

Dec 14, 2023

Watch thousands of starlings perform an 'incredible ballet of life and death' in new murmuration footage

Breathtaking new stills and footage capture the beauty and acrobatic skills of tens of thousands of starlings as they swarm and sweep across dusk skies in Europe. The mesmerizing shots were taken by Danish photographer Søren Solkær, who has followed the majestic birds for six years across Europe. Starlings (Sturnus...

Dec 28, 2023

See 'incredible' photos of bird that is both male and female

Researchers have discovered an extraordinary, vibrantly colored tropical bird with female feathers down one side of its body and male feathers down the other. Female green honeycreepers (Chlorophanes spiza) typically have grassy green feathers, while the males are a brilliant blue. However, this individual was green on the left and...

Jan 20, 2024

Loggerhead shrike: The brutal 'butcherbird' that impales its prey on barbed wire

Name: Loggerhead shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) Where it lives: North America What it eats: Mainly invertebrates, but also small vertebrates including reptiles, amphibians, bats and birds. Why it's awesome: The loggerhead shrike is nicknamed the butcherbird thanks to its rather gruesome practice of impaling its prey on sharp thorns, twigs and...

Feb 3, 2024

Aldabra rail: The bird that came back from the dead by evolving twice

Name: Aldabra rail (Dryolimnas cuvieri aldabranus) Where it lives: Aldabra — a coral atoll off the southeast coast of Africa What it eats: Insects Why it's awesome: Lying off the southeast coast of Africa, north of Madagascar, the coral limestone islands of the Aldabra atoll are home to a humble...

Mar 13, 2024

Watch woodpecker evict starling that stole its nest by yanking it out with its beak

Remarkable footage captures the moment a red-headed woodpecker evicts a starling squatting in its nest by yanking it out of a tree trunk. Woodpeckers and starlings are cavity nesters, meaning they hollow out nesting holes rather than building them from scratch, but starlings often invade other birds' nests and harass...

Jun 19, 2012

Antarctic Album: Chinstrap Penguins of Deception Island

Deception Island (Image credit: Andres Barbosa)Andres Barbosa of the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid and his team have been studying the chinstrap penguins of Deception Island since 1999. Its volcanic origins have shaped the island into a horseshoe shape, with the volcano's caldera at the center. The island...

Jun 19, 2012

36% of Chinstrap Penguins Missing from Antarctic Island

A population of chinstrap penguins is feeling the heat, with more than one-third of a breeding colony lost in the past 20 years, new research finds. A warming planet, which is causing sea ice in Antarctica (and elsewhere) to melt, may ultimately be to blame for the plummeting penguin population,...

Jun 20, 2012

Melting Sea Ice Could Decimate Emperor Penguins

Emperor penguins depend on the sea ice that rings the continent of Antarctic, so it's no surprise that global warming, which is expected to melt some of that ice, may be bad news for these flightless, 4-foot (1.2-meter) tall birds. Since detailed information on most colonies is not available, the...

Jul 10, 2012

In Photos: The King Penguins of Possession Island

Penguin Colony (Image credit: Pierre Bize)The Baie du Marin colony of breeding king penguins (Aptenodytes patagonicus) has gotten used to humans, it seems, who have been present on Possession Island where the penguins reside since a permanent research station was set up there in 1961. Making Chicks (Image credit: Pierre...

Jul 10, 2012

King Penguin Colony Getting Used to Humans

Updated Wednesday, July 11 at 7:37 a.m. ET. Scientists studying king penguins on a sub-Antarctic island, along with tourists, may be stressing the waddling, flightless birds, new research suggests. However, it seems the penguins are getting used to their human visitors. The new study reveals how more than 50 years...

Aug 1, 2012

Image Gallery: Sharks Make Home With African Penguins

Shark Meets Penguins (Image credit: Tim Wong, California Academy of Sciences.)The California Academy of Sciences introduced a group of pyjama sharks to its popular African Penguin exhibit. The two species are natural neighbors off the coast of South Africa. Surface Feeding (Image credit: California Academy of Sciences)For several months, biologists...

Aug 1, 2012

African Penguins Get New Shark 'Roommates' At California Aquarium

A group of African penguins that live on an indoor beach in California greeted some toothy new neighbors this week: six striped pyjama sharks. On Tuesday (July 31), aquarium biologists at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco introduced the nocturnal sharks (four females and two males) to their...

Aug 3, 2012

Five Penguins Chicks Hatch at Belfast Zoo

The Belfast Zoological Gardens had a flurry of new birds recently with the hatching of five penguin chicks. In March this year, Belfast Zoo welcomed 40 Edinburgh penguins to the penguin enclosure, while essential maintenance work was carried out to their Edinburgh pool. A (Image credit: Belfast Zoo.)Their arrival coincided...

Aug 15, 2012

Antarctic Moss Lives Off Penguin Poop

Verdant green carpets of moss that emerge during the brief Antarctic summer have an unusual food source, a new study reports: The mosses eat nitrogen from fossilized penguin poop. Plant biologist Sharon Robinson, who has studied the mosses for 16 years, sought to find their nutrient source; Antarctic soil generally...