Birds, features and articles | Educational Science

Jul 31, 2011

In Photos: Birds of Prey

In Photos: Birds of Prey (Image credit: George Gentry | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)Birds of prey, including hawks, falcons, owls and eagles, such as the bald eagle above, are also known as raptors because they use their claws instead of their beaks to capture prey. They are meat-eaters with...

Jun 30, 2011

Snails Survive Being Eaten and Excreted by Birds

Tiny snails can actually benefit from being eaten by birds, according to a new study that found about 15 percent of the snails eaten by two species of bird survived their journey through the birds' guts and out the other end. The birds appear to spread the snails they have...

May 31, 2011

Brainy Parrots Can Think Like 4-Year-Olds

Parrots are capable of logical leaps, according to a new study in which a gray parrot named Awisa used reasoning to figure out where a bit of food was hidden. The task is one that kids as young as 4 could figure out, but the only other animals that have...

May 31, 2011

Woodpecker Revival Runs Out of Room

This Research in Action article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. The red-cockaded woodpecker is very particular about its real estate, a quality that helped land it on the U.S. Endangered Species List. When building nests, these birds choose only living, mature Southern pines and...

Jan 31, 2011

Image Gallery: Life at the South Pole

Life at the South Pole (Image credit: © Jan Martin Will | Dreamstime.com)Despite being separated from other continents by oceans and having a reputation for harboring some of the coldest weather on Earth, some birds and sea life find the Antarctic a surprisingly hospitable place to live. Right whale (Image...

Jul 31, 2012

Pigeons Vanish in 'Birdmuda Triangle'

Hundreds of racing pigeons have been disappearing over a sleepy pocket of North East England, earning the region a reputation as the Birdmuda Triangle. On Saturday (Aug. 25), the Telegraph reported, one club of pigeon fanciers released a flock of 230 birds from North Yorkshire. Only 13 birds arrived at...

May 31, 2012

Citizen Science Programs That Are 'For the Birds'

This Research in Action article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation. If you care about the biology, ecology and conservation of birds and want to learn more about those topics, consider joining the more than 200,000 volunteers, or so-called citizen scientists, who contribute each year...

Dec 31, 2011

House Mice Serenade Mates with 'Bird' Song

Most people are familiar with the telltale squeak of a mouse scurrying out of their pantry, but scientists have long known that these aren’t the only noises house mice make. During courtship, the rodents also communicate in the ultrasonic frequency range, which sits beyond human hearing. Now, new research shows...

May 31, 2013

Ancient Dinobird Wore Black and White

A transitional species that represents a link between dinosaurs and birds may have sported pale feathers that were dark at the tips, a new study suggests. For the study, detailed in the June 13 issue of the Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, researchers used an X-ray beam to identify ancient...

Mar 31, 2013

Why Elk Are Robbing Birds

Sonya Auer, of the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, recently won the Elton Prize, from the British Ecological Society for her research and writing. She contributed this article to Live Science’s Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. Plants and animals in a given area form an...

Jan 31, 2013

Harnessing The Power Of Peacocks To Make Colorful Images

(ISNS) -- The gloriously colored, iridescent feathers of the male peacock aren't what they seem on the surface. They look that way largely because the feathers contain nanometer-scale protein structures that break up incoming light waves, recombine, and reflect them as rich, vibrant colors. Scientists at the University of Michigan...

Dec 31, 2012

How City Blackbirds Shout Over Traffic

City-dwelling blackbirds typically produce more high-pitched songs than their country counterparts, and researchers say the urban birds prefer shrill sounds to make their voices heard over road traffic. For their study, scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany looked at urban blackbirds in Vienna and country blackbirds...

Dec 31, 2012

Why Aren't Turkey Eggs Sold at the Grocery?

As you pick up your turkey at the grocery store this week, you might wonder why you never see the birds' eggs for sale. Gobbling turkeys do lay eggs. But selling them in grocery stores would have its drawbacks. Turkey eggs’ small numbers and big size make them less practical...

Aug 31, 2014

Swallows Of The Western Skies

This Behind the Scenes article was provided to Live Science in partnership with the National Science Foundation. Ushuaia and Fairbanks are cities near the tips of the world. The capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province and the Alaskan metropolis don't share much in common. Except for a cluster of...

Apr 30, 2014

Earliest Evidence of Flower Pollination by Birds Unearthed

Birds have been visiting and pollinating flowers for at least 47 million years, fossil evidence now suggests. The new find pushes back the onset of ornithophily, or bird pollination, by about 17 million years, researchers say. To pollinate, most species of angiosperms (flowering plants) require assistance from animals, particularly insects...