Latest Ornithology Stories
Archaeopteryx, once believed to be the world's earliest bird, may actually have been just another feathered dinosaur, according to a report published Wednesday in the journal Nature.Researchers in China, led by Xing Xu of Linyi University, carried out a phylogenetic analysis combining a newly discovered fossil with other similar dinosaurs and early birds, and concluded that the species should no longer be considered a fully developed bird.If confirmed, the controversial hypothesis would be a...
Frequently captured birds found to be at less risk of injury compared to birds captured onceCapturing birds using mist nets to study behavior, movement or the demographics of a species is one of the most common research techniques in ornithology, yet until now there have been no large scale studies into the risks mist nets pose to birds. Writing in the British Ecological Society's Methods in Ecology and Evolution researchers from California used a dataset of over 345,000 records to evaluate...
Researchers and students collaborate on a study to explore the migration patterns of male and female red-tailed hawks in upstate New YorkBy James A. Hewlett, Finger Lakes Community CollegeAs any resident of upstate New York will tell you, the red-tailed hawk is the most common hawk in North America. Often seen perched on light and telephone poles along major highways, this majestic animal is one of the most widely recognized raptor species.At the same time, there is relatively little...
Wet spring rough on many wild birds and mammals HARRISBURG, Pa., May 27, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In an unfortunate turn of events, the first nesting attempt for bluebirds behind the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Harrisburg headquarters appears to have lost out to nature. What made this loss different from most is that it all played out in full view of those who tuned into the Game Commission's website (www.pgc.state.pa.us). Earlier this year, a pair of bluebirds had successfully...
The British government said this week that a species of parakeet which threatens wildlife and crops will be removed from the wild. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) said in a statement that the monk parakeet was an invasive species. It announced measures to either rehouse the birds, remove their nests or shoot them. DEFRA said there are about 100 of the birds in the U.K., mainly in the southeast of England. DEFRA said that they have the potential to threaten...
Absolute Bird Control offers a complete line of humane products used to prevent birds from landing or nesting in unwanted areas. The new site offers solutions for a variety of pest bird problems such as pigeons nesting under eaves, woodpeckers pecking at siding and geese on lawn areas. Lake Forest, CA (Vocus/PRWEB) April 15, 2011 Absolute Bird Control, leading online distributor of humane bird control products, would like to announce the launch of their re-designed website. Finding the...
At least 300 penguins have died in the south Atlantic after a cargo ship leaked thousands of tons of heavy oil, diesel fuel and soya bean near Nightingale Island, a British territory part of the Tristan da Cunha archipelago. "I've seen about 15 to 20 dead penguins just today. The danger now is getting the rest of these penguins past that oil slick," director Trevor Glass told CNN. Local officials and conservationists claim that thousands more are covered in the ships' oil and diesel fuel. A...
Using genetic methods to count endangered eagles, a group of scientists showed that traditional counting methods can lead to significantly incorrect totals that they believe could adversely affect conservation efforts.Andrew DeWoody, a professor of genetics at Purdue University; Jamie Ivy, population manager at the San Diego Zoo; and Todd Katzner, a research assistant professor at the University of West Virginia, found that visual counts of imperial and white-tailed sea eagles in the Narzum...
HARRISBURG, Pa., March 1, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As development continues to take over wildlife habitats, the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Howard Nursery has a way for wildlife enthusiasts to help support wildlife housing needs without having to apply for a second mortgage. The agency's Howard Nursery is selling a variety of wildlife nesting structures for several species of birds - from bluebirds to flickers, from ducks to owls - as well as housing boxes for bats and squirrels....
It takes songbirds and baseball pitchers thousands of repetitions "“ a choreography of many muscle movements -- to develop an irresistible trill or a killer slider. Now, scientists have discovered that the male Bengalese finch uses a simple mental computation and an uncanny memory to create its near-perfect mate-catching melody -- a finding that could have implications for rehabilitating people with neuromuscular diseases and injuries.Young male Bengalese finches practice their boisterous...
Latest Ornithology Reference Libraries
This bird of prey is known more as a pigeon hawk. The Merlin is from the Northern Hemisphere with some migrating to subtropical and northern tropical areas during the winter. There has also been a discovery that there are two different, very distinct, species: the North American and the Eurasian. The North American Merlin was first described by a Swede taxonomist, Carl Linnaeus. The Merlin is between 9 and 13 inches long with a wingspan of 20-29 inches. The Merlin is an exceptionally...
The White-throated Hawk (Buteo albigula), is a bird of prey belonging to the family Accipitridae, which includes hawks, eagles and Old World vultures. In British usage, it would be called a buzzard rather than a true hawk. It is a rather small Buteo, 42 to 45 cm in length. It lives in the Andes mountains of South America and ranges down to the coast in the O’Higgins region of Chile, favoring wooded areas. It’s closely related to the more widely distributed Short-tailed Hawk and was...
The Hooded Crane (Grus monacha) is a small, dark colored crane. Its body is grey and the top of the head and neck is white, except for a patch of bare red skin above they eye. It’s one of the smallest cranes, but is still a fairly large bird, a 3.3 ft in length, weighing 8.2 pounds and a wingspan of 6.2 feet. It breeds in south-central and southeastern Siberia. Breeding is also assumed to occur in Mongolia. Over 80% of its population winters at Izumi, southern Japan. There are also...
The Great Egret (Ardea alba), also known as the Great White Egret, Large Egret, Great White Heron or Common Egret, is a large and widely distributed egret. Dispersed across most of the tropical and warmer temperate regions throughout the world, in southern Europe it’s rather localized. In North America it’s more widely distributed, and it’s everywhere across the Sun Belt of the United States and in the rainforests of South America. It’s occasionally confused with the Great White Heron...
The Great Knot (Calidris tenuirostris) is a small sized wader, although, it is the largest of the calidrid species. Their breeding habitat is tundra in the northeast parts of Siberia. They nest on the ground, laying about four eggs in a ground scrape. They are strongly migratory, wintering on the coasts in southern Asia through to Australia. This species forms extremely large flocks during the winter. It’s a rare vagrant to western Europe. This bird has short dark legs and a...
