According to a new study reported by NPR, Great Tit songbirds—common across Europe and Asia—sometimes “divorce” after the breeding season, splitting from their partners before the next spring. Researchers from the University of Oxford, led by PhD student Adelaide Abraham, tracked these birds with small radio tags to better understand their social patterns. What they […]
Tag: songbirds
Hawaii’s Drone Mission to Save Endangered Birds by Dropping Mosquitoes
In an unusual turn of events, drones in Hawaii are being used to drop mosquitoes into remote forests—an effort to save the state’s endangered birds. According to environmental correspondent Benji Jones at Vox, this unique method is part of a broader initiative to tackle an extinction crisis triggered by invasive mosquitoes. The problem began in […]
Weatherwatch: How ecologists are helping birds adapt to climate crisis
How do you help a migratory bird adapt to the climate crisis? One radical solution, as a team of Dutch ecologists discovered, is to move them further north. Pied flycatchers are handsome black-and-white songbirds, which breed in deciduous woodlands across much of temperate Europe. Each autumn, they head south across the Sahara desert to overwinter […]
Crows Only Known Animals Other Than Humans That Can Differentiate Between Geometric Shapes
Crows are widely known to be one of the most intelligent animals on the planet, along with elephants, chimpanzees, orangutans and dolphins. A new study has revealed that at least one crow species can recognize regularity in geometric shapes — the ability to pick out a shape that differs from others — a skill previously […]
Nearly 20,000 animals seized in global wildlife trafficking crackdown
Big cats, birds, primates and pangolins were among the nearly 20,000 threatened or protected animals rescued in a recent global operation against wildlife and forestry traffickers. Led by Interpol and the World Customs Organization (WCO), the campaign, called Operation Thunder 2024, involved police, customs, border patrol, forestry and wildlife officials from 138 countries and regions. […]
Songbirds being killed by pesticides found in pet fur flea treatments
Songbird chicks are being killed by high levels of pesticides in the pet fur used by their parents to line their nests, a study has found. Researchers surveying nests for the harmful chemical found in pet flea treatments found that it was present in every single nest. The scientists from the University of Sussex are […]
Songbirds Have In-Flight ‘Conversations’ With Other Species During Migration, Study Shows
If you were a bird flying thousands of miles over land or sea with other migrating birds, what would you talk about to pass the time? Songbirds may converse with other species during their long migrations, forming social bonds and possibly exchanging information about the flight, according to a new study led by researchers at […]
No signs of slowdown in wildlife trafficking in 2024 as demand persists
Wildlife trafficking remains a pressing threat to the survival of countless species, with sharks, pangolins, rhinos, birds, big cats and others among the hardest hit. Mongabay’s extensive reporting aligns with the 2024 U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) World Wildlife Crime Report, which highlights these species as prime targets of a $20 billion per […]