Ornithology
Big beak, loud call
From a modest chirp to an ear-splitting call: in 123 bird species, body size and bill width together prove to be the main factors associated with how loud they can be.
Female migratory bird travels hundreds of kilometres while males incubate the eggs
Female dotterels, a northern European migratory bird, sometimes travel hundreds of kilometres after laying their eggs, whilst the male stays behind to incubate the eggs and raise the chicks. This atypical behaviour for female migratory birds – usually it is the male who makes himself scarce after fertilisation – was observed by ornithologists at the German Max Planck Institute after they tracked 21 female dotterels (Eudromias morinellus) fitted with transmitters during the breeding season (Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 2 September).
Birdsong is built from just eight universal elements
However diverse birdsong may be, every song is built from a palette of just eight building blocks.
Migration destination of the pied flycatcher is partly hardwired
Dutch pied flycatchers raised in Sweden do not simply follow their Swedish counterparts. Their African wintering area lies, on average, somewhere between that of Dutch and Swedish birds.
Controversial heat call may ‘pre-programme’ unborn zebra finch chicks for hot weather
Researchers say they have evidence that zebra finches prepare their offspring for heatwaves via a special call that influences brain development in the unborn chick. The findings have reignited a decade-long debate about the existence of this 'pre-programming'.
Pigeons use macrophages to navigate on cloudy days – ‘back to square one
Pigeons appear to use magnetic macrophages in their liver to find their way home on overcast days. This means that a possible iron-particle-based mechanism for bird navigation – previously dismissed – is back on the table.
Territorial rivalry drives the evolution of complex birdsong
In suboscines, song complexity is more strongly associated with territorial defence and ecological constraints than with sexual selection.
Birds keep sharp vision running on glucose alone
Birds maintain sharp vision with a retina that receives almost no oxygen. Danish researchers have now shown how this is possible: a specialised eye...
Declining gull
The common gull is not to blame, but does appear to have ended up in the PVV logo. An opportunistic bird that now depends above all on migration.
Desert bird caught between heat and darkness
Arabian babblers are increasingly seeking the cool of twilight. Photo: Zvika Ben-Haim.
Arabian babblers are shifting their daily rhythm towards the coolest hours of the...
