The Canada jay recently had its name restored, but Canada still doesn’t have a national bird.
(Shutterstock)
Until very recently the Canada jay was called the gray jay. How did the bird lose its original name in the 1950s, and gain it back again, just in time for Canada Day?
shutterstock.
London should be one giant pigeon cemetery, but you rarely see the bodies.
Male spiny leaf insect, Extatosoma tiaratum.
James O’Hanlon
Stick insects may be using birds to disperse their eggs, just as plant do.
Nik Borrow/Flickr
For decades, state and federal governments have shed environmental budgets and staff. Now it’s up to volunteers to fill the gap.
shutterstock.
The bird faces a wave of challenges – from climate change to human hunters.
Resurrecting dinosaurs might not be so easy.
pixabay/azdude
Jurassic Park’s dinosaur DNA premise is not so simple in real life
Phillip M Krzeminski
New research shows that ground-dwelling birds were more likely to survive the mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period.
A white-throated swallow, one of several intra-African migratory birds.
MartinMaritz/Shutterstock
There are hundreds of variations on the basic ‘flavour’ of bird migration.
Thomas Alerstam
Migrating to Europe changed the immune systems of birds who no longer needed to worry about African diseases.
The male cardinal tenderly feeding his mate is just one example of the hard work wild animals undertake in springtime. That work often benefits humans.
(Shutterstock)
Wild animals are hard at work this spring. Here’s how their hard labour benefits humans, and why we should be more appreciative.
Great tit takes off.
IURII FEDOROV/Shutterstock
City living isn’t for everyone, but certain birds can prosper in the environment.
Trumpeter swans wintering at the Seedskadee National Wildlife Refuge in Wyoming.
Tom Koerner, USFWS/Flickr
The Trump administration is narrowing protection for migratory birds to cover only deliberate harm such as hunting, but not threats like development or pollution that kill millions of birds yearly.
A male hihi on a flowering flax bush.
Mhairi McCready
Inbreeding and male infertility could be impeding the recovery of one of New Zealand’s threatened birds - the stitchbird, or hihi. Hihi sperm might hold the answer, and help raise funds for conservation.
John James Audubon’s ‘Carolina Parakeets.’
Wikimedia Commons
The last Carolina parakeet died in a zoo a century ago. A scientist tries to unravel some of this bird’s lasting mysteries.
A giant swallowtail butterfly feeds from the flower of an alternate-leaved dogwood.
(Nina Zitani)
We’re in the middle of an Insectageddon. But a garden of native plants can help insects, as well as birds and other wildlife.
A pair of Rainbow Lorikeets in a garden feeder.
Flickr/john skewes
Feeding wild birds is discouraged in Australia despite its popularity in other countries. But many Australians still put food out for the birds, and that’s not a problem if it’s the right food.
Hatchling southern African pythons bask outside the nest chamber.
Graham Alexander
Mating in southern African pythons is a serious business, and is rarely just a one-night stand
Marcella Cheng/The Conversation
To stay up, the bird must overcome gravity with a force called ‘lift’.
Seagulls travel together in groups, but prefer to be alone when they feel sick.
bertknot/flickr
Birds can usually sense when they are not feeling well and like many other creatures, seem to seek out-of-the-way places to be alone.
A drone image of a breeding colony of Greater Crested Terns. Researchers used plastic bird decoys to replicate this species in an experiment that compared different ways of counting wildlife.
Jarrod Hodgson
A few thousand fake ducks, a group of experienced wildlife spotters and a drone have proven the usefulness and accuracy of drones for wildlife monitoring.