Spring is rapidly approaching and many birds are hunting for the best nesting sites. Competition is fierce — especially for species that nest in tree hollows.
‘Fake news’ odours are protecting vulnerable birds and their offspring, including the banded dotterel.
Imogen Warren/Shutterstock
A world-first study inspected 900 bird nest specimens from 1823 to 2018. The types of debris the birds use reflect changes in Australian society over time.
The are massive numbers of bird species named after European surnames.
Shutterstock
Enabling wildlife to journey across farmlands not only benefits conservation, but also people. It means bees can improve crop pollination, and seed-dispersing birds can help restore ecosystems.
Coprophanaeus lancifer, a large seed-disperser dung beetle in the Amazon.
Hannah Griffiths
These hefty dinosaur birds stand as tall as humans, enough to dissuade most from getting too close. But how would they fare against each other in a fight? A wildlife expert places her bet.
We first encountered the letter in 2019, when a reader shared it with us. In it, Einstein discusses bees, birds and whether new physics principles could come from studying animal senses.
Hundreds of trees have been felled along Nairobi’s Uhuru and Waiyaki highways to make space for a new expressway.
CELINE CLERY/AFP via Getty Images
Nairobi harbours all the ingredients for zoonotic spillover to occur between animals and people, particularly in the most densely populated areas of the city.
When scientists first thought to deceive predators with bird smells, the idea seemed crazy. But after seeing how fake news messes with the minds of both humans and animals, it now makes sense.
Up-close encounter in the Central African Republic with a black bee-eater, Merops gularis.
Claire Loiseau
An ecologist describes her field research and work on the impact of human activity on birds and their pathogens, which has taken her from Alaska to the Gulf of Guinea.
Shorebirds gather by the thousands at important feeding and resting areas, but how individual birds move among sites remains a mystery.
Julian Garcia-Walther
Rather than constructing a nest, incubating eggs and feeding young, some birds deposit their eggs in the nests of other birds and trick them into doing the child rearing.
An adult fairy tern feeding a chick.
Claire Greenwell
Researcher and photographer Claire Greenwell explains why people are the biggest threat to nesting shorebirds, and the simple ways you can help keep them safe next time you’re at the beach.