birds

A rook at Puy du Fou theme park in France uses a special box designed to receive trash and reward the bird with food.

French Theme Park Asks: Crows Can Pick Up Trash, Why Can't You?

3:19pm August 13, 2018

by Camila Domonoske

A team of six trained birds — rooks, actually — is collecting paper and cigarette stubs at the Puy du Fou park in western France. They drop the trash into a container in exchange for food.

Jane Tansell, one of the two handlers responsible for the rodent detection dogs, looks on from the background as a seal stares down the camera on South Georgia Island earlier this year.

Massive Eradication Effort Ends Rodents' Reign Of Terror On Forbidding Isle

8:09pm May 10, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

Since humans came to South Georgia Island centuries ago, rats have terrorized rare native birds. But an ambitious project, using some plucky canine aides, has cleared the frigid wilderness.

A CT-scan image of the skull of an ancient bird shows how one of the earliest bird beaks worked as a pincer, in the way beaks of modern birds do, but also had teeth left over from dinosaur ancestors. The animal, called Ichthyornis, lived around 100 millio

How Did Birds Lose Their Teeth And Get Their Beaks? Study Offers Clues

5:14pm May 02, 2018

by Rebecca Hersher

Modern birds are dinosaurs without toothy jaws, and with bigger brains. Newly published research fills in some of the missing links in their evolution.

A chick embryo, sealed inside its egg, must find a way to get oxygen without its mom — and long before it has working lungs.

Science

How Birds-To-Be Get Oxygen Inside Eggs

5:45am April 17, 2018

Unlike humans, bird embryos don't have an oxygen pipeline from their mothers. They develop inside eggs in a nest. Skunk Bear's latest video explains why these pre-hatchlings don't suffocate.

Gulls compete for the airborne material at Toronto's Cherry Beach.

World News

Canadian Hotel Forgives Guest 17 Years After Flock Of Seagulls Trashed His Room

3:38pm April 04, 2018

by Scott Neuman

When Nick Burchill stayed at the Fairmont Empress hotel in Victoria, Canada, in 2001, he left the window open and a suitcase full of pepperoni in his room. The birds saw an opportunity.

Ocellated turkeys stand out for their bright blue heads and iridescent feathers. They're still around the Yucatan today.

Science

Ancient Turkey Bones In Mexico Reveal A Strange Relationship With Humans

2:08pm January 31, 2018

by Menaka Wilhelm

New tests reveal humans have long raised the birds, and not just for food. Ancient Mesoamericans were buried with turkeys, perhaps as snacks, companions or status symbols. There was even a turkey god.

Thousands of starlings in flight over Ireland.

World News

WATCH: Starlings Perform Acrobatic Life-Or-Death Dance With A Hungry Falcon

3:21pm January 22, 2018

by Colin Dwyer

In a video posted by Birdwatch Ireland, a murmuration of starlings dips and dodges a predator with grace. The scene was just one of many such spectacles filling the skies of southern Ireland lately.

A peregrine falcon in Germany. A new study finds the birds are able to dive at high speeds and catch moving prey using a mathematical principle that also guides missiles.

Science

Peregrine Falcons Attack Like Missiles To Grab Prey Midair, Scientists Find

3:57pm December 04, 2017

by Rebecca Hersher

The same guidance principle that governs how missiles intercept moving targets also describes how the falcons, which are known to dive at 200 mph or more, plummet to catch their prey.

National

Baby Animal Profile: Whetu, The Kiwi Chick

5:54pm November 20, 2017

by Rebecca Feldhaus Adams

Whetu, an almost 4-month-old brown kiwi at the Smithsonian Conservation Biological Institute, is the first female born to her parents. She enjoys staying up all night, eating worms and burrowing.

Oklahoma City Thunder's Carmelo Anthony shoots over Minnesota Timberwolves' Jimmy Butler during a game Friday in Minneapolis. The Thunder had a rocky flight to Chicago after the game.

National

Oklahoma City Thunder Plane Lands With Surprise Damage, Shaken Athletes

6:30pm October 28, 2017

by Amy Held

A Delta spokeswoman said a bird is the likely culprit for the caved-in nose of the plane, although crews are still investigating.