birds

Every year, the Eternal City plays host to millions of migrating starlings. That creates problems — slippery, splattery problems. Falcons have been enlisted to drive them away, but have failed.

It can take more than just a keen ear to figure out what animals are saying. Sometimes, scientists are learning, you have to talk back to map the rich networks of conversation in a forest.

With wingspans over 9 feet long, California condors are so big that they're at risk for electrocution when they fly into or land on power poles. One San Diego program seeks to change this behavior.

The ribs of a 240 million-year-old fossil hold clues to how the first turtle shell evolved. And its skull shape seems closer to that of lizards and snakes than to an ancestor of dinosaurs and birds.

Wild swans — which all belong by law to the queen — are among Britain's most cherished birds. But there's been an uptick in incidents of neglect and cruelty. Some swans are even being eaten.

Hoping to help trace the history of how velociraptors evolved into birds, researchers at Harvard and Yale may have tracked a key beak transformation to two genes.

Birders especially know that Cuba harbors hundreds of rarely seen, little-studied species. As the island nation opens to more U.S. visitors, scientists hope "green Cuba" can survive increased tourism.