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The Bird Way: A Book Review

10,000 Birds

For one thing, we become more aware of cultural biases in our science (new findings on warbling female birds, for example, reveal both gender and geographic biases). Many popular science books have neither. As Ackerman explains in her Introduction, studying extreme behavior brings new insight into what we think we know.

Research 233
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Honey, I Shrunk The Dinosaurs!

10,000 Birds

There is a fantastic paper just out in Science : “Sustained miniaturization and anatomoical innovation in the dinosaurian anceestors of birds” by Michael Lee, Andrea Cau, Darren Naishe and Gareth Dyke. Whales emerge from within the larger group of mammals that includes cattle, deer, pigs, camels, with camels being the most deeply rooted.

Camels 202
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15 Australian Birds (Episode 2)

10,000 Birds

Quite likely, these birds are also the inspiration for Australian science communicator Dr. Karl Kruszelnicki. Honeyeaters are a large bird family (190 species) with a strong presence in Australia. If I was a Rainbow Lorikeet, I would probably only go outside at night, when darkness covers my exuberant colors. ” (HBW).

Australia 204
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Great Tit Telomeres, Baby Talk, Brainy Birds

10,000 Birds

Third, which we already suspected, bird brains are adjusted to provide extra smartness in a way not seen in mammals. They used Great T**s from non-urban and urban areas, and mixed them up through breeding, to rule out any possible family history of telomere length. City Great Tit ( Parus major ) telomeres shortened.

Mammals 112
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Tembe Elephant Park, South Africa

10,000 Birds

I wasn’t there to birdwatch, however, I was volunteering with Wildlife ACT, a conservation organisation that provides science monitoring to the parks of Zululand in South Africa (and increasingly, beyond). It was pretty awesome to see so many tuskers, as well as families of elephants safe in their special park.

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Flock to Marion

10,000 Birds

A family motel and passion for responsible ecotourism brought her home to the Oregon Coast where she and her husband, Erik, adventure and record a podcast ( Hannah and Erik Go Birding ), created in an effort to inspire others to get out and bird. It is still volcanically active with researchers periodically discovering new flows.

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Songbird-parrot link strengthened in new study, with implications for vocal learning

10,000 Birds

The post stimulated some great discussions but not really any additional commentary on the science behind these proposed relationships. Last month, I wrote about hypothesized relationships between passerines, parrots, falcons, and seriemas , noting a need for further research on the subject.

Parrots 193