Birds

The winners of the world’s largest bird photography contest have been revealed featuring a spectacular array of avian sights, from a hummingbird catching a droplet of water to a gorgeous snap of a rock ptarmigan launching off the top of a mountain.

For anyone with even a passing interest in ornithology, the annual Audubon Photography Awards is like Christmas in July. Now in its 13th year, the contest consistently delivers a spectacular collection of images highlighting rarely photographed bird behaviors.

Birds regularly eat large quantities of crops, and often become accustomed to stationary devices designed to scare them away. That's why scientists are now looking at using autonomous drones to do the job.

Greater mouse-eared bats are preyed upon by owls, but the owls themselves likely avoid hornets, for fear of getting stung. New research suggests that the bats take advantage of this fact, by buzzing like hornets to keep owls at bay.

BIG has produced a lot of out-of-the-box designs, but the firm's latest project is one of its most unusual. Looking like a large pinecone suspended among the trees, the Biosphere will offer a small treehouse-style hotel room covered in 350 birdhouses.

A new study has found that nearly half of all bald and golden eagles in the USA suffer from chronic and/or acute lead poisoning, which the research team believes is the result of these birds scavenging the remains of animals shot with lead bullets.

For a team of scientists in Australia, a recent research project hasn't quite gone to plan, with a group of tagged magpies promptly removing each other's tracking devices in a previously unsighted display of altruism.

Much as we may like pigeons, they can make quite a mess of buildings and other structures, potentially posing a health hazard. According to new research, autonomous drones may be ideal for harmlessly chasing the birds away.

For some time now, it has been known that modern birds are direct descendants of the dinosaurs. Now a fresh analysis of a fossilized dinosaur embryo has brought that prehistoric relationship into a new and particularly sharp focus.

Nature is an endless source of inspiration for robot design. Engineers at Stanford have now developed robotic claws inspired by the talons of a falcon, letting drones perch on many different surfaces, as well as grabbing or catching objects.

The California condor is one of the rarest birds in the world, but nature may be giving the species a leg-up. Scientists have found two condor chicks born from unfertilized eggs, in a form of asexual reproduction that’s extremely uncommon in birds.

Wild cockatoos have been seen making sets of tools, each with their own design and purpose, and using them in a specific order to crack into fruit. This behavior places them in an exclusive club that previously only included humans and some primates.