http://www.physorg.com/ en-us Physorg.com internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. (AP) -- Federal wildlife officials say they plan to spend more than $14 million to prevent the extinction of the Hawaiian crow, one of the rarest forest birds in the world. http://www.physorg.com/news159344591.html Biology Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:23:29 EST news159344591 (AP) -- A fuzzy fledgling of Bermuda's national bird, spotted on a secluded offshore sanctuary this week, may help bring the rare creature back from the brink of extinction. http://www.physorg.com/news159175737.html Biology Fri, 17 Apr 2009 08:29:36 EST news159175737 Where do birds get their red feathers from? According to Esther del Val, from the National History Museum in Barcelona, Spain, and her team, the red carotenoids that give the common crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) its red coloration are produced in the liver, not the skin, as previously thought. Their findings, published online in Springer's journal Naturwissenschaften, have implications for understanding the evolution of color signaling in bird species. http://www.physorg.com/news159013897.html Biology Wed, 15 Apr 2009 11:32:11 EST news159013897 Bird migrations are likely to get longer according to the first ever study of the potential impacts of climate change on the breeding and winter ranges of migrant birds. http://www.physorg.com/news158992205.html Biology Wed, 15 Apr 2009 05:30:39 EST news158992205 (AP) -- For millennia, people have watched the birds and bees and wondered: "How do they do that?" Thanks to high-speed film and some persistent scientists, at least one of the secrets of flight is now revealed. When birds, bats or bugs make a turn, all they have to do is start flapping their wings normally again and they straighten right out. http://www.physorg.com/news158516858.html Biology Thu, 09 Apr 2009 17:28:16 EST news158516858 Long-term global warming is prompting North American birds to winter farther north -- a trend more noticeable in Alaska than anywhere else in the nation, according to a new study by the National Audubon Society. http://www.physorg.com/news158261792.html Space & Earth Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:36:52 EST news158261792 We all know that people sometimes change their behavior when someone is looking their way. Now, a new study reported online on April 2nd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, shows that jackdaws -birds related to crows and ravens with eyes that appear similar to human eyes -can do the same. http://www.physorg.com/news157897513.html Biology Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:25:38 EST news157897513 When tiny semipalmated sandpipers embark on their annual odyssey from the Canadian Arctic to their winter residences in South America, they set out on one of the world's longest migrations. On the way, the tiny birds stop off at the Bay of Fundy on the Canadian east coast, where they spend two weeks gorging on a superfood, Corophium volutator (mud shrimps), which have some of the highest levels of n-3 fatty acids (better known as omega-3 fatty acids) of any marine animal. http://www.physorg.com/news157350358.html Biology Fri, 27 Mar 2009 05:29:10 EST news157350358 After almost 120 years in the Natural History Museum collections, a new Colombian bird has been discovered, and proclaimed extinct. http://www.physorg.com/news157304550.html Biology Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:43:29 EST news157304550 (AP) -- Hawaii's native avian population is in peril, with nearly all the state's birds in danger of becoming extinct, a federal report says. http://www.physorg.com/news156751854.html Biology Fri, 20 Mar 2009 07:11:32 EST news156751854 (AP) -- As the Obama administration pursues more homegrown energy sources, a new government report faults energy production of all types - wind, ethanol and mountaintop coal mining - for contributing to steep drops in bird populations. http://www.physorg.com/news156708028.html Biology Thu, 19 Mar 2009 19:01:06 EST news156708028 (PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers studying the behaviour of the stunningly coloured Gouldian finch have made an exciting discovery - females of the species deliberately overproduce sons when breeding with a male of a different head colour. http://www.physorg.com/news156706578.html Biology Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:38:17 EST news156706578 Female birds often choose their mates based on fancy feathers. Female mammals, on the other hand, may be more likely to follow their noses to the right mate. That's one conclusion of Cambridge zoologist Tim Clutton-Brock and Harvard researcher Katherine McAuliffe, whose review of evidence for female mate choice is published in the March 2009 issue of The Quarterly Review of Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news156523249.html Biology Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:41:28 EST news156523249 An oil spill polluting popular tourist beaches on Australia's northeast coast is 10 times worse than originally reported, according to the state government. http://www.physorg.com/news156269394.html Space & Earth Sat, 14 Mar 2009 17:10:17 EST news156269394 The long tails sported by many male birds in the tropics look like they're a drag to carry around and a distinct disadvantage when fleeing predators, but experiments by University of California, Berkeley, biologists shows that they exact only a minimal cost in speed or energy - at least in hummingbirds. http://www.physorg.com/news156075588.html Biology Thu, 12 Mar 2009 11:20:10 EST news156075588 The wide-open spaces of the Flint Hills may no longer provide a secure home on the range for several familiar grassland birds, according to research by a Kansas State University ecologist and her colleagues. http://www.physorg.com/news155305199.html Biology Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:20:34 EST news155305199 An outbreak of bird flu has been reported on a quail farm in central Japan but no animals have died and no humans have been infected, the agriculture ministry said Friday. http://www.physorg.com/news154956618.html Medicine & Health Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:30:44 EST news154956618 Researchers at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) have documented that a variety of North American bird species are extending their breeding ranges to the north, adding to concerns about climate change, according to a study published by the journal Global Change Biology. http://www.physorg.com/news154793277.html Biology Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:09:40 EST news154793277 A team of scientists, led by the University of Exeter, has used game theory to explain the bizarre behaviour of a group of ravens. Juvenile birds from a roost in North Wales have been observed adopting the unusual strategy of foraging for food in 'gangs'. New research, published in the journal PLoS One (on Wednesday 25 February 2009), explains how this curious behaviour can be predicted by adapting models more commonly used by economists to analyse financial trends. http://www.physorg.com/news154767795.html Other Sciences Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:03:52 EST news154767795 In late 2007, hundreds of dead and stranded seabirds washed up on the shores of Monterey Bay, their feathers saturated with water and coated with an unknown substance. After an intensive investigation, scientists determined that a massive "red tide" bloom of marine algae had produced a foamy soap-like substance that stripped the natural waterproofing from the birds' feathers. http://www.physorg.com/news154446627.html Space & Earth Sat, 21 Feb 2009 13:52:09 EST news154446627 Following trends is a lifesaving instinct, at least for birds, and provides clues that can be applied across the animal kingdom. New research from Université de Montréal published in Biology Letters, shows that Herring and Ring-billed gulls not only watch their neighbours - they mimic their behaviour to assure their survival. Contrary to previous beliefs, this study suggests that animals don't necessarily act independently and that they cue on reactions from other members of their group. http://www.physorg.com/news154350852.html Biology Fri, 20 Feb 2009 11:14:37 EST news154350852 (PhysOrg.com) -- `What you see is what you get` often is the mantra in the highly competitive life of birds, as they use brilliant displays of color to woo females for mating. Now researchers are finding that carotenoids - the compounds responsible for amping up red, orange and yellow colors of birds - also may play a role in color perception and in a bird`s ability to reproduce, making it a cornerstone in birds` vitality. http://www.physorg.com/news153759202.html Biology Fri, 13 Feb 2009 14:53:57 EST news153759202 (PhysOrg.com) -- An important British seabird has been tracked for the first time using miniature positioning loggers. The results are giving a team led by Oxford University zoologists information that could help conserve wildlife around Britain`s shores. http://www.physorg.com/news151772504.html Biology Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:02:11 EST news151772504 Chickens kept in litter-based housing systems, including free-range chickens, are more prone to disease than chickens kept in cages, according to a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica. http://www.physorg.com/news151225332.html Biology Thu, 15 Jan 2009 07:02:12 EST news151225332 The earliest known bird, the magpie-sized Archaeopteryx, had a similar hearing range to the modern emu, which suggests that the 145 million-year-old creature - despite its reptilian teeth and long tail - was more birdlike than reptilian, according to new research published today. http://www.physorg.com/news151139884.html Other Sciences Wed, 14 Jan 2009 07:18:04 EST news151139884 (PhysOrg.com) -- A treasure trove of information about pre-human New Zealand has been found in faeces from giant extinct birds, buried beneath the floor of caves and rock shelters for thousands of years. http://www.physorg.com/news150976795.html Biology Mon, 12 Jan 2009 09:59:55 EST news150976795 (PhysOrg.com) -- University of Manchester researchers are investigating the breathing mechanics of birds to help farmers breed fit, healthy turkeys with bigger, juicier breast meat. http://www.physorg.com/news148914933.html Biology Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:15:33 EST news148914933 (PhysOrg.com) -- To many people, bird song can herald the coming of spring, reveal what kind of bird is perched nearby or be merely an unwelcome early morning intrusion. But to Sandra Vehrencamp, Cornell professor of neurobiology and behavior, bird song is a code from which to glean insights into avian behavior. http://www.physorg.com/news148839199.html Biology Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:13:19 EST news148839199 (PhysOrg.com) -- Endangered native birds are at risk of losing their instinct to recognise and flee mammalian enemies when moved between predator-free and predator-filled sites, says a Massey researcher. http://www.physorg.com/news148744768.html Biology Wed, 17 Dec 2008 13:59:28 EST news148744768 The reorganization of neural activity during sleep helps young songbirds to develop the vocal skills they display while awake, University of Chicago researchers have found. http://www.physorg.com/news148487295.html Biology Sun, 14 Dec 2008 14:28:15 EST news148487295