Each year, the arrival and departure of migratory birds herald the changing seasons and fill us with wonder for the natural world. Have you ever wondered about all the dangers they face en route ...

Each year, billions of migratory birds switch between spring/summer breeding grounds and overwintering grounds, although their movements vary greatly between species and populations. Their journey may ...

The advice to ‘sleep with one eye open’ is often offered in situations where extreme vigilance is needed, to avoid being caught off-guard. For many birds, their survival depends on their ability to ...

Anyone who has taken a few moments to watch birds feeding in a yard, swimming on a lake or soaring overhead will have noticed the remarkable diversity in bird behavior and how birds are adapted to ...

Plumage is usually the first thing that we notice about a bird, using its colorings and markings to help with the positive and accurate identification of different species. But the colors and patterns ...

Bird migration has captured our imagination throughout history, although a solid understanding of avian movements has remained elusive until relatively recently. Modern science and technology have ...

Like ourselves, birds need to sleep to rest, recover from their activities, and remove waste built up in the brain. The way they sleep is actually pretty similar to ourselves, although these ...

Once breeding is complete, thousands of birds around the world, from tiny warblers and seabirds to cranes, swans and pelicans, undertake migration journeys to wintering grounds. Ranging from a few ...

Imagine being able to ‘cheat’ the seasons and live in an everlasting summer, or at least avoid the worst of the winter chill. Well, many birds do just that. The power of flight enables avians to move ...

Birds possess an incredibly efficient uni-directional respiratory system, necessary for energy-expensive activities like sustained flights during migration, acrobatic hovering and hawking, and ...

The avian beak is a specialized structure that birds rely on for everything from feeding to nesting. The diversity of bill shapes and sizes also clearly demonstrates that a one-size-fits-all approach ...

Have you ever heard the old one-liner - ‘Nothing sucks seeds like a budgie without a beak’? It’s not exactly the joke of the century, but it does hint at the incredible importance of the bill in bird ...