Showing posts with the label Birds

Whiffling: The Art of Flying Upside Down

Aug 6, 2021

This image of a goose flying upside down captured by photographer Vincent Cornelissen has created a buzz online. In the viral photo, the g...

The Arrow Stork

Aug 3, 2021

Many birds fly extraordinarily great distances in search of warmer climate, food and favorable breeding grounds, a seasonal phenomenon we no...

Heroic War Pigeons

Mar 16, 2021

World War One, and to some extent, the Second World War, was a strange blend of archaic and modern technology. The First World War, in parti...

Pisonia: The Tree That Kills Birds

Mar 4, 2021

An overwhelming majority of plants depend upon birds and insects for seed dispersal. Plants attract pollinators by releasing aromatic compou...

The Granaries of Acorn Woodpecker

Jan 5, 2021

Woodpeckers are fascinating creatures. They hammer their bills into wood with force so ferocious that it would lead to concussion in any ani...

Glacier Birds

Oct 9, 2020

High in the Andes among frozen glaciers, where virtually nothing survives, a small and plump, blue-gray feathered bird lays eggs and raises ...

Vinkensport: Belgium’s Competitive Bird Calling

Sep 4, 2020

In the Flanders region of Belgium, a favorite pastime among the old Dutch-speaking folks is raising and training the common chaffinch ( Frin...

Barnacle Goose: The Bird That Was Believed to Grow on Trees

Mar 18, 2020

In the days before it was realized that birds migrate, ancient scholars struggled to explain why some species of birds appeared and disapp...

The Elephant Bird

Dec 17, 2019

Not too long ago, a gigantic, flightless bird roamed the island of Madagascar. It stood nearly 10 feet tall and weighed 700 kg. For centur...

The Pigeon Breeders of Cairo

Dec 3, 2019

Perched on rooftops across Cairo, like water tanks on elevated platforms, are rickety wooden cages where Cairenes keep their pigeons. Pigeo...

Megapode Egg Fields

Oct 2, 2019

Most birds incubate their eggs with body heat, but not megapodes, a chicken-sized bird with heavy body, short rounded wings and large, stron...

The Clay Licks of Amazon Rainforest

Aug 20, 2019

Macaws and parrots of the Amazon rainforest have developed a particular taste for clay. They collect in large numbers on exposed river banks...

The Avian Honeyguides of Africa

Jun 12, 2019

South of the great Sahara Desert in North Africa, there lives a bird called the greater honeyguide ( Indicator indicator ) that has develop...

How A Single Cat Hunted to Extinction The Entire Species of Stephens Island Wren

Jul 6, 2018

David Lyall held his breath as he made the first incision straight down the belly of a little mouse-like olive brown bird that lay on his de...

Canaries As Poisonous Gas Detectors

May 16, 2018

This peculiar device, in the collection of the Science Museum in South Kensington, London, looks like a tiny gas chamber a movie villain w...

The Pigeons Who Took Photos

Apr 25, 2018

At the turn of the last century, when aviation was still in its infancy, a German named Julius Neubronner submitted a patent for a new inven...

Unalaska: The Town Full of Bald Eagles

Apr 17, 2018

The bald eagle may be America’s national bird, but for the small Alaskan town of Unalaska, this majestic bird is little more than a pest. Th...

Copenhagen’s Urban Birdhouses

Nov 28, 2017

Thomas Dambo—you may remember him from a couple of months ago, where he constructed giant troll-like wooden sculptures and hid them around ...

The Decorative Birdhouses of Turkey

Aug 1, 2017

Turkish societies value animals greatly, especially birds which they believe bring good luck. The Turk's great love for the feathered sp...

Inca Tern: The Bird With A Magnificent Moustache

Feb 8, 2016

The Bougainville moustached kingfisher might be the one with word “moustache” in its name but it’s the dark grey plumaged Inca tern of the f...