Latest news with #birds
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Zookeepers in Prague turn into puppeteers to save baby vultures
Zookeepers in Prague have become puppeteers to save newborn birds rejected by their parents. The latest was a lesser yellow-headed vulture chick which hatched three weeks ago. Bird keeper Antonin Vaidl said that when a dummy egg disappeared from the nest, it signalled to keepers that the parents were not ready to care for their two babies, despite doing so in 2022 and 2023. The first-born is being kept in a box and fed using a puppet designed to mimic a parent bird, while another is expected to hatch in the next few days. Mr Vaidl said the puppet is needed to make sure the bird will be capable of breeding, which it will not if it gets used to human interaction. He explained that the puppet does not have to be a perfect replica of an adult bird because the chick responds to certain signals, such as the pale orange coloration on its featherless head and neck. Lesser yellow-headed vultures live in the wild in Latin America and Mexico. Prague Zoo is one of only three zoos in Europe that breed them. In the past, the park successfully applied this treatment to save the critically endangered Javan green magpie and two rhinoceros hornbill chicks. The puppet-feeding technique is applicable for birds that live in pairs. 'The method has been working well,' Mr Vaidl said. 'We'll see what happens with the vultures.'
ABC News
a day ago
- Science
- ABC News
Heart rate spikes in birds who lead flock
Sabra Lane: Have you ever watched a flock of birds and wondered about the leading bird? Turns out being the leader is stressful. A new study on birds in Kenya has found spiking heart rates among those leading a flock, especially when it's an unpopular move. Isabel Moussalli prepared this report. Isabel Moussalli: In central Kenya, a flock of vulturine guinea fowl running through the bush is quite a sight. Damien Farine: They're big birds, they're one and a half to two kilos, so like almost chicken size. In fact, they're related to the chickens and on their breasts they have this incredible blue cobalt colouring that's very vivid. I think it's one of the most striking blues in the animal kingdom. Isabel Moussalli: ANU Associate Professor Damien Farine was also struck by how they behave. They stay with their group for life, which is more commonly seen among primates. Damien Farine: So this cohesion that they maintain over time is really important for them. It allows them to sort of survive together and then breed together. But it also introduces new challenges for them, which is that they have to somehow reconcile the differences among group members and what to do next. Isabel Moussalli: Using heart rate monitors and GPS trackers attached to the guinea fowl, Professor Farine and his team studied the birds over four months. They wanted to know if leading the flock comes at a cost. Damien Farine: And what we found is that the individuals that are engaging in this leadership process or in this movement initiations, they actually in some cases have a higher heart rate. And we found this is particularly the case in situations when they're trying to lead and there's a lot of conflict about which directions to go. So when other individuals are trying to go in a very different direction at the same time. Isabel Moussalli: The researchers found heart rates also spike when a bird tries to lead the group, fails to win them over and then has to come back. Whether vulturine guinea fowls suffer embarrassment is unclear, but those who simply wait for others to take charge may be using their bird brain. Damien Farine: Some individuals seem to opt out from trying to lead. So either they don't necessarily need something right now and so they choose not to engage in leadership or they simply rarely engage in leadership and typically just follow what the group does. And they're probably doing this because the costs of trying actually outweigh the benefits of being successful. Isabel Moussalli: Professor Amanda Ridley is a behavioural ecologist at the University of Western Australia and wasn't involved in this study. Amanda Ridley: We have to be a little bit cautious when we conclude things about stress when we have elevated heart rate. Certainly it can be stress, but we need to be able to rule out excitement as well. And the study did attempt to quantify those differences and it does make the point that it is kind of a proof of concept study and it needs to be looked at more widely. Sabra Lane: Professor Amanda Ridley from the University of Western Australia ending that report by Isabel Moussalli.
CBS News
3 days ago
- Health
- CBS News
Record number of injured birds brought in to University of Minnesota's Raptor Center
The University of Minnesota's Raptor Center says a record number of birds are being brought in for injuries. "It's been a record-setting year. And last year was a record-setting year," said Interim Executive Director Lori Arendt. During the summer months, it's not unusual to see an uptick in eagles, owls, and hawks being brought into the U of M's Raptor Center. What is unusual is the record pace at which they're being brought in. "This morning, we were at 679 for the year. And last year we were at about 550," said Arendt. "We have birds that are hit by cars, by windows, that get caught in buildings and are hit by ceiling fans." Arendt said weather is a big part of the uptick. A milder winter means more mice. And more mice means more food for raptors, which in turn, means the population soars. "Our baby season has just been really, really busy," said Arendt. Those same chicks have fallen victim to storms and high winds, which have knocked down raptor nests. The wet spring can be blamed for more cases of West Nile Virus among the birds. Some mosquitoes carry the virus and they've been thriving in this weather. "We've already admitted more than 40 birds that we suspect have succumbed to the virus," said Arendt. The Raptor Center said their facilities are nearly full, workers are getting overtime, and they are relying on volunteers to fill the gaps. With more birds coming into contact with vehicles and viruses, Arendt thinks this could be a sign of things to come. "We are really looking at how can we be prepared for this higher case load and higher number or raptors that we are admitting to our hospital. How can we be proactive, so we are better prepared for it," said Arendt. As of May 31, the Raptor Center had 80 raptor babies admitted into their clinic, which is 30 more than their record high during the spring of 2023.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Attack of the clever crows
Bruce M. Beehler is a naturalist and author, whose books include 'Birds of Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia,' and, most recently, 'Flight of the Godwit.' Few of us who were of moviegoing age in 1963 can forget Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds,' a horror thriller set in Bodega Bay, California, that pitted flocks of angry crows, seagulls and other avians against Tippi Hedren and a cast of undeserving human victims. Particularly gruesome was the demise by crow attack of the likable schoolteacher played by Suzanne Pleshette. Though its thesis was preposterous, the film has gained in popularity over the years — adding to the already uncertain reputation of crows. In general, crows elicit mixed reviews. They are intelligent, clever and innovative birds. But they are also feisty, conniving and predatory — known to pluck songbird eggs (and nestlings) from nests while helpless parent birds stand by and watch. Crows also get their reputation from their curiosity and cunning, as well as their occasional interactions with humans. A recent development in our area demonstrates just how remarkable these birds really are. I live in the little southwestern Bethesda neighborhood of Brookmont, which overlooks Lock 5 of the C&O Canal and the Potomac River above Little Falls. Brookmont does not usually produce a great deal of excitement on the birding front. But lately, we have been seeing extraordinary behavior among our local fish crows (the lesser-known of the two crow species inhabiting the D.C. region). For the 30-plus years my wife and I have lived here, fish crows have maintained a low profile. That abruptly changed this past spring. We were surprised over several days to find small parties of crows boldly settling onto our back porch, perching here and there, and showing little fear. Our dog, Scout, noticed and disliked the crows' presence. When we opened the back door, she would launch out barking at these unwelcome visitors. We didn't know why the crows were on our porch, but we rightly assumed they were up to no good. Our nearest neighbors mentioned that they, too, were being visited by these crows, which they said were coming to harvest the stuffing from porch pillows to use in their nests. The birds actively attacked the pillows, snipping open the seams to get to the innards. When I queried the neighborhood via our email discussion group, more than 20 people replied that they had witnessed this same remarkable phenomenon. One even sent me photographs of the crows in action. The birds were no doubt collecting the pillow stuffing to use as a soft inner lining to their large stick nests, to cosset the eggs and nestlings. Traditionally, the fish crow's nest lining is provided by bark, moss, plant fibers, mammal hair or pine needles. Brookmont's porches, it seems, offered an abundance of outdoor cushions filled with an all-new, fluffy and readily available nesting material. That I was able to document dozens of reports of pillow-stuffing harvest from this spring indicates two interesting developments. First, one of the neighborhood crows must have somehow discovered the utility of pillow stuffing and learned how to crack open a cushion. Second, this clever bird must have then educated other crows in the neighborhood about this potential nesting-material bonanza. The pillow attacks are typically carried out by groups of four or five birds. I'm guessing these groups include experienced individuals who know the drill, and followers wishing to learn from the experienced birds. This is an example of cultural learning in the fish crow. Without speaking, one crow informs others about a novel discovery so that members of the neighborhood assemblage (some of whom are most likely close relatives) can benefit. The most famous historical example of avian cultural learning involved chickadee relatives — blue tits and great tits — in 1920s England. The birds learned to remove the caps from glass milk bottles delivered to front-door stoops in the early morning and then sip the bottle's tasty and nutritious contents. Over the decades, birds that learned this clever trick spread the knowledge to more and more of their fellows throughout Britain. More remarkably, this knowledge was eventually spread across the English Channel to Western Europe, proving that birds are more than unthinking avian robots and can indeed learn from one another. That this learning transmission can be rapid is demonstrated by the sudden spread of the fish crow pillow attacks across Brookmont. But there is more. Like the birds in 'The Birds,' which no longer feared the humans who had taken over their habitat, the small groups of fish crows visiting our porches are unusually bold, often standing their ground when homeowners approach. That's not the retiring fish crow we're used to! The birds' behavior might actually be evolving. If it is, let's hope their newfound audacity stops at outdoor furniture and doesn't develop into more Hitchcockian aggression. After all, these days, given humans' seemingly ever-growing onslaught against nature, our wild birds might have a legitimate reason to push back.
CBC
6 days ago
- Science
- CBC
Bald eagle makes surprise appearance in Rankin Inlet
A bald eagle was seen chowing down on a fish caught in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, this week. There have been a lot of eagles spotted in the community this year. Some Inuit say it's unusual to see the birds this far north, while a wildlife biologist says before breeding, eagles will fly far distances.
