Study Shows Songbirds Switch From Bugs To Berries To Fuel Fall Migration
... berry-richhabitats. The numbers of many migratory songbird species are declining rapidlyworldwide. Fragmentation and destruction of both northern breeding and tropicalwintering habitat have been considered the most likely explanations. However,the Brown study suggests important aspects of the birds' migratio...Biotech Approach To Feral Cat Problem Devised
...hese feral cats are wreaking havoc on the nation's songbird population and raising public health concerns as they spread infectious diseases and alter delicate ecological balances. Controlling the birth rates of feral cats has proven a vexing task, since conventional spay and neuter techniques require surger...Fewer Songbirds May Be Result Of Forest Fragmentation Across The American South, New Study Suggests
...isk,but they have largely used quail eggs to mimic songbird eggs, and this may notgive a complete picture of what is happening to diminish reproductive success. "As an alternative to nest experiments that use quail eggs, someresearchers have used artificial nests with eggs constructed from clay," said......s Smith, researchers seeking clues aboutwidespread songbird declines using banding studies (in which birds are caught,tagged, and then released for later recapture) are limited by their inability tolink breeding and wintering populations of at-risk species. For example, of the142,000 Wilson's warblers banded ...Singing silently during sleep helps birds learn songs
...sound is produced. "From our data we suspect the songbird dreams of singing," said Daniel Margoliash, Ph.D.,... brain cells of four zebra finches, a well-studied songbird native to Australia that weighs only about half an ounce. The male zebra finch works hard to attra...Biologists uncover Darwins missing evidence for divergence of species in a warblers song
...ion. But in their study of the greenish warbler, a songbird that breeds in forests throughout much of temperat... place, in central Siberia, where two forms of the songbird coexist without interbreeding. "This creates a paradox in which the two co-existing forms can be co...Prescribed burning may threaten ground nesting birds
...or large-scale prescribed burning could change the songbird community in eastern deciduous forests....California gnatcatcher: Umbrella species failure?
...ve used the California gnatcatcher -- a threatened songbird -- as an umbrella species because it is virtually restricted to nesting in this habitat. To test how well the California gnatcatcher serves as an umbrella species, Rubinoff surveyed 50 coastal sage scrub patches in San Diego County for three insects...Researchers link migratory birds' winter, summer ranges
... understanding the elusive migratory patterns of a songbird species called the black-throated blue warbler. Th...ctivity between breeding and wintering ranges of a songbird species," said C. Page Chamberlain, Rubensteins undergraduate co-advisor and former professor in Dar...Clover strip-cropping in cotton provides critical habitat for threatened songbirds
...ms in cotton with regard to wildlife." Much of the songbird decline is linked to the loss of rural land, both here and in South America where many birds migrate for winter. Thousands of rural acres have been converted to apartment complexes, shopping areas, suburban housing -- even to pine plantations. In Sou...Songbird population declines linked to acid rain
...itat fragmentation. Population declines in other songbird species also could be attributable -- at least in part -- to acid rain, Hames says. "There are a number of other factors that we know can hurt populations of particular species. This is also true in the case of the wood thrush," he adds. "However, in...Male birds' ability to learn song affects female mating response
....C. -- Researchers have found that how well a male songbird learns his song affects the female's mating response the first evidence that female birds use song-learning ability as an indicator of male quality. The study goes beyond previous such studies, which have only demonstrated that very poor or absent m...More raccoons may mean fewer songbirds
...in Illinois. "Declines in vulnerable, low-nesting songbird species in Illinois have paralleled increases in raccoon populations," says Kenneth Schmidt of Texas Tech University in Lubbock in the August issue of Conservation Biology. Previous studies have shown that Illinois may be losing more songbirds than ...As autumn approaches, this chickadee's brain begins to expand
...strogen. Perhaps not surprisingly, the area of the songbird brain with the highest estrogen-making capability ...k, to look at estrogen-synthesizing neurons in the songbird hippocampus at the electron-microscope level. We may, in fact, be the only lab using this technology...Unfaithful songbirds increase offspring fitness
...g term study on the blue tit, a small hole-nesting songbird (Nature, October 16 2003). Through extra-pair copulations with distantly breeding males, females produce offspring that are more outbred and therefore genetically more diverse, compared to their half-siblings sired by the social father. Monogamy is r...Researchers find new form of hormone that helps songbirds reproduce
...s first identified in lampreys, is also present in songbird brains. The work by scientists from the University of Washington and the University of New Hampshire shows GnRH-III can trigger the release of luteinizing hormone from the pituitary gland and influence gonad growth, something only one of the other f...Avian flu: Shut down wild bird markets, experts say
... Program. The trade in wild birds for the pet and songbird trade in Asia is vast. For example, in Bangkok's weekend market during 25 weekends in one year alone, 70,000 birds representing 276 species from Asia Australia, Africa and South America were sold. In a single market in Java, Indonesia, between half ...Bird's song may be linked to speech disorders
..."Understanding how FoxP1 and FoxP2 function in the songbird may reveal significant insights into human vocal l...d. "We are getting a green light for studying the songbird to try to understand these genes." FoxP2 may interact with FoxP1, and both genes may be critical for......or Molecular Genetics, therefore asked whether the songbird FoxP2 carried sequence variations similar to those...ce Scharff, "or other variations that exist in the songbird version of the gene helped develop this ability". In collaboration with the Leipzig team of Max Plan...... Mexico will examine how geographic differences in songbird behavior and physiology relate to sex and, possibly, gender. Ketterson is a member of IU's Center for the Integrative Study of Animal Behavior. She is also president of the Kinsey Institute's Board of Governors and has a part-time appointment in IUB'...