Chinese Blackbirds (Turdus mandarinus) mimic electric moped sounds with lower consistency and frequencies
June 2025
Passerine mimics often imitate various vocalizations from other bird species and incorporate these sounds into their song repertoires. While a few anecdotes reported that wild songbirds imitated human-associated...
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Negative effects of artificial nest boxes on birds: A review
2023
Artificial nest boxes are placed to attract birds to nest and breed in a specific location, and they are widely used in avian ecology research and in the attraction of insectivorous birds. There is...
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A review of eDNA technology in avian monitoring: Current status, challenges and future perspectives
June 2025
In recent years, environmental DNA (eDNA) has garnered significant attention as a novel tool in biodiversity monitoring, recognized for its efficiency, convenience, and non-invasiveness. Despite its...
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Vultures as a model for testing molecular adaptations of dietary specialization in birds
2023
Vultures are the only obligate scavengers among extant vertebrates. They provide valuable ecological services in ecosystems through removing carcasses, thus preventing the growth of other scavenger...
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Transcontinental evolutionary dynamics and phylogeography of Alectoris (Aves: Galliformes): Identifying refugia, dispersal corridors, and cryptic diversity in the Palearctic region
Available online 16 May 2025
The Alectoris (Galliformes: Phasianidae) has a wide distribution range in the Palearctic region, with seven species and 27 to 31 subspecies that were distinguishable by minor morphological differences....
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Shallow water habitats provide high-quality foraging environments for the Spoon-billed Sandpiper at a critical staging site
June 2025
Abundant food supply is crucial for the survival of long-distance migratory birds. The continued population decline of the Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Calidris pygmeae), a critically endangered shorebird,...
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eDNA enhances detection efficiency but reveals lower waterbird diversity: A comparison with point counting method
June 2025
Environmental DNA (eDNA) methods have emerged as a promising tool for studying a broad spectrum of biological taxa. However, metabarcoding studies of avian biodiversity using eDNA have received little...
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Migration pattern of a population of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) breeding in East Asian tropical region
2024
Birds exhibit a high degree of migratory diversity, which is influenced by various ecological factors and life history strategies. Conducting studies on tropical bird migration, of which research is...
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Phylogenetic definitions for 25 higher-level clade names of birds
2022
Knowledge of the higher-level phylogenetic relationships of birds has grown substantially during the past two decades due to the application of genomic data. However, the nomenclature of higher-level...
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Visual cognition of birds and its underlying neural mechanism: A review
2022
Birds have acute vision and many remarkable visual cognition abilities, due to their unique living environment. The underlying neural mechanisms have also attracted interests of researchers in neuroscience....
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Migration patterns and spatial connectivity of Pallas's Gulls (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus) from Alakol lake, Kazakhstan using ring recovery and tracking data
September 2025
Understanding migration patterns and spatial connectivity is crucial for conserving long-distance migratory birds. While satellite telemetry has advanced the study of large gulls, Pallas's Gull (Ichthyaetus...
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More than a simple egg: Underlying mechanisms of cold tolerance in avian embryos
2023
Avian embryos, which develop within eggs, exhibit remarkable tolerance to extremely low temperatures. Despite being a common trait among all birds, the mechanisms underlying this cold tolerance in avian...
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Three subspecies of Black-tailed Godwit share non-breeding sites in the world's largest river delta
March 2025
During the non-breeding season (September–April), Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) are commonly seen in coastal and inland wetlands of the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta in Bangladesh. We hypothesize...
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Predatory birds in agroforestry: Dawn of a new era for biological control from multitrophic interactions
September 2025
Ensuring food security for a rapidly growing global population amidst resource limitations and climate change is a major challenge. Agroforestry an ecologically sustainable land-use system that integrates...
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Feeding ecology and interactions with mammal hosts in a symbiotic genus of birds (Buphagus spp.) in Namibia
2024
As the sole obligate symbiotic birds in Africa, oxpeckers offer a unique model for studying symbiotic relationships. Due to the multitrophic level they occupy and the context dependent foraging behavior...
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Moving away from home: Early life movements and space use in juvenile Montagu’s Harriers (Circus pygargus) from central Italy
June 2025
Assessing individual differences and variability in animal movement patterns is essential to improve our understanding of the evolution and ontogeny of migratory strategies. In long-distance migratory...
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The impact of climatic conditions in wintering and breeding quarters on long-term breeding success in the Common Swift
June 2025
Climate change can affect rainfall and temperature worldwide, and the ability of birds to react to these changes can be mirrored by studying population phenology and their breeding success. Some European...
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Impacts of free-ranging yaks on habitat occupancy and population density of a high-mountain rare pheasant species
June 2025
Free-ranging yak grazing is a regime specially adapted to high-elevation environments across the Pan-Tibetan Highlands, yet its impacts on alpine birds remain poorly understood. The Chinese Monal (Lophophorus...
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Responses of steppe birds to habitat fragmentation: Insights from niche specialization and functional traits
September 2025
Habitat fragmentation poses a significant threat to bird communities, especially those in open and semi-open ecosystems such as steppes. This study investigates how steppe birds adapt to and utilize...
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Impact of agricultural landscape structure on the patterns of bird species diversity at a regional scale
2023
The loss of bird species diversity is a crucial problem in the European agricultural landscape. Change in the area coverage of major land cover types has been mentioned as one of the main factors responsible...
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Testing for assortative mating based on migratory phenotypes in the Common Tern (Sterna hirundo)
June 2025
Tracking and mating data of Common Terns (Sterna hirundo) breeding in a single colony in north-eastern Germany were used to test for assortative mating in regards to migratory phenotypes. These birds...
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Reconciling Bergmann's rule throughout the annual cycle in two congeneric large-bodied migratory waterbirds
September 2025
Bergmann's rule predicts that the larger of two homeotherm species differing only in size would occur at higher latitudes, or in cooler climates than the smaller, because of relative thermoregulatory...
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Litter buffet: On the use of trash bins by birds in six boreal urban settlements
2023
Unintentional food resources in urban areas (street litter, food leftovers, overflowing trash bins) are dietary components of some urban-exploiter bird species. In this study, we report on 13 bird species...
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Achievements, challenges, and recommendations for waterbird conservation in China's coastal wetlands
2023
China's coastal wetlands provide breeding, migration stopover, and wintering habitats for about 230 waterbird species, which is more than a quarter of all waterbirds in the world. Large-scale and high...
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Does wetland degradation impact bird diversity differently across seasons? A case study of Zoige Alpine Wetland ecosystem
March 2025
Wetland degradation is an escalating global challenge with profound impacts on animal diversity, particularly during successional processes. Birds, as highly mobile and environmentally sensitive organisms,...
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