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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Disentangling the relative effects of semi-natural habitats within different landscape agricultural intensities on bird communities
March 2025
The process of agricultural intensification has led to significant reductions in biodiversity globally. Previous studies examined the role of semi-natural habitats within agroecosystems in supporting...
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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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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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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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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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Local song evolution after three decades in a complex songster, the Thrush Nightingale
March 2025
Birdsong is an important secondary sexual trait which may vary between but also within species. Intraspecific variation is generally studied either on the geographical or on the temporal scale; most...
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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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Correlates of avian extinction timing around the world since 1500 CE
2024
Avian extinctions have been relatively well documented in modern history, and in the past millennia, more bird species are known to have gone extinct than species in any other vertebrate class. We examined...
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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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Distribution pattern and niche overlap of sympatric breeding birds along human-modified habitat gradients in Inner Mongolia, China
March 2025
The transformation of natural habitats into human-modified landscapes has far-reaching consequences for species distribution and abundance. As species adapt to these changing environments, shifts in...
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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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Effects of diet shift on the gut microbiota of the critically endangered Siberian Crane
2023
Wetlands worldwide have suffered from serious degradation and transformation, leading to waterbirds increasingly dependent on agricultural fields for feeding. Although gut microbiota is an essential...
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Avian hippocampus: Recent advances in anatomy and physiological functions
2024
The avian hippocampus, akin to its mammalian counterpart, plays a critical role in cognitive and physiological processes despite notable structural differences. Initially thought to be less developed,...
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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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Fecal DNA metabarcoding reveals the dietary composition of wintering Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis)
2023
Understanding the diet of threatened wildlife is vital for species-specific conservation and habitat management measures. The Red-crowned Crane (Grus japonensis) is a vulnerable bird distributed in...
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Vinous-throated parrotbills breed in invasive smooth cordgrass habitat: Can native birds avoid the potential ecological trap?
2023
Native animals are facing long-term coexistence with invasive plants worldwide, the impacts of which on animal behavior remain poorly known. Potential ecological traps could threaten native birds breeding...
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Beyond amplitude: Phase integration in bird vocalization recognition with MHAResNet
March 2025
Bird vocalizations are pivotal for ecological monitoring, providing insights into biodiversity and ecosystem health. Traditional recognition methods often neglect phase information, resulting in incomplete...
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