birds

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    Light Pollution Linked to Shrinking Eye Size in Birds

    Light Pollution Linked to Shrinking Eye Size in Birds

    In a new study, researchers have linked light pollution in urban areas to smaller eye sizes found in two common songbird species. Researchers studied the northern cardinal and Carolina wren that live year-round in San Antonio, Texas, a city with an estimated population of about 1,472,900 people, and compared these birds to the same two […]

    Birds Around the World Are Building Their Nests With Trash

    Birds Around the World Are Building Their Nests With Trash

    A new study has found that 176 bird species around the world are building their nests with trash from humans, such as cigarette butts, candy wrappers and plastic string. Birds on all continents except Antarctica were found to make nests with this waste, which could harm the birds and the chicks. Researchers analyzed nearly 35,000 […]

    Pet Trade in Colorful Songbirds Could Drive Species to Extinction

    Pet Trade in Colorful Songbirds Could Drive Species to Extinction

    Sometimes, beauty can be a death sentence. During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the demand for decorative feathers devastated the populations of birds like great egrets and birds of paradise. Today, it is the exotic pet trade that threatens bright birds with extinction.  A new study published in Current Biology September 15 found that […]