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The common cuckoo lays its eggs in the nests of other bird species, burdening these hosts with the task of raising its young. Photo by Olda Mikulica
Ground-breaking research finds correlation between eye size and falling prey to brood parasitism
A new paper in the journal Ecology documents this phenomenon, which the authors call “kleptotrichy,” from the Greek roots for “theft” and “hair.” The authors found only a few descriptions of the behavior in the scientific literature but came up with dozens more examples in online videos posted by birders and other bird enthusiasts. In almost all the videorecorded cases, the thief is a titmouse plucking hair from a cat, dog, human, raccoon or, in one case, porcupine. Many species of titmice, chickadees and tits – all members of the family Paridae – are known to use hair or fur...
An experiment by evolutionary biologists offers new insights into birds’ brains.
Article body copy On Malgas Island, a flat landmass off South Africa’s Western Cape, Mukuzai Muyahamba scans the sky as thousands of Cape gannets circle overhead in a wheeling blur of white feathers, black tails, and yellow heads. But Muyahamba is waiting for a specific bird to return to its nest—the one with a tiny GPS tag fitted to its leg. The tag was attached to record the gannet’s foraging patterns, and Muyahamba has a video camera trained on the bird’s nest to record its most captivating behavior: its dance. All three species of gannets perform complex bill-fencing, preening, an...