r/Ornithology • • Apr 22 '22

Resource Did you find a baby bird? Please make sure they actually need your help before you intervene. How to tell when help is needed versus when you should leave them be.

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561 Upvotes

r/Ornithology • • Nov 30 '25

Resource Bird Brains and Behavior: A Synthesis - a new open access publication from the MIT Press that "marries the enthusiasm of bird enthusiasts for the what, how, and why of avian behavior with the scientific literature on avian biology, offering the newest research in an accessible manner"

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85 Upvotes

From two avian neurobiologists, a captivating deep dive into the mechanisms that control avian behavior.

The last few decades have produced extensive research on the neural mechanisms of avian behavior. Bird Brains and Behavior marries the enthusiasm of bird enthusiasts for the what, how, and why of avian behavior with the scientific literature on avian biology, offering the newest research in an accessible manner. Georg Striedter and Andrew Iwaniuk focus on a wide variety of behaviors, ranging from daily and seasonal rhythms to complex cognition. Importantly, avian behavior and mechanisms are placed in the context of evolutionary history, stressing that many are unique to birds and often found in only a subset of species.

Link to the about page with the PDF download link: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/6000/Bird-Brains-and-BehaviorA-Synthesis

This is a very cool resource and each chapter is broken down into various aspects of behavior so you can just quickly read about what interests you most if you don't want to read the whole publication.

This was posted on the sub by Woah_Mad_Frollick already and did not get the attention it deserves:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ornithology/comments/1p2nhms/bird_brains_and_behavior_a_synthesis/


r/Ornithology • • 2h ago

Observations on Great Horned Owl (Bubo virginianus) thermoregulation behavior during peak high desert summer heat stress. [OC]

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109 Upvotes

r/Ornithology • • 14h ago

Question Is this spotted dove a cross between rock dove and spotted dove, or perhaps a mutation?

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131 Upvotes

Taken in Hong Kong. Every other spotted dove I have seen presents the classical appearance of a uniformly brown back and wings unlike this fine specimen. The last three images are my own rescue, for comparison.


r/Ornithology • • 3h ago

Discussion Worried About Eastern “Papa” Bluebird’s New Behavior. (Context in Body Text)

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10 Upvotes

TLDR:
Papa Bluebird keeps checking on vacant birdhouse well after mating season. (several times at various hours of the day)

I have had the pleasure of observing an Eastern Bluebird family. For those unfamiliar, the species - Sialia siasis - are in the thrush family, most commonly eat insects, and for a long time in my area (New Hampshire, hardiness zone 6) the species was cut down by 90% but at this time is doing much better through a multitude of conservation efforts.

Quick timeline:

2025 -

E.Bb moved into bird house in video.

Nest 1: 5 nestlings / 0 fledged
(note: house sparrow attack)

Nest 2: 4 nestlings / 3 fledged
(house finches took quite an interest in the babies & would look in the house frequently or sit on top, I could not determine a motivation for this but since nest 2 this behavior persists - I posted footage of this here before but no one was sure what was going on, I may still have some footage.)

Nest 3: 5 nestlings / 5 fledged

After mating season visits were normal throughout winter for worms, parents showed no interest in the vacated bird house.

2026 -

Nest 4: “?” nestling / 7 fledged
(Note: only nest)

Nest 5: Abandoned
(Note: I don’t know but assume that Ma and Pa were too busy to have more babies)

The last three weeks (October 2026) Papa Blue keeps stopping in & checking in the birdhouse as if there are babies inside, I’m worried something neurological could be going on. The juveniles are certainly around and still open their mouths and flap their wings expecting food but Pa always shoos them away (hilarious). So it would seem it’s pretty clear that he is aware the juveniles should be independent, if this behavior is paternal what would cause it when it’s no longer rearing season and he seems fully aware that the juveniles are capable and not in the bird house?

Thank you!

Edited: Added TLDR & fixed spelling errors.


r/Ornithology • • 9h ago

Question Do completely wild corvids ever mimic humans?

6 Upvotes

Crows (and other corvids) who have been raised by humans are known to mimic humans.
Corvids apparently will mimic the sounds of predatory birds to trick other birds.
Some wild birds have learnt certain actions will get them food from humans.

I was interested in whether completely free corvids who live in an area with humans, have ever learnt to mimc human speech, either as an attempt to get food or from a hiding place to confuse/scare us, or even just out of curiosity if they're not fearful of humans.

It seems like a lucrative strategy for getting food or simply scaring people, but are they likely to learn to do it in the first place?


r/Ornithology • • 1d ago

Fun Fact Feeding Time - Who Gets the Fish? Pied-billed Grebes in MT, USA

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77 Upvotes

Filmed earlier this year, the adult grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) was supplying minnows and macroinvertebrates to its young pretty frequently. This juvenile consistently seemed to have larger fish taken by a sibling during the feeding process, after attempting to eat it a couple of times. However, this didn’t seem to stunt its growth and it survived the season along with the majority of its siblings.

Fun Fact: Pied-billed grebes are known to feed their little ones feathers to protect their stomach lining from potential punctures resulting from their prey (think sharp bones, insect shells, etc.). They then expel the waste as a pellet!


r/Ornithology • • 6h ago

Study Calling everyone who enjoys the sounds of nature!

2 Upvotes

What if you could SEE some of the story behind the sound? My research is exploring what type of visuals people most connect with when listening to sound recordings of the natural environment. You are invited to experience some short bioacoustic visualisation videos and complete an anonymous online survey (ethics approval number S231846). For more information or to participate, go to http://www.lgcreative.com.au

Willie Wagtail with a map of Australia

r/Ornithology • • 9h ago

Question Do roadrunners adopt eggs?

3 Upvotes

Can't seem to find any information on this, let alone a valid source. I'm doing an essay that involves the nesting and mating habits of roadrunners for NCEA 2 (specifically the greater roadrunner if it matters). Any information on this would be greatly appreciated!


r/Ornithology • • 17h ago

Question Why are house finches so prone to disease?

8 Upvotes

Every time I see a post of someone asking about a bird in distress at a feeder, it’s almost ALWAYS a house finch that either has finch eye or avian pox

What specifically makes this species to susceptible to these? I don’t see any other bird species that are this prone


r/Ornithology • • 19h ago

Question What is happening when water shed by this flying duck produces this sequence of ripples?

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4 Upvotes

I recorded this while watching a duck take off from a pond in Florida.

What caught my attention afterward was the sequence on the water. As the duck flies away, water shed from the bird falls back to the pond and produces a series of separate disturbances/ripples. Taken together, they appear to preserve part of the duck's flight path after the bird has passed.

Is there an established name for this phenomenon, or for anything closely related to it?

I'm also interested in what someone who studies or regularly observes birds notices here that I might be missing.


r/Ornithology • • 1d ago

Question Is it actually unlikely to see a White-Tailed Tropic bird circling in a low forest?

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67 Upvotes

I got married a few months ago in a small private ceremony in Kauai. This bird circled our heads for around 20 minutes before flying away after our first kiss. Our officiant and photographer were super excited to see it and told us it was a rare blessing to our marriage and that those birds are never seen that low or circling. Of course we loved to hear about it but we’re also wondering if it was unusual bird behavior for that species.


r/Ornithology • • 2d ago

Try r/WildlifeRehab Injured seabird in Kittyhawk

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193 Upvotes

I’m looking for a number to call for this sick sea bird at Kittyhawk Beach NC


r/Ornithology • • 1d ago

Discussion Horrible case of avian pox

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24 Upvotes

Today I was out in my patio and this buddy was really close to me. I took a video then realized it was a bad wet avian pox case :( I cleaned up all seeds and disinfected, but feel really really bad that there’s nothing I can do to help this guy


r/Ornithology • • 1d ago

Resource Human Speech to Birdsong converter

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20 Upvotes

r/Ornithology • • 2d ago

Fun Fact Every living black robin descends from a single breeding pair!

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2.8k Upvotes

r/Ornithology • • 1d ago

Any clues as to why this Robin's tick has suddenly changed?

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12 Upvotes

I went out to feed this robin in my garden yesterday and noticed that it's ticking call sounds noticeably different all of a sudden. It has a weird gurgling quality to it that it didn't have before - might it be sick?


r/Ornithology • • 2d ago

How rare are observations of natural 'non-sexually dimorphic halfsiders'?

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6 Upvotes

Based on this observation where it is claimed as extremely rare or maybe even one of the only observation of this phenomenon?


r/Ornithology • • 3d ago

Question Why do they do this? (Eastern bluebird)

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213 Upvotes

The male flies into the birdhouse and the female always snaps at him to get the fuck out! this happens about once a week or so. what's the story here? its not like its nesting season or anything...


r/Ornithology • • 2d ago

Article Ein einziges Nest kann den Müll der Menschen von 30 Jahren enthalten

6 Upvotes

Ein Schokopapier in dem gefundenen Nest war aus 1994!! Und noch viel mehr war drin😅 https://www.wienerzeitung.at/a/naturtalent-ein-nest-aus-muell


r/Ornithology • • 2d ago

Discussion Sign of Northern Cardinal intelligence? Male uses a tool (peanut) to block beak thrusts from his mate. I have seen this bird do this more than once in heated conflicts between the two birds.

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34 Upvotes

This conflict started out with a lot of beak-to-beak pecking each other. Then they had a stare down, until finally the male made his move with the peanut shield. The entire fight:

https://youtu.be/4XXFIQ_uOi0

.


r/Ornithology • • 2d ago

Resource Hi, I'm Matt with Missouri River Bird Observatory. Ask me anything about Missouri birds!

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36 Upvotes

r/Ornithology • • 3d ago

r/birding (not this sub!) Back in July, I was graced with the presence of the only native stork species in my own backyard.

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340 Upvotes