birds

How Do Crows Count?

Crows lack the parts of the brain that we use to count—but they know 2+2 too. How do they do it?

Some Reptiles Stay Warm with Help from Birds

How Bird Poop Nearly Destroyed California's Power Grid

Poop can conduct electricity. This is never a good thing.

Crows Take Care of Their Tools

The birds keep their food-finding tools safe while they're eating or foraging.

The Only Place You Can Still See a Dodo

Here's where (and how) to see the world's last dodo specimen.

Why Do Birds Fly Into Windows?

7 Unlikely Seagull Enemies

The seagull—scourge of the beach-blanket snacker, parking-lot pest—is nobody's favorite. Birding guides will tell you that seagulls have no natural enemies, which is mostly true. But once in a while, somebody’s had enough.

Stressed-Out Bluebird Moms Can Shape Entire Bird Communities

Vultures Surf on Humans’ Hot Air

It’s not just people that harness energy from power plants - birds also use them in their own way.

12 Ailments Humans And Animals Share

British Gamblers Bet On Cuckoo Migration

Doug Janson via Wikimedia Commons // CC BYSA 3.0

9 Parrots You Should Meet

There are around 372 species of parrot, and they vary greatly. Let’s take a look at some that you might not normally think of as parrots, and some that are just plain spectacular.

Hummingbirds Can Withstand Turbulence Remarkably Well

Pedros Szekely, Wikimedia Commons // CC BY 2.0

15 Fascinating Flamingo Facts

We can admire flamingos or laugh at them (and we often do both), so we may as well learn something about them.

Penguins Are Losing Their Sense of Taste

Adorable Hummingbirds Stab Each Other With Their Tiny Beaks

That Time it Rained Flesh in Kentucky

Cuckoos Hide From Each Other with Camouflaged Eggs

Vultures Find Food With a Little Help From Their Friends

15 Outlandish Chicken Varieties

With their poofy crests and feathery feet, these glamorous chicken breeds are a little fancier than your average barnyard birds.

9 Extinct Big Birds

Our friend from Sesame Street may be a big bird, but he’s tiny compared to some real birds that have roamed the earth in the past.

Johann Seligmann, Wikimedia Commons // Public Domain

10 Facts About the Extinct Passenger Pigeon

Just over a century ago, the world’s last passenger pigeon died at Ohio’s Cincinnati Zoo on September 1. The extinction set off a worldwide bird conservation movement.

11 Facts About the Bone-Eating Bearded Vulture

The bearded vulture, or lammergeier, is one intense bird. It lives on a steady diet of bones and dyes its feathers blood red, giving it the reputation of one of the most metal birds in the animal kingdom.

Why Do Seagulls Hang Out in Parking Lots?

Parking lots offer plenty of food, trash, and scraps, especially if there’s a supermarket or restaurant there.