10+ hour, 55+ min ago (47+ words) Photos taken at Serrania de la Macarena, Colombia, by David Casas of Retorno Photo Tours in October 2023 Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. See here for info on the writers. Signup and receive notice of new posts!...

10+ hour, 55+ min ago (188+ words) Like humans, birds can be affected by intense UV radiation. It can cause cancer, damage skin and feathers, and suppress the immune system. Staying in the shade is not always an option, particularly for birds in the tropics or at high altitudes, and the availability of avian sunscreen products in these locations is also very limited. So, what kinds of UV protection do birds utilize instead? Mostly chemical ones, and not just because chemistry is the overall topic of this series of posts. Substantial UV protection is delivered by the feathers: Keratin, the protein feathers are made of, absorbs part of the UV spectrum. Carotenoid pigments (found in red, yellow, and orange birds and obtained from the avian diet) are antioxidants. They neutralize free radicals formed by UV radiation before these free radicals can cause damage. The skin also plays…...

18+ hour, 43+ min ago (893+ words) By Kyle HuffmanKJ was introduced to birding as a child. His grandmother, a keeper of Audubon Society Field Guides, feeders, and traveler for birds, introduced him at a young age to the joys of watching birds. The habit never really stuck around, though, that was until he was in his late 20s, and a migrating visitor dropped by his backyard.I can still remember the flash of red across the window and coming to a rest in my backyard. It was late September of 2024, and like most Sunday mornings, I was reading while listening to my favorite jazz station prior to attending church. The curtains covering the large glass sliding door to our backyard were pulled open, allowing the sun to radiate in. We had planted our usual fall garden a month before and enjoyed the company of bees as well…...

1+ day, 10+ hour ago (750+ words) Sri Lanka is relatively well explored when it comes to birds. Especially local birders know lots of specific sites for special species around the country, with some of the better-known sites like the Sinharaja rainforest hosting stakeouts so reliable that dipping on species, such as Sri Lanka Frogmouth, would be a pretty big achievement. In this regard, some of the more exciting sites on the island to me are those less thoroughly combed through. This essentially means focusing your gaze on the northern and eastern parts of the country. One site stands out in particular, namely Nilgala forest. This unique woodland site is situated on the edge of Gal Oya National Park, between the highlands and the coast. Nilgala's main draw is that three species occur here that can be found nowhere else on the island: Yellow-footed Green-Pigeon, Painted Francolin,…...

1+ day, 23+ hour ago (243+ words) Marketing Coordinator & Writer Charlie has an undergraduate degree in Forensic Psychology and writes on topics from zoology and psychology to herpetology.View full profile Image credit: Edited by IFLScience Domestic cats the world over can trace their ancestry back to North African wildcats that lived around 2,000 years ago. It was from these feral felines that the very first domestic cats were produced, yet their cuteness and companionship were so coveted by humans that within a few decades they had spread to all corners of the Roman Empire. Read the full story here Hominin foot bones found in 3.4-million-year-old sediments in Ethiopia have been assigned to a recently described species. This provides further evidence of different elements of the human family tree living side-by-side in the cradle of humanity and further obscures the question of whether the best-known early human fossil…...

2+ day, 5+ hour ago (502+ words) It was a fine start to the day, and I spent the hour after breakfast searching the tit flocks in nearby Wells Wood for migrants " both Yellow-browed and Pallas's Warblers had been reported. The Long-tailed Tit flocks had a few Goldcrests tagging along with them, and once I glimpsed a Firecrest, enjoying a momentary surge of excitement as I spotted its bright black and white eye stripe." Spot the Goldcrest. Considerable numbers of these tiny birds (Britain's smallest) migrate across the North Sea to England every autumn A pair of noisy Egyptian Geese in the top of a Scots Pine. None of our native geese would dream of perching in a tree The most unlikely encounter in the wood (a long, mature belt of pine trees that backs the beach) was a pair of Egyptian Geese, noisily braying from the…...

3+ day, 10+ hour ago (667+ words) Some readers'possibly relatives of our writers'suggested starting a series of interviews with them. Who are these writers, and why do they contribute to the site without pay and with no real benefits (I'm still waiting for groupies to show up when I'm out birding)? We thought they deserved a proper introduction, so we started this series to find out. Your Birding History And Future How long have you been a birder, and how did you get into birding? Has your attitude towards birding changed with time " for example, did it get intense, do you focus on different things now, etc.? What are your plans for the next few years, as related to birding? For example, trips planned? If you had to make a living off birding, what kind of activity would you try? That's a tough one! I'm retired now,…...

3+ day, 10+ hour ago (158+ words) By now, making demotivational posters for birds feels like migration " repetitive, exhausting, and strangely inevitable. We suspect no one's keeping track, but then again, birds rarely abandon bad habits either. They return to the same trees, sing the same songs, and somehow expect different results. That's persistence, or maybe futility " hard to tell. Either way, we salute it. So here's Part VII, continuing our proud tradition of not quite giving up, yet not really trying, either. By now, making demotivational posters for birds feels like migration " repetitive, exhausting, and strangely inevitable. We suspect no one's keeping track, but then again, birds rarely abandon bad habits either. They return to the same trees, sing the same songs, and somehow expect different results. That's persistence, or maybe futility " hard to tell. Either way, we salute it. So here's Part VII, continuing our…...

3+ day, 10+ hour ago (215+ words) Silver-breasted Broadbill: Pretty much all broadbills are cute, but this one gets extra points for being compact and fluffy at the same time. Ashy-throated Parrotbill: Maybe this species always desperately tries to be taken seriously, but with the red "hair, the tiny beak, and the curious eyes, it will only ever come over as cute. Sunda Scops Owl: With the stern but cute look of a cat admonishing its owner to hurry up with the food supply. Malaysian Pied Fantail: Count Dracula reincarnated as a cute bird. Willow Tit: I usually do not think of Hitler as cute but " Double-barred Finch: At some point in the past, anybody who was into Manchester music was wearing hoodies and trying to look cute. It only worked for a few, most of them girls " but it works for this finch all the time....

3+ day, 17+ hour ago (214+ words) Eleanor has an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Reading and a master's in wildlife documentary production from the University of Salford.View full profile Around 17-19 percent of the world's African forest elephant population lives in the Republic of Congo. Image credit: F. Maisels WCS African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) were only recognized as a species separate from the African savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana) in 2021. Now, new evidence and survey techniques have suggested there could be as many as 10,000 more forest elephants than previously thought." The new assessment totals 135,690 forest elephants, 16 percent more than the figure estimated in 2016, with an additional 7,728-10,990 individuals based on more tentative work. If factoring in both estimates and guesses, the report suggests the entire forest elephant population could be as high as 145,050. African forest elephants are found in 22 countries. Gabon holds 66-69 percent of the…...