�山ǿ�� News - birds

Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue recognized as 'Bird Friendly City'

webfull — Mon, 09 Jan 2023 18:13:26 +0000

During the UN biodiversity summit known as COP15, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue was one of 14 cities in Canada, and the only place in Quebec, to be named a "Bird Friendly City." Nature Canada developed this

Published: 9 January 2023

Why are some birds more intelligent than others?

webfull — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 19:49:32 +0000

If you’ve ever seen a starling peck open a garbage bag or a grackle steal your dog pellets, you get a sense that some birds have learned to take advantage of new feeding opportunities – a clear sign of their intelligence. Scientists have long wondered why certain species of birds are more innovative than others, and whether these capacities stem from larger brains (which intuitively seems likely) or from a greater number of neurons in specific areas of the brain.

Published: 1 August 2022

Arctic seabirds are less heat tolerant, more vulnerable to climate change

webfull — Wed, 07 Jul 2021 14:00:49 +0000

The Arctic is warming at approximately twice the global rate. A new study led by researchers from �山ǿ�� finds that cold-adapted Arctic species, like the thick-billed murre, are especially vulnerable to heat stress caused by climate change.

“We discovered that murres have the lowest cooling efficiency ever reported in birds, which means they have an extremely poor ability to dissipate or lose heat,” says lead author Emily Choy, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Natural Resource Sciences Department at �山ǿ��.

Published: 7 July 2021

Reduction in wetland areas will affect Afrotropical migratory waterbirds

webfull — Fri, 30 Apr 2021 20:09:43 +0000

Migratory waterbirds are particularly exposed to the effects of climate change at their breeding areas in the High Arctic and in Africa, according to a new study published in Bird Conservation International.

Published: 30 April 2021

Well-built muscles underlie athletic performance in birds

webfull — Fri, 15 Jan 2021 14:21:49 +0000

Muscle structure and body size predict the athletic performance of Olympic athletes, such as sprinters. The same, it appears, is true of wild seabirds that can commute hundreds of kilometres a day to find food, according to a recent paper by scientists from �山ǿ�� and Colgate universities published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

Published: 15 January 2021

Bat-winged dinosaurs that could glide

webfull — Thu, 22 Oct 2020 15:05:33 +0000

Despite having bat-like wings, two small dinosaurs, Yi and Ambopteryx, struggled to fly, only managing to glide clumsily between the trees where they lived, according to a new study led by an international team of researchers, including �山ǿ�� Professor Hans Larsson. Unable to compete with other tree-dwelling dinosaurs and early birds, they went extinct after just a few million years.

Published: 22 October 2020

CTV NEWS | Some dinosaurs were flying before there were birds, new research suggests

webfull — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 23:28:36 +0000

Biologists now have a better idea of the origin of birds and the evolution of flight, two iconic events in the history of life on earth, thanks to work by a group of international scientists including a �山ǿ�� professor. In updating the evolutionary tree, the team’s findings show some dinosaurs could fly before they evolved into birds, and many others were experimenting with powered flight.

Published: 13 August 2020

Climate change challenges Nunavut’s thick-billed murres: researcher

webfull — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 18:16:20 +0000

There’s less ice, more capelin and lots of hungry polar bears

Climate change in the eastern Arctic has already altered the travel, diet and safety of some of the most numerous birds in the circumpolar world: thick-billed murres, known as akpait in Inuktitut.

These and other changes are likely to continue, says Allison Patterson, a �山ǿ�� graduate student [with Professor Kyle Elliott] who has tracked the habits of these black-and-white birds on Hudson Bay’s Coats Island, known as Akpatordjuark in Inuktitut.

Published: 12 June 2020

Expert: World Migratory Bird Day | May 9

webfull — Tue, 05 May 2020 15:42:52 +0000

World Migratory Bird Day is May 9. The Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), the African-Eurasian Waterbird Agreement (AEWA) and Environment for the Americas (EFTA) have joined forces to strengthen global recognition and appreciation of migratory birds.

Published: 5 May 2020

CNN | Birds that learn new behaviors less likely to go extinct, says study

webfull — Tue, 07 Apr 2020 17:09:32 +0000

Now, a new study has found that birds that are able to change their behavior in this way are less likely to become extinct than those that do not adapt.

Published: 7 April 2020