Nest defense is associated with footedness in female Japanese Tits
December 2026
Nest defense is an essential behavior in birds that protects nests from predation. Defensive behavior often varies among individuals, yet how hemispheric lateralization, a phenomenon commonly existing...
Evolution of tooth number and size reveals random evolution and weak directional selection of dentition toward independent tooth loss in Mesozoic birds
December 2026
How their toothed jaws evolve into edentulous beaks remains a key puzzle in early birds. Although some studies using discrete data of dentition have rejected the hypotheses of long-term directional...
Constructing healthy nests: Host behavior shapes nest microbiota and affects reproductive performance in birds
December 2026
Animals often create unique microenvironments during reproduction, which may influence offspring health and development by altering the microbiota within these environments. Recently, nest microbiota...
Increasing public attention toward North American bird species
December 2026
Similar to many other animal taxa, bird species worldwide have experienced significant population declines in recent years. Public awareness plays a key role in helping to conserve these species. We...
Trophic contrasting patterns across breeding sites of an endangered insular raptor: Invasive mammal consumption and conservation implications
December 2026
Trophic habits are a central component of a species' life history with important conservation implications. Evaluating variation in trophic habits across ecological contexts provides key insights into...
Rainfall-driven movements and seasonal space use in Greater and Lesser Flamingos in western India
December 2026
The arid plains of western India support significant populations of the Greater Flamingo (Phoenicopterus roseus) and the Lesser Flamingo (Phoeniconaias minor). “Flamingo City”, a seasonally flooded...
Ecological correlates of extinction vulnerability in terrestrial birds in the Zhoushan Archipelago, China
December 2026
Understanding why some insular bird species are especially vulnerable to local extinction under prolonged isolation is important for clarifying extinction processes and setting conservation priorities....
Seasonal effects of urban park landscape structure on taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of birds
December 2026
Urban parks serve as important biodiversity refuges in highly urbanized landscapes, yet the landscape mechanisms shaping seasonal dynamics of multidimensional avian diversity remain poorly understood....
Trapped in the cradle: Karst formation isolates an ancient lineage of wren-babbler (Gypsophila) leading to cryptic speciation
December 2026
Cryptic speciation from landscape fragmentation presents a major challenge for biodiversity inventories in the geologically complex karst regions of Southwest China. Despite recent discoveries of hidden...
Associations between diet and the gut microbiome in brood-parasitic nestlings: Common Cuckoos reared by three host species
December 2026
The gut microbiome is crucial for growth, nutrient acquisition, and health. Multiple factors shape its composition and function, and diet is consistently identified as a key environmental driver. Obligate...
Waterbird diversity and its landscape associations across seasons and scales: Conservation and management implications for the Yellow River Basin
December 2026
Waterbird diversity and its landscape drivers along the YRB remain poorly understood across seasons and spatial scales. Waterbird observations from five synchronous surveys conducted between October...
Changes in avian communities following wildfires in Mediterranean pine forest: A passive acoustic monitoring approach across temporal and seasonal gradients
December 2026
Wildfires are major modifiers of Mediterranean forest ecosystems, with long-term impacts on biodiversity and ecological resilience. However, how fire-history contrasts and seasonal dynamics jointly...
Echolocation click structure, behavioral context and daily rhythm in the House-farm Swiftlets (Aerodramus fuciphagus)
December 2026
Broadcasting recorded bird calls is a widely used technique in White-nest Swiftlet farming, yet the echolocation of House-farm Swiftlets remains poorly described. In this study, we analyzed 16 24-h...
Different nest-scale strategies determine the reproductive success of two 'winner' bird species along an urban gradient in southeastern Brazil
December 2026
Urbanization drastically alters habitats, thereby affecting biodiversity. Reproduction is a key factor in population dynamics and can determine the success of colonization in urban areas. Here, our...
Conserving waterbird diversity in fragmented agricultural wetlands: The roles of habitat heterogeneity and positive species associations in community persistence
December 2026
Agricultural expansion has caused rapid wetland loss globally, yet small isolated lakes within farmland remain critical but undervalued habitats for migratory waterbirds. Understanding how communities...
Image-based individual identification of wild Black-necked Cranes (Grus nigricollis) using deep learning
December 2026
Individual identification of wildlife is a cornerstone of behavioral and ecological research. In recent years, developments in deep learning for computer vision have broadened the applicability of image-based...
Seasonal dietary shifts in waterbirds modify the dispersal potential for invertebrate resting eggs
September 2026
Waterbirds play a crucial role in endozoochory, facilitating the dispersal of invertebrates through the gut passage of resting eggs. They adjust their digestive processes and tract morphology in response...
Automated bird sound recognition in ecology: A methodological review and application framework
September 2026
Automated bird sound recognition (ABSR) has emerged as a transformative tool for avian ecology and conservation, offering an unprecedented ability to monitor biodiversity non-invasively across vast...
Penguins at the freshwater–marine boundary: Overlooked ecological linkages and climate-change risks
September 2026
Penguins are usually framed as marine predators, yet freshwater can strongly alter the environments in which they forage, breed and survive. This narrative mini review synthesises evidence for how river...
Like father, like son? Similarity of syllable repertoires and structures in the songs of first-year male Tree Pipits and their potential tutors
September 2026
Birdsong in oscine passerines is socially learned, but the relative influence of different tutors in the wild remains unclear for many species. We examined song acquisition in the Tree Pipit (Anthus...
Mechanisms of egg recognition in two cuckoo bunting hosts
September 2026
Recognition and rejection of parasitic eggs are crucial host defenses against brood parasitism. Template-based recognition and recognition by discordancy are two main mechanisms of egg recognition used...
Migratory birds as global vectors and evolutionary incubators of antibiotic resistance genes
September 2026
The global antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis, fueled by the cross-border dissemination of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), poses a critical and escalating threat to public health. Migratory birds,...