For the first time in decades, researchers have found a new bird species in the United States. Based on a specimen collected in 1963 on Midway Atoll, Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, biologists have described a new species of seabird, Bryan’s shearwater [...more]
“Cardinal Grosbeak,” by John James Audubon. This chalk, pencil, watercolor and ink illustration on paper was created about 1811. It is featured in “The Great American Hall of Wonders,” a current exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum that examines the nineteenth-century American belief that the people of the United States shared [...] [...more]
Bird species in rainforest fragments in Brazil that were isolated by deforestation first disappeared and then reappeared during the next quarter-century. [...more]
Some--birds called wire-tailed manakins, residents of tropical forests in the Americas--are cooperators as well as competitors. They cooperate, forming alliances for a common cause. [...more]
A description and photos of the green-headed tanager (Tangara seledon), a bird native to east-central South America, can be found in the Species of the Day Archive of the Encyclopedia of Life. This tanager is one of several extravagantly multicolored tanagers found in one or another part of eastern Brazil. The Encyclopedia of Life [...] [...more]
The prehistoric Xenicibis used its wings like two clubs hinged at the wrist joint in order to swing at and attack one another. [...more]
When birds and planes collide: Carla Dove, a forensic ornithologist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, talks about the work of the Smithsonian's Feather Identification Lab and its role in improving aviation safety. [...more]
Since its doors first opened in 1910, the National Museum of Natural History has inspired curiosity and learning about the natural world and our place in it. Building upon the strong foundation of our extensive collections, the staff of the museum have been at the forefront of essential scientific exploration and research, and groundbreaking public [...] [...more]
Scientists from the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center have found that fledgling catbirds living in the suburbs are extremely vulnerable. Almost 80 percent are killed by predators before they reach adulthood. Nearly half of the deaths are connected to domestic cats. The team studied catbird nests in 3 suburban neighborhoods in Maryland: Spring Park, Opal Daniels Park, and Bethesda. Learn more about this 2011 study by clicking here. (Catbird photo by Gerhard Hofmann)
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