Some humans are always hunting for thoughts about their brains. Some humans are always hunting for birds. Sometimes, as in a newly published research study, these sometimes occurrences combine in provocative ways. The study is: “Brain Size and the Risk of Getting Shot,” Anders Pape Møller, Johannes Erritzøe, Biology Letters, vol. 12, no. 11, November […]
Tag: Birds
Bird jousting in a wind tunnel: How to avoid collisions
Birds, not carrying weapons of any sort, jousted by special arrangement of three scientists in Australia. Details are in the study: “Strategies for Pre-Emptive Mid-Air Collision Avoidance in Budgerigars,” Ingo Schiffner, Tristan Perez, and Mandyam V. Srinivasan, PLoS ONE, 11(9): e0162435. The authors, at the University of Queensland, Australia, report: Trajectories of birds flying towards each […]
The Glossiness of Grackles (and other birds)
“The glossy sheen of healthy hair is an ideal of human beauty; however, glossiness has never been quantified in the context of non-human animal signaling. Glossiness, the specular reflectance characteristic of polished surfaces, has the potential to act as a signal of quality because it depends upon material integrity and cleanliness.” For those reasons, Matthew […]
Hummingbirds get hot too
No machine can be 100% efficient – and Hummingbirds (Selasphorus calliope) are no exception. As a result, when they flap their wings (typically at around 50Hz) they generate considerable quantities of heat. To find out how much, investigators at the Department of Biology, George Fox University, OR, and the Division of Biological Sciences, University of […]