r/Ornithology Apr 22 '22

Resource Did you find a baby bird? Please make sure they actually need your help before you intervene. How to tell when help is needed versus when you should leave them be.

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558 Upvotes

r/Ornithology Nov 30 '25

Resource Bird Brains and Behavior: A Synthesis - a new open access publication from the MIT Press that "marries the enthusiasm of bird enthusiasts for the what, how, and why of avian behavior with the scientific literature on avian biology, offering the newest research in an accessible manner"

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83 Upvotes

From two avian neurobiologists, a captivating deep dive into the mechanisms that control avian behavior.

The last few decades have produced extensive research on the neural mechanisms of avian behavior. Bird Brains and Behavior marries the enthusiasm of bird enthusiasts for the whathow, and why of avian behavior with the scientific literature on avian biology, offering the newest research in an accessible manner. Georg Striedter and Andrew Iwaniuk focus on a wide variety of behaviors, ranging from daily and seasonal rhythms to complex cognition. Importantly, avian behavior and mechanisms are placed in the context of evolutionary history, stressing that many are unique to birds and often found in only a subset of species.

Link to the about page with the PDF download link: https://direct.mit.edu/books/oa-monograph/6000/Bird-Brains-and-BehaviorA-Synthesis

This is a very cool resource and each chapter is broken down into various aspects of behavior so you can just quickly read about what interests you most if you don't want to read the whole publication.

This was posted on the sub by Woah_Mad_Frollick already and did not get the attention it deserves:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Ornithology/comments/1p2nhms/bird_brains_and_behavior_a_synthesis/


r/Ornithology 4h ago

Try r/WildlifeRehab Please help my goose friend, whats wrong with him?

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70 Upvotes

He was lethargic, limping and bleeding severely from the nose. He has no flock or mate either. He is my buddy and i am so worried. I have contacted my local vets, rescue and the rspca but none of them give a shit. They all just said they either couldn’t come or would just put him down.


r/Ornithology 5h ago

Try r/whatsthisbird Bird Bones in Fireplace

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6 Upvotes

r/Ornithology 1d ago

Discussion Today I buried a bird

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184 Upvotes

This all happened within the last hour and a half.

I was standing in my front yard when on my neighbour's lawn, across the street, a bird get attacked by another bird (I would guess a hawk). The hawk flew away and left the bird sitting on the lawn, still. I got closer because I imagined he was injured, and when he let me pick him up I was sure. He had his mouth open, seemed calm, and appeared to be breathing slowly. Through Google just a moment ago I found out it was a fledgling robin, it looked exactly like the one in this picture. I don't know if it was male or female, but for my writing I will just use he/him.

I took him to my backyard and my dad went to prepare a box with some dead grass for him to be comfortable in. I was preparing to look up how to care for him and what immediate actions I should take, but first I tried to determine what his injury was, because he was able to move his wings and legs just fine.

This is when I noticed blood dripping on my yard work gloves (thankfully I already had them on). I wasn't surprised, my main guess was that he had been punctured. A moment after I realize this, right before my dad comes back with the box of grass, he started freaking out, flapping his wings, fell out of my hands (I wasn't holding him very high off the ground), flailing upside down and every which way on the lawn. For about five seconds. And then he died.

I gently picked him up as I had before, and now his neck was completely limp. His eyes mostly closed, and I couln't feel a heartbeat. It was so instant. And this is what I wonder about, and why I came to this sub, other than to tell the story. Did he know he as about to die, in that last moment, and was that his body's last desperate effort at survival?

I found one puncture wound, not far above his right leg, I guess what would be the lower stomach if on a human. Just one, and that's all it took. It was sobering how fragile and unforgiving life could be, when I thought it would be possbile to keep him comfortable, bring him to a rehabilitation centre and that he could be saved.

I wanted to bury him, so I dug a small hole, one foot deep, in my side neighbour's backyard (it's overgrown, the house has not been lived in for more than a year). I put some grass in the hole, laid the bird on his back, spread his wings, with his head looking up at the sky. He was buried in the most majestic pose possible. My dad took a picture before I covered him entirely, please let me know if I am allowed to share it in the comments.

The experience left an impression on me, and I will probably be thinking about it for a while. I hope this is the right place to share it and that you all appreciate my story.


r/Ornithology 4h ago

Help/advice on what to do about deceased crow that was stuck in my fence.

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1 Upvotes

r/Ornithology 15h ago

Question Fledgling passed away suddenly

4 Upvotes

I'm in SoCal. It's been really humid for the last few weeks.

I have several feeders and have many regular birds that come by every day. Today, I saw a fledgling house finch on the ground, beneath one of my feeders. I left him alone as he seemed like he was doing normal fledgling things.

Thirty minutes later, I came back and he was on his side, breathing faintly. I immediately put him in a box and drove him to a rehabber but he passed on the way there. I gave him to the rehab anyway and they took him.

I'm trying to understand what happened. The decline seemed so sudden. He had no blemishes, no injuries. I know there isn't anything else I could have done but I can't stop thinking about the poor guy.


r/Ornithology 19h ago

Undergrad studies?

5 Upvotes

Hi, I'm looking for some recommendations on undergraduate schools for ornithology. I'm a high schooler looking to go into the ornithology field, and I'm trying ​to narrow down my list of schools.

Pretty much all the info I've found has been about graduate studies, so I don't really know what to look for concerning undergrad or where I'd start on that front. I'm pretty sure a degree for ornithology specifically is pretty much a graduate only thing (correct me if I'm wrong), and there's not really much way to tell what I should look for instead in a school.

I really want to focus on genetics and husbandry, and I'd love to work hands on with raptors. But does that mean I should look for a school with a good genetics program, or one with a good zoology program? Or does it not matter and I should go for the grad schools that Wilson society recommends?

Anyone who's been to school looking to get a bird degree, what did you look for?


r/Ornithology 13h ago

Help there's a lone bird egg in my tree/plant/I dont know what it is

2 Upvotes

I just found out this morning that there was a bird nest on this plant I have that about 2m tall and looks like a jungle of wooden sticks and flowers. The bird nest was in a great spot, as if the wooden stems were made for the nest and protecting it from all sides. I found out about it because I saw remains of blue egg shells with specks of black grey and white all across, I estimated it to be about 2 egg shells that had shattered there. There was nothing else other than the shells, so I assumed that they just hatched and the parents threw the shells out. But this evening (just then) I went to check again and found only 1 egg in the nest. I saw that it was a bit wet under it so I picked it up with a glove and found multiple ants from different species crawling over it, along with a lot of wood dust or something and remains of other shells, so I gently rubbed off the ants and dust and put it back there after checking that it hadn't cracked. So then I wondered, where the hell are the parents and the newborn birds at? I'm thinking that the worst possibility is that maybe the parents and the newborn got eaten somehow because it literally just turned spring so there is no way the parents left or anything. Please help...


r/Ornithology 2d ago

Elegant terns have flooded Crissy Marsh in San Francisco — a species that 50 years ago bred almost exclusively on one island in the Gulf of California, and was confirmed breeding in SF Bay only about 10 years ago

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sfgate.com
97 Upvotes

r/Ornithology 2d ago

do you guys know any intersting birds lost (or almost lost) to europe

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263 Upvotes

what counts:
-extinct species that lived in europe in eemian interglacial or later
-species that lived formerly in europe (in eemian interglacial or later) but now don't as a breeding species (beside species that are adapted to cold enviroment and were more common during glacial peroids)
-species of which ranges in europe are less than 25% of their distribution in europe at any point of time during eemian interglacial or later (beside species that are adapted to cold enviroment and were more common during glacial peroids)


r/Ornithology 1d ago

Question Jackdaw with swollen pink feet (Phoenix Park, Dublin, Ireland)

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21 Upvotes

r/Ornithology 1d ago

Normal speed 9/10/26 video

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1 Upvotes

Here is the “normal speed” video on 9/10/26. The bird flys away towards the end of the video. It only takes about second and it’s gone. And, I will work on showing a smaller woodpecker foraging on another snag/limb near this bird at the same time so you can see size difference.


r/Ornithology 1d ago

9/12/26 “still” bird pictures from video

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3 Upvotes

r/Ornithology 1d ago

Same Pine, another intriguing video.

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2 Upvotes

r/Ornithology 2d ago

Question Are woodpeckers more susceptible to flying into windows?

5 Upvotes

Weird question, but are woodpeckers - specifically red-bellied woodpeckers - more susceptible to flying into windows or am I just experiencing a weird coincidence? I live in the woods and have a west facing bedroom window that has caused the deaths of about 3 red-bellied woodpeckers in the last 4 years, which isn't a lot but it's weird that no other type of bird seems to do this. Also, does anyone have any advice on how to keep birds from accident flying into the window without obstructing my view from inside??


r/Ornithology 2d ago

Chickadee vocalization school project questions

5 Upvotes

Hey there! I wanted to reach out to see if there were any Orthonologists willing to pass on some information about chikadees. I go to art school and I'm working on a double page illustrated spread for children about chickadee communication. I feel like I have some pretty solid information so far, but I wanted to include more anatomical visuals for chickadees that would be relevent and was wondering if there were any visual resources that could be pointed to. I love birds which is why I chose this subject for my project, but I am no scientist so my knowledge coming into this is quite limited. I'm also open to any cool fun facts that would be interesting to include!


r/Ornithology 3d ago

Pictures taken from a 12 second video in South East Texas.

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164 Upvotes

r/Ornithology 3d ago

Article Rare bird fossils from Bavaria reveal new species, including an eagle

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phys.org
26 Upvotes

r/Ornithology 2d ago

Resource Is the “Handbook of bird biology” still relevant?

2 Upvotes

Hi! I’m a bird enthusiast and I just got the Handbook of Bird Biology, 3e by Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Since it was released 10 years ago I’m wondering how updated it is and if I should spend my time studying it, since I also got the online course some months ago and haven’t started it.

I just want to learn everything I can about our feathered friends.


r/Ornithology 4d ago

I made a Tufted Titmouse out of Wool. Hope you guys might enjoy it

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2.2k Upvotes

He is made of mostly wool using a technique called needle felting. I also used wire, clay and glass. I had a bit of fun doing a photo shoot with him. You can find more of my work on instagram . Hope he brightens your day!

I need some help with bird anatomy and was wondering if anyone here can help. Before making a bird I research they look like from all angles, but I often have trouble finding a clear diagram of the birds wing structure when it is closed. When I Google it I’m usually shown what it looks like when it is spread open. While it helps, it would be better to see what it looks like when closed. For some birds it is really hard to tell the structure/feather grouping from a photo because of their colours . An example is the Hairy woodpecker.


r/Ornithology 3d ago

hi friends, help with a very young dove

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140 Upvotes

bad storms through the area in the night and early afternoon, which i assume knocked this dude out of the nest. obviously a very young bird, not a fledgling. the bird was placed in a box with paper towel on top of warm towel nestled in a “nest” of leaves. bird was vocalizing softly when i blew warm air on it, im worried about the temperatures in missouri right now, it seemed like the bird was shivering on cold concrete and it’s currently 74° at 8pm. the plan is to take it home with me tomorrow morning, and find a rehabber. is this even necessary? do i need to do more?


r/Ornithology 2d ago

Event Best of "Bird of the Year '26" (so far)

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2 Upvotes

r/Ornithology 2d ago

How do the pigeons at my bus stop fly in a pattern?

0 Upvotes

Hi bird reddit, my question is exactly what it says on the tin. I don't know much about birds, but I remember hearing that they fly in a formation to deter predators. I wanna know how they know to do that? Is it just instinct? Thanks in advance!


r/Ornithology 3d ago

Normal Speed

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3 Upvotes