This little bird looks so stylish with her extra homemade tail feathers! It’s cute, but she’s not just being fashionable. This is a handy trick birds use to carry more nesting material than will fit in the beak. -via The Daily What

Angry Birds Plush Laplander Hat – $19.95

Attention Angry Birds fans! As you are well aware it is a bird versus pig world out there. Now is the time to declare your allegiance by donning one of the above Angry Birds Laplander hats from the NeatoShop. Are you a hungry pig or an angry bird? The war against cold heads and ears is on.

These super soft Angry Birds Plush Laplander Hats are sold separately and are available in Red Bird and Green Pig.

Be sure to check out the NeatoShop for more Angry Birds items and Headgear fun!

Link

The dog Kenzie cannot reach the pot at the back of the stove, so now he’s glad to have spent all that effort protecting his friend Queenie the cockatoo from the cat. Rodents aren’t the only pets who like spaghetti! -via Arbroath

There's something strangely familiar with Mohamed Raoof's "realistic" painted birds. Where might have you seen one before? Perhaps in a popular game involving slingshots and destruction of evil green pig structures?

Toxel has the pics: Link

Watch out for this angry bird! He’s got an AXE and he knows how to use it! Will nothing stop him? -via Buzzfeed

Japanese artist Sato created Torigun, a series of magnificent illustrations of birds in military dress uniforms. They're all fantastic (and I had a lot of trouble looking for the one to post here), but I think I like the robin one above the best. Check 'em all out here: Link - via Lustik

A passenger on a Delta flight from Madison, Wisconsin to Atlanta, Georgia posted a video to CNN of a flying creature in the passenger section. The plane was diverted back to Madison, where the passengers were rebooked. A Delta spokesman said the plane was searched, but they never found the animal. The plane then was returned to service. Link -via Arbroath

An orangutan saves a tired baby chick with a leaf, then inspects it afterward to makes sure it’s all right. There’s not a ton of info available about this video (for instance, which zoo this is or when it was filmed), but the important takeaway here is that orangutans are both extraordinarily compassionate and also kind of gross, as evidenced by the first 40 seconds of the clip. How many times did you think the orangutan was going to eat the bird? I’m not gonna lie–I held my breath a few times.

via Pharyngula

Mou thinks that similar genetic tweaks have happened time and again in the evolution of birds. Many groups have lost their neck feathers independently, including vultures, the marabou stork, and large flightless birds like ostriches and emus. Naked necks allow vultures to stuff their heads into carcasses without soiling any feathers; in other cases, a naked neck probably helps its owner to keep cool in hot climates.

Whatever the benefit, it seems that it’s particularly easy for birds to evolve a naked neck, rather than another part of their body. After all, Mou found that the necks of embryonic ducks, turkeys, quails and guinea fowl all have much higher levels of retinoic acid than the rest of the body. This pattern would normally be innocuous, completely hidden from natural selection. But it allows BMP-boosting mutations to denude the neck in one fell swoop, while keeping the rest of the body covered in feathers. As Mou writes, “An underlying map within the skin provides a one-step route to a bare neck.”

The post goes into detail about how the genes initiate the production of chemical activators and inhibitors, and ends with a parable from Alan Turing that explains the concept in layman’s terms. Link

(Image credit: Demontux)

To add to the mystery, 50-100 jackdaws, a bird species in the crow family, fell dead in central Sweden late Tuesday night, English-language Swedish news website The Local reported Wednesday.
"We do not know what the cause is," Skovde police commander Tomas Ahlgren said. The birds fell in the city of Falkoping, which is southeast of Skovde.

But conspiracy theorists beware: mass deaths by birds are actually quite common (the US Geological Service’s National Wildlife Health Center website listed 90 in the last 6 months alone) and the culprit is usually something mundane: military death ray, er, I mean bacterial infection.

Link (Photo: Bjorn Larsson Rosvall)

Well, it’s happening again. This time in Point Coupee Parish, Louisiana, 300 miles south of the original death spot in Beebe, Arkansas:

The birds were found Monday along Louisiana Highway 1, about 300 miles south of Beebe, Ark., where more than 3,000 blackbirds fell from the sky three days earlier. Authorities say examinations showed those birds suffered internal injuries that formed deadly blood clots. [...]

"They collided or were hit by something that caused hemorrhages or bleeding, internal bleeding or bruising," Karen Rowe, an ornithologist at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, told CBS News.

Some speculated Monday that a bout of bad weather was to blame. Others said one confused bird could have led the group in a fatal plunge. A few spooked schoolkids even guessed that the birds had committed mass suicide.

"There was probably some physical reason, but I doubt anyone will ever know what it was," said Thurman Booth, the state’s wildlife services director.

Obviously it’s a new military death ray! Link – via Boing Boing

What do you get when you combine a bird with a giraffe? The largest flying creatures that have ever existed on Earth:

With wingspans of 40 to 50 ft, the Azhdarchids were pterosaurs as big as some modern aircraft, with incredibly lop-sided bodies. Hugely long legs, beaks and necks adorned unusually small torsos with wings that were, surprisingly, proportionately short. It is thought that they were not able to hunt in flight, but needed to land and scrabble awkwardly for anything that they could swallow whole. Since one of these terrifying monsters stood as much as 20ft tall, it is easy to imagine that man might well have been a prey animal for them, had they lived alongside each other.

Environmental Graffiti has a feature of more less well known, but equally savage prehistoric predators: Link

The enormous wingspan gave P. chilensis certain advantages, like the ability to travel long distances and reach areas of the open ocean thick with potential prey. The researchers think it feasted on fish and squid, and may have trolled its hunting grounds with its lower beak skimming the water until its teeth could clamp down on a wriggling meal. But lead researcher Gerald Mayr says that a 17-foot wingspan is probably close to the maximum for a flying bird.

The bird flew over South America between 10 and 5 million years ago, which means it may have been seen by our hominid ancestors. Link

Previously: Argentavis magnificens

The bad news: It’s filled with snakes.

Atlas Obscura has more on the intriguing Snake Island of Brazil:

Off the shore of Brazil, almost due south of the heart of São Paulo, is a Ilha de Queimada Grande. The island is untouched by human developers, and for very good reason. Researchers estimate that on the island live between one and five snakes per square meter. The snakes live on the many migratory birds (enough to keep the snake density remarkably high) that use the island as a resting point.

That figure might not be so terrible if the snakes were, say, 2 inches long and nonvenomous. The snakes on Queimada Grande, however, are a unique species of pit viper, the golden lancehead. The lancehead genus of snakes is responsible for 90% of Brazilian snakebite-related fatalities. The golden lanceheads that occupy Snake Island grow to well over half a meter long, and they possess a powerful fast-acting poison that melts the flesh around their bites. Golden lanceheads are so dangerous that, with the exception of some scientific outfits, the Brazilian Navy has expressly forbidden anyone from landing on the island.

http://atlasobscura.com/place/snake-island-ilha-de-queimada-grande

Here’s a neat story of Kiwi ingenuity in helping out their plucky national bird:

Losing blood, Piwi was rushed back to Massey University’s veterinary science centre.

Fortunately another kiwi was available to provide blood for a transfusion, and Piwi pulled through. But his fight wasn’t over.

Palmerston North physiotherapist Fiona O’Connor prescribed a strict rehabilitation regime, including treadmill workouts, massage and physio exercises.

It was the first time the veterinarians had used a treadmill for a kiwi’s muscle development … and Piwi wasn’t happy.

Wildlife vet Dr Lisa Argilla said Piwi didn’t take to the treadmill naturally, and would be grumpy when woken for his workout three times a week.

"He was particularly stubborn in true kiwi form, and just sat there [as if saying] I’m not going to do this.

"He’d bite carer’s hands when he got fed up with walking. But he’s quite a tolerant little guy," she said.

Link – via Lemon Drop (who has a neat video clip of Piwi the Kiwi on a treadmill)

This cockatoo’s name is Billy, but they should have named him Houdini! -via reddit

Next on Milan Fashion Week is this trendy backpack for pigeons! Just kidding – that’s actually part of a scientific study led by Tamás Vicsek of Eötvös Loránd University, Hungary, to determine which bird in a flock of pigeons is the dominant one:

If you’re a scientist and you want to learn which birds lead the flock during flights and which follow, there’s probably no better way to research that question than to fit the birds with little backpacks containing GPS devices and track them. Really.

So that’s exactly what some scientists did. They strapped GPS-bearing backpacks onto homing pigeons, then followed their flight patterns in minute detail.

Link

Is this a scene from Finding Nemo? Or Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds? No, this bird was caught absconding with a piece of lunch on Google Street View, specifically on John Street in Brighton, England. Link -via reddit

You might recall Sir David Attenborough introducing us to the lyrebird, a master of mimcry (and later the wonderful remix). Chook the lyrebird lives at the Adelaide Zoo. After a period of construction at the zoo, Chook was able to recreate the sounds of hammers, saws, and power tools exactly. Link -via Arbroath

While pockets of flab accumulated over the winter months may be a source of frustration for some, it can be a cause of joy for others …

The researchers fitted ten fat birds and ten lean birds on the Italian island of Ventotene with temporary adhesive radio transmitters. [...]

Monitoring their test subjects using the stick-on surveillance bugs, the German boffins found that the more rotund ones had sex sooner and generally slept only one night in any given location. Plumpness led to sexual success for the wobblebottomed group, while their spindly counterparts took longer to get any action – and tended to make longer stays of more than one night, too.

Link

The moa were hunted to extinction by 1500 by the Maori in New Zealand. They were the only species of birds with no wings. But wait, you say, what about kiwis, emus, and ostriches? Well, these flightless birds, a group of birds called ratites, actually do have wings (some of them vestigials).

Oh, and one more thing. I mentioned New Zealand – have you ever asked yourself where is Old Zealand? New Zealand is actually named after Zeeland, a major seafaring province of the Netherlands, by Dutch navigator Abel Tasman in 1642 (yup, the island of Tasmania is named after him). Captain James Cook misspelled it New Zealand and the name stuck ever since.

The swift is being treated at an Israeli animal hospital and it is thanks to this ingenious device – which resembles a mobile in a child’s bedroom – that he can practise flying.

Fitting snugly into a red tube-like vest made of bandages and gauze pads, Sisso has holes for his head, wings, feet and tail.

A string is fixed to the harness and attached to the ceiling which allows him to whizz around a room at the Ramat Gan Safari Park Animal Hospital without falling to the floor.

However, until the muscles in his weakened right wing become strong enough, he will be kept indoors and in the sling.

Sisso will be freed when he can fly normally again. Link -via mental_floss

BIRD film from Andrew Zuckerman Studio on Vimeo.

To help promote his illustrated book, Bird, Andrew Zuckerman directed this short video of birds from around the world.  Shot against a glorious white background, the film captures the beauty of our feathered friends, mirroring the photos in his book.  A must-see for bird lovers.

Andrew Zuckerman’s Site

(YouTube Link)

The last thing seen by many a field mouse.  1000 frames per second.  (via Cynical-C)

“We used to throw the odd crumb towards him, but none of us expected him to join us in the truck every day. He will take anything out of your hands and seems to enjoy human company.”
Now the robin descends from nearby trees every day and lands on John’s wing mirror ready for the snacks they bring especially for him.

Mr. Hancock and friends made a YouTube video of “Robbie” and created a Facebook fan page.

(YouTube Link)

The bird dropped some bread on a section of outdoor machinery, eventually leading to significant over heating in parts of the accelerator. The LHC was not operational at the time of the incident, but the spike produced so much heat that had the beam been on, automatic failsafes would have shut down the machine.

The LHC is scheduled to be reactivated later this month. The bread incident won’t affect those plans. Link -via Boing Boing

“I felt so helpless. It was awful, the worst feeling in the world.

“I took out a chair and blanket but I was getting strange looks from people driving by.

“They looked very confused when I said my bird was stuck up in the tree.

“I ended up driving my car around the corner and parked next to the tree. It was warmer and I felt safer but I still got no sleep.

The cherry picker arrived at 7:30 AM, and Cleo was finally brought down. She had spent 16 hours on the same branch. Link -via Arbroath

(image credit: SOLENT)

The new mascot was debated for five minutes, and then the Common Council voted 15-4 to make the plastic pink flamingo the official city bird.

The idea was by a 1979 prank on Bascom Hill when the Pail and Shovel Party on campus put out 1,008 of the birds. "It sure lives in Madison lore as a really fun thing," said Wisconsin State Journal writer Doug Moe. Moe proposed the idea in a column, and Alder Marsha Rummel brought it to the council. "Let Madison have a little fun and laugh at itself. We’ve always been pretty good at that. I might suggest in these so-called tough times, a little laughter is not a bad thing," Moe said.

Not everyone embraced the idea of voting on the plastic flamingo. "I respectfully ask for this City Council to devote more time to more serious business at hand," said Alder Thuy Pham-Remmele, of District 20. But Rummel defended bringing the proposal to the council. "We are capable of multitasking in life, and if you don’t have a little fun, it’s not worth living, and I spent like 20 minutes on this since April," Rummel said.

Channel3000 has the story: Link – via L.A. Unleashed

The Kenyan honeyguide bird has an unusual and very remarkable behavior: it engages in an interspecies collaboration with humans to locate African bee colonies. In exchange for their guide service, the birds then share the harvest of the recovered honey.

Sir David Attenborough explains in this very interesting BBC clip titled Talking to Strangers.

– via presurfer

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.

Scientists have determined that birds can indeed dance, but can they headbang to death metal? You betcha! Behold, the Death Metal Parrot!

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Christophe.

Photographer Brian MacFarlane was taking pictures of a gaggle of geese flying during turbulent weather. This goose had a particularly strange style of flyin’ in high winds:

Your eyes do not deceive you – this puzzling bird really is flying upside down but with its neck and head twisted the right way up. [...]

Brian MacFarlane was simply photographing geese buffeted by strong winds at Strumpshaw yesterday, and did not expect to capture a moment of contortionism.

“The wind was making life difficult for the flying birds,” said Mr MacFarlane.

“Some were expert at controlling their flight, while others were being tossed around in mid-air.

“On closer inspection of the image I realised it had flipped upside down but kept its head the right way up. “Quite a feat!”

Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.

Cancer schmancer, scientists at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego have finally solved the age-old question that has eluded science for centuries: can birds dance?

Cats, dogs, and lab monkeys spend lots of time around human music. But no animal had ever been confirmed as moving to a beat—leading to the common belief that animals ain’t got rhythm.

For one of two new studies on animal dancing, Aniruddh Patel at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego and colleagues worked with Snowball the parrot, which seems to love "dancing" to the likes of Queen and Backstreet Boys.

To test whether the sulphur-crested cockatoo was really keeping a beat, the scientists would change the music’s tempo—represented in these videos as "BPM" (beats per minute).

Not one to miss a beat, Snowball quickly picked up the new rhythms, stomping and head-bobbing in time. "We were surprised by the degree Snowball could adjust his tempo," Patel said.

Link

Conceptual artist Kasey McMahon (whose works CompuBeaver and Text-o-Possum have been featured on Neatorama before) sent us her latest creation: the Birdcage Dress (yes, it’s a fully functional wearable brass bird cage – notice the birdies?)

Link – Thanks Kasey!

Found only on the island of Luzon, Worcester’s buttonquail was known solely through drawings based on dated museum specimens collected several decades ago.

Scientists had suspected the species—listed as “data deficient” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s 2008 Red List—was extinct.

The buttonquail is a reclusive bird, and no one knows how many may remain hidden. Link -via Digg

(image credit: Arnel B. Telesforo)

One small step for birds, one scary pre-Planet-of-the-Apes warning sign for human beings. Watch the bird snag some bread being tossed to its less-intelligent cousins and then use it to attract some fish to snack on.

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Urbanist.

Oscar, who is actually a female cockatoo, was given six months to live, but thanks to a diagnosis of a contagious beak-and-feather disease, she was spared… and that was twelve years ago! The near-naked bird with nothing more than a tuft of feathers on her head is enchanting people world-wide as she gives real meaning to beauty comes from within. She can also do a mean Mick Jagger dance too.

Video: YouTube