/channels/taxonomy/term/3331/all en /channels/channels/news/nyc-beaches-angry-birds-fight-drones-patrolling-sharks-and-struggling-swimmers-357955 <p>Patrol drones deployed in May to New York City beaches to look for sharks and struggling swimmers are ruffling feathers. Seabirds have been attacking the drones as if they are predators, flying and swooping at the machines while vocalizing.</p> Tue, 16 Jul 2024 00:28:43 +0000 webfull 200792 at /channels /channels/channels/news/montreal-peregrine-falcon-chicks-take-first-flights-world-full-danger-357815 <p>The world is full of dangers when you're a falcon chick less than six weeks old and learning to fly — even if you're a member of the fastest species on Earth.</p> <p>This week, three falcon chicks named Hugo, Polo and Estebane started to spread their wings around the nest site on the 23rd floor of the Université de Montréal tower, with hundreds of online viewers watching their every move.</p> Wed, 26 Jun 2024 18:24:53 +0000 webfull 200624 at /channels /channels/channels/news/whats-all-wild-turkeys-montreal-357298 <p>Wild turkey sightings are on the rise in Montreal.</p> <p><a href="/newsroom/david-bird">David Bird</a>, emeritus professor of wildlife biology in ƽ���岻��'s Department of Natural Resource Sciences, <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/whats-with-all-the-wild-turkeys-in-montreal">told the Montreal Gazette</a> that warmer temperatures have influenced the habits of more than just wild turkey populations.</p> <p>“All these birds that are not normally found in cold, cold regions are now moving north because of climate warming,” he said.</p> Thu, 09 May 2024 18:32:18 +0000 webfull 200020 at /channels /channels/channels/news/how-will-animals-react-quebecs-total-solar-eclipse-356670 <p>It’s possible animals — pets and wildlife alike — will behave unusually during Quebec’s total solar eclipse on April 8 , according to experts on their behaviour.</p> <p>David Bird, emeritus professor of wildlife biology at ƽ���岻��, <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/how-will-animals-react-to-quebecs-total-solar-eclipse">told the Montreal Gazette</a> that birds, insects and bats are the main groups expected to be affected, or “the main ones that everybody’s sort of keeping an eye on.”</p> Tue, 09 Apr 2024 21:08:14 +0000 webfull 199295 at /channels /channels/channels/news/birds-nesting-agricultural-lands-more-vulnerable-extreme-heat-study-finds-352239 <p>As climate change intensifies extreme heat, farms are becoming less hospitable to nesting birds, a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add2915">new study</a> found. That could be another barrier to maintaining rapidly eroding biodiversity that also provides benefits to humans, including farmers who get free pest control when birds eat agricultural pests.</p> Wed, 25 Oct 2023 18:46:49 +0000 webfull 194208 at /channels /channels/channels/news/impact-wildfires-birds-canada-351114 <div class="bl-tpl">This was the worst year for Canadian wildfires on record and though fire season is not yet over, we can already start to see and look at some of the impact of fires on our ecosystems across the country. One population particularly affected by the fires this summer is birds.</div> Wed, 20 Sep 2023 16:33:24 +0000 webfull 192918 at /channels /channels/channels/news/mystery-vanishing-kestrels-whats-happening-flashy-falcon-348907 <p>The number of American kestrels has dropped sharply. That goes against the trend for birds of prey, broadly seen as a conservation bright spot.</p> <p>Hypotheses about the decline abound. In a newly published special issue on kestrels in The Journal of Raptor Research, Dr. Smallwood and David Bird, an emeritus professor of wildlife biology at ƽ���岻�� in Montreal, list seven possible factors for kestrel declines that they argue merit more research, in no particular order.</p> Wed, 28 Jun 2023 22:35:44 +0000 webfull 190352 at /channels /channels/channels/news/canada-geese-what-you-may-not-know-about-pesky-national-symbol-331006 <p>Many Canadians are familiar with the honking and hissing that marks the beginning of the spring season, some might be more intimately familiar with the feeling of large wings batting about the sides of their head, but one thing is for certain: most Canadians have a Canada goose story.</p> <p>Canada geese flying in their V formation are usually one of the first signs of the return of warm weather, but it also marks the return of the pesky waterfowl taking over our waterfronts, golf courses and parks. Here’s what you should know about the birds that have become a national symbol.</p> Wed, 12 May 2021 13:19:22 +0000 webfull 170537 at /channels /channels/channels/news/american-kestrel-free-fall-and-no-one-knows-why-304003 <p>Once prevalent in Montreal, the littlest falcon's downfall is a bellwether for hard times. “The story of the kestrel is happening to other bird species.”</p> <p>Throughout the 1900s, North America’s littlest falcon was also described as the continent’s most common and widespread. Small but fierce and marked with bright plumage rare in the raptor world, the American kestrel could be seen throughout the continent, diving and swooping in fallow fields or under the stadium lights at baseball games, hunting for plump moths or small mice.</p> Fri, 10 Jan 2020 14:18:03 +0000 webfull 157151 at /channels /channels/channels/news/montreal-gazette-american-kestrel-free-fall-and-no-one-knows-why-303807 <p>“It’s like a big black hole — we have no idea why they’re declining,” said <strong>David Bird</strong>, professor emeritus of wildlife biology at ƽ���岻�� and a former bird columnist for the Montreal Gazette, who created and ran the university’s prolific breeding colony. “We saw after a while that they were breeding well, but the youngsters weren’t coming back. They weren’t surviving. What’s particularly interesting is that the story of the kestrel is happening to other bird species.”</p> Mon, 06 Jan 2020 14:47:42 +0000 webfull 156918 at /channels /channels/channels/news/atlas-obscura-why-drones-are-counting-thousands-decoy-ducks-285271 <p>Conducting a bird census by foot can also be disruptive, David Bird, an emeritus professor of wildlife biology at ƽ���岻��, told Popular Science. “While you’re doing that, you’re disturbing the hell out of the birds,” Bird said.<br /><a href="https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/drones-counting-birds">Atlas Obscura</a></p> Wed, 21 Feb 2018 18:46:39 +0000 webfull 135634 at /channels /channels/news/national-bird-241417 Thu, 29 Jan 2015 19:50:58 +0000 webfull 107841 at /channels /channels/news/world-outdoors-researchers-flock-drones-265372 <p>Drone technology has been applied in support of bird science for more than a decade now. With the cost of this technology continuing to drop, the use of it is broadening across North America.</p> <p>In the same way that retail, military, and hobby sectors have embraced drones, bird scientists have realized drones can be deployed to do some bird census work and gather data in remote or otherwise inaccessible locations.</p> Thu, 26 Jan 2017 14:32:14 +0000 webfull 124426 at /channels