Feathers are of ultimate importance to birds — crucial for flying, protection from rain, heat and cold and, during nesting season, attracting mates and defending territories. No wonder, then, that ...

Because birds live outdoors, there's an assumption that they're dirty and harbor many insect pests among their feathers. But this is very wide of the mark: Birds are as clean as cats, spending almost ...

A paper published last year in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface described a feather as a masterpiece of engineering ...

A study explores how birds rearrange feathers after flights through gusts and foliage. The durability of bird feathers is evident in the ease with which birds preen and repair ruffled feathers using ...

I thought my cat was bad. The incessant licking to keep himself clean. He’s got to be the cleanest cat ever. Then I watched a northern mockingbird preening itself. It went on for as long as I could ...

Dec. 8, 2003 – University of Utah biologists twirled louse-infested bird feathers on an electric fan and flew pigeons and doves like kites on strings in a study that found small lice stick to small ...

Green herons don't do Facebook, and they certainly don't use Twitter. They don't play bridge or read novels. Not that they don't have time to fill. We've often had green herons visit the swampy pond ...

• Tufted Titmouse on heated birdbath • Why is water so important? Well just like the warmer months, birds need to stay hydrated! • Key reasons water is essential for birds during the winter: • ...

As much as I enjoy the challenge of searching the tree canopy for tiny, flitting songbirds, there is a lot to be said for watching larger birds. Particularly for people new to using binoculars, big ...

We heard a thin, high-pitched sound repeated several times while walking up a snow-covered hill in a spruce forest. Could it be a golden-crowned kinglet surviving in these sub-freezing temperatures?