Whether stubby, slender, spoon-shaped, flattened or sharply pointed, bird beaks can be highly specialized, and now, researchers have found that some even have built-in AC. For the first time, ...

From their feathers to feet, learn more about the major features of bird anatomy and what makes these fascinating animals so ...

The shape of the beaks of different species of Galapagos finches played an important part in Darwin’s conception of natural selection. “In our field there is this presumption that the beak shape ...

Michael Hanson/ Yale University One of the fragments of Ichthyornis dispar skull the researchers examined for this study was found over a century ago, but scientists hadn’t put together the pieces of ...

It was a spirited debate between friends that surfaced every time we got together. It was not about politics, the economy or the weather, but the more significant question, do birds have bills or ...

Now, researchers have discovered that an iconic bird that inspired the likes of Charles Darwin bore the very first beak. The team reconstructed the ancient beaks of Ichthyornis dispar in a study ...

ANCHORAGE, Alaska --Biologist Colleen Handel saw her first black-capped chickadee with the heartrending disorder in 1998. The tiny birds showed up at birdfeeders in Alaska’s largest city with ...

A 67-million-year-old bird skull has overturned an established theory about how modern birds evolved. Unlike most modern birds, the flightless group that includes ostriches and emus can’t move their ...

20150513_me_how_bird_beaks_got_their_start_as_dinosaur_snouts.mp3?orgId=1&topicId=1007&d=117&p=3&story=406256185&t=progseg&e=406357221&seg=4&ft=nprml&f=406256185 ...

These are the flashiest, most specialized beaks around. The black skimmer has a truly unique bill among shorebirds, and really, among all North American birds. The beak is large yet very thin, and the ...