Under these drastically changing conditions, the struggle to survive favored the larger birds with deep, strong beaks for opening the hard seeds. Smaller finches with less-powerful beaks perished.

The Java sparrow is ready for the video recording. As I hold it carefully in my hand in order to transfer it to the recording ...

The same diverse array of Galápagos finch species that helped inspire Charles Darwin's theory of evolution have now assisted in another discovery, this time relating to the genetic basis for the ...

How fast does the beak move? To answer these questions, I’m recording high-speed X-ray videos of the feeding birds. Interestingly, I discovered some fascinating differences in beak movement ...

Birds captivate us with their stunning appearances and remarkable adaptations, and some species stand out for their exceptionally colourful beaks These beaks not only add to the beauty of nature ...

How do you know that finches' beak depth is heritable? You can see from Figure 2 that there is a correlation between the parents' and offsprings' beak size. How did the finch population change ...

Our study, just published in PLOS Biology (11:e1001570, 2013), shows that MG, which affects the eyes of finches found in backyards across most of the United States, has rapidly and repeatedly evolved ...

Birds have feathers and a beak and lay hard-shelled eggs. Many birds are able to fly using their wings, but others such as ostriches are flightless and unable to fly. Some birds like penguins ...