Has anyone worked for American Bird Conservancy? They have been posting some interesting jobs lately.

However, when looking up their career reviews on Glassdoor and others, they don’t seem like a great. Poor work life balance stood out to me as a problem. Also, people on Facebook rave about working there. Reddit users are full of opinions so let me know the good, bad, and ugly. TIA.

Colossal Biosciences estimated that it would take between 5 and 7 years to recover the dodo, whose closest living relatives are the nicobar pigeon and other pigeons. However, the hawaiian honeycreepers (with the exception of the family Mohoidae) belong to the same family, and some species still survive today.

So, in theory, could it be easier to recover the extinct hawaiian honeycreepers than the dodo or the mammoth? Species like the ʻōʻū, for example, went extinct a short time ago and specimens are still preserved in museums. If Colossal Biosciences manages to recover the dodo and develops the necessary technology for germ cell editing and bird reproduction, could that technology be applied in the future to the extinct hawaiian honeycreepers?

https://sdakotabirds.com/species/labrador_duck_info.htm

It went extinct around 1878.

Males had striking black-and-white plumage with a white head and neck, a dark crown stripe, and mostly white wings. Females were largely gray.

It had a unique, wide, flat, and soft-edged bill equipped with internal lamellae (comb-like structures), perfectly shaped for sifting through sand and mud.

It migrated along the northeastern coast of North America. It spent winters in sheltered bays, harbors, and sandy coastal waters off New England, New Jersey, and south to the Chesapeake Bay. Its suspected summer breeding grounds included Labrador and Northern Quebec.

It used its specialized bill to dive in shallow waters and feed on small mollusks, mussels, and other bottom-dwelling invertebrates.

The duck was naturally rare even before European settlers arrived. The final recorded sighting occurred in Elmira, New York, in 1878, when a specimen was driven inland by a storm. Only about 55 to 60 preserved specimens remain in museums globally.

The exact cause of extinction remains unknown since its meat tasted foul, its feathers were not prized and it was not heavily hunted for food or commerce. Scientists believe its extinction resulted from a combination of factors: an inherently small population, human disruption of coastal ecosystems, overharvesting of its breeding eggs, and the depletion of the specific shellfish it relied upon for food

I wanna be an ornithologist it's been my dream since I was very little (im 21 now >:3) I'm going to snhu online for a degree in game art and development since I wanted to make games on the side, I was going for a ba in organismal biology first at a uni in my town but I got academically suspended cuz I had bad grades for two semesters cuz of health reasons :( (and cuz that uni has an 11% graduation rate too), now tho I realize how much game art and development isn't really a good idea cuz it won't get me far but I need to do online courses and I can't afford the online zoology and biology courses from other unis so I wanted to ask; what other degrees can I get that can help me get into becoming a ornithologist? Would environmental science and conservation work? Also before you guys mention experience and stuff I'm planning on trying to intern at places that'll take students and I do have experience with handling birds since most of my childhood was spent around caring for birds cuz my grandmother who i was living with owned a rescue :3 and birds have been my special interest for so long I have so many books about them :3

Crows can recognise human faces but how does that work with identical twins?

If one twin regularly feeds them, does the other twin also get followed around by crows expecting snacks? Or can they use someone’s voice and the way they walk to tell them apart?

I think it is an air sac, just wanted to check here to see what everyone else thinks. Thanks!

First 3 photos are when my parents first saw it at 1 pm. It wasnt moving until they approached, and it proceeded to hop around.

Next 3 photos under the bush are at 7 pm. It was still moving a bit until I took those photos, and it has since stayed there for a few hours.

I'm trying to compare it to fledgling photos, and it looks like an adult to me but I'm not entirely sure. Either way, it's been on the ground for essentially the entire day, and there are tons of cats around the neighborhood.

It's almost 10 pm here and the rehab centre doesn't open until 9 am. Should I leave it in the bush for now, or take it in for safety? Either way I will be contacting the wildlife rehab centre when they open.

I wish I was able to get a picture, but they dispersed and released the brown bird after a few cars drove by.

One of them had it pinned to the street and looked like it was attacking it while the group watched. They all flew away seemingly fine after and in the same direction.

Editing to add: I just went back over to that spot and they brought the bird back and are pecking it (maybe eating it?) alive again. I have video of the scene and picture of the bird in question but it’s a bit gory so let me know if that’s allowed to help identify or anything.

A rat snake found a dove nest on our porch about 2 days ago 😭 It looks like the mama and one baby managed to escape. The baby is feathered, and since then mama and baby have been hanging out together in the mulch next to a shrub near the porch.

Over the last 2 days, the snake has been coming and going from the nest, but the birds are still staying nearby. They almost seem like they’re waiting around and don’t want to leave the area.

Is this normal after a nest gets disturbed? Is there anything I can do to help keep mama and baby safe, or is it best to just leave them alone?

Today I was watching a youtube video and was baffled to hear someone pronounce it "cove-ert" (the same as covert espionage, for example) when all my life I thought it was pronounced ""cuv-ert" (like cover with a t at the end). I'm only a bird fan and birding hobbyist and have gotten the pronunciation of words that I've learned through reading wrong before so I did some googling and the pronunciation section on dictionary.com says this:

"Covert, related to cover, has historically been pronounced with the same stressed vowel found in cover. This is the traditional and unchallenged vowel in many other English words spelled with stressed o followed by v, voiced th, or a nasal in the same syllable, words of high frequency like love and above, mother and other, some and honey. The adjective covert, however, by analogy with overt, its semantic opposite, has developed the pronunciation, perhaps because of the frequent coupling of the two terms in the news media. This is now the more common pronunciation for the adjective in American English, though not in British English, which retains the historical pronunciation. For the noun senses, less likely to appear in the news or to be contrasted with overt and its sound, the historical remains the more frequent pronunciation."

I looked at a few more videos and noticed hobbyists like backyard birders and artists doing drawing tutorials saying "cove-ert" while a falconer and a bird bander said "cuv-ert" and while it was a small sample size (less than ten videos) I was curious if there might be a split between "laypeople" and professionals, so to speak, so I thought I'd ask here and on r/Birding so it could reach a range of people.

So tl;dr the question is: How do you personally pronounce the word "covert" (as in feather) and are you a bird fan, researcher, scientist, student, birding hobbyist, etc.?

As for me, like I said, I have no professional credentials lol but I have been a big fan since I was a kid so I have no idea where I picked up the pronunciation. It might have been from a nature documentary or going to a wildlife rehab talk or something as simple as "well that word looks like 'cover' with a 't' on it so that's how I'll pronounce it."

this little guy flew into our restaurant's window about an hour ago and he's been having these kind of spasms since?? we're thinking it's probably a brain injury but the movements are getting less intense, i'm hopeful it'll recover but my coworkers aren't :(
is there any chance of him getting better?

1. Reddish Egret Egretta rufescens
2. Reddish Egret (light morph) Egretta rufescens
3. Chinese Egret Egretta eulophotes 
4. Tricolored Heron Egretta tricolor 
5. Little Blue Heron Egretta caerulea
6. Little Blue Heron (juvenile) Egretta caerulea
7. White-faced Heron Egretta novaehollandiae
8. Pacific Reef-Heron (dark morph) Egretta sacra
9. Pacific Reef-Heron (light morph) Egretta sacra
10. Snowy Egret Egretta thula 

– Little Egret / Western Reef-Heron complex (see slides 4-5) –

11. Little Egret Egretta garzetta
12. Australasian Little Egret Egretta garzetta nigripes
13. Dimorphic Egret (dark morph) Egretta garzetta or gularis or dimorpha
14. Dimorphic Egret (light morph) Egretta garzetta or gularis or dimorpha
15. Western Reef-Heron (West Africa-South Europe) (dark morph) Egretta gularis gularis
16. Western Reef-Heron (West Africa-South Europe) (light morph) Egretta gularis gularis
17. Western Reef-Heron (Middle East-South Asia) (dark morph) Egretta gularis schistacea
18. Western Reef-Heron (Middle East-South Asia) (light morph) Egretta gularis schistacea

19. Black Heron Egretta ardesiaca 
20. Slaty Egret Egretta vinaceigula
21. Pied Heron Egretta picata

Most widespread: Little Egret
Most colorful: Tricolored Heron
Longest bill proportion: Tricolored Heron
Shortest leg proportion: Pacific Reef-Heron
Most unique habit: Black Heron’s umbrella feeding technique
Most threatened: Chinese Egret
Fanciest breeding plumes: Snowy Egret

Previous illustration set for Ardea herons & egrets here.

Collin County, Texas. 08/30/26

I saw a video of a woodpecker jamming its tongue into a tree to get bugs. I assume they have some kind of tough tongue or something and read that the tip is barbed and sticky but im curious if thats right or there's more to it than that.

He is eating just fine. I just noticed he is also missing a toe.

We have the chance to get birds on euro banknotes! If you haven't votes yet: https://www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknotes/future_banknotes/html/design-proposals.de.html

I'm so excited!

I work at a small grocery store and for a couple days this fledgling seagull has been circling the entrance of the store crying for their mom :/ We’re all unsure if we should do anything or if there is anything we can do to help them at all. Any advice would be so appreciated!

It’s Saturday night and I’m not sure where else to ask, so I come to Reddit.

We’ve had a pair of mourning doves brood outside one of our second story windows. This morning we found one of the two babies dead on the ground. This evening, its sibling is now on the ground. I’ve read doves leave the nest before they can fly (wild two story drop that must’ve been?! Why are pigeons and doves like this! Nest made of needles and prayers, on a 4” ledge, 20’ from the ground 😳😭)

Do we need to worry and try to put him in a box or is this normal?

I’m probably over here worrying more than its parents lol but I can’t have two dove deaths today.

Thanks

EDIT: have cross posted to a wildlife rehab sub.

Spotted this bird in my back garden in Ireland. I thought it had a stick in its mouth until i looked closer and realised it was its beak. What could have caused it to be so long / malformed?

Should I move the feeders?

Every autumn, European robins fly south at night. Many of them alone, many without ever having made the trip before. They use stars, landmarks, and the setting sun, but they can also orient by the Earth's magnetic field - and that part is a genuine problem, because the field is far too weak to be sensed by any ordinary chemistry inside a warm animal.

The leading explanation is the radical pair mechanism, first proposed by Klaus Schulten in the 1970s and developed by Thorsten Ritz and colleagues in 2000. Short version: when light hits a protein in the retina called cryptochrome, an electron jumps and leaves behind two unpaired electrons - a "radical pair." Their spins are correlated, and the correlation oscillates in a way that's sensitive to magnetic fields far too weak to do anything else in the cell. The magnetic field doesn't supply energy. It nudges the timing. That changes the ratio of two chemical products. Across a whole retina, that gives you a pattern. The bird doesn't feel the field the way we feel a smell. It may literally see it as a shading overlaid on ordinary vision.

The evidence I find most persuasive is a specific, weird prediction that held up: robins lose their magnetic compass under extremely weak radio-frequency oscillating fields — fields far too feeble to affect normal chemistry, but exactly what should scramble a fragile spin state. Henrik Mouritsen's group in Oldenburg showed this, and also showed that ambient urban electromagnetic noise disrupts the compass. When they moved the birds into electromagnetically screened huts, orientation returned.

Two things to keep honest:

1. Nobody has traced the mechanism end-to-end inside a living bird. Photon → protein → spin state → nerve signal → behaviour: that full chain has not been shown. This remains a very good hypothesis.
2. There's a rival - magnetite crystals, potentially in the beak, mechanically torqued by the field. Some evidence there hit trouble (one prominent study's "magnetite neurons" turned out to be immune cells). It's possible birds run both systems. It's possible the radical pair story is wrong.

But if it is right, the interesting claim isn't that quantum mechanics is spooky. It's that quantum coherence - the fragile thing physicists cool to near absolute zero and shield from everything - might be sitting inside a warm, wet, jostling retina, doing an actual biological job. Evolution finding a way to make a quantum state last microseconds in a hot noisy cell, without understanding any of it, several million years before we could reproduce it in a lab.

I wrote a longer piece walking through the evidence ranking and Einstein's connection to all this (he hated the effect that this may be running on): https://thesilentape.substack.com/p/the-robins-compass

Curious what people - especially anyone who's followed the Mouritsen group's more recent work - think.