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Male testes come in all shapes and sizes

avianbiology
24 October 2014

Male testes come in all shapes and sizes. Male mammals usually have two testes that are equal in size but birds, for some unknown reason, usually have one testis bigger than the other, and it is often said that the left testis is larger than the right.

A canary for climate change?

avianbiology
14 October 2014

Modern-day puffins and auks have long been recognized as environmental indicator species for ongoing faunal shifts, and fossil records now indicate that ancient relatives were similarly informative.

Long-term phenological shifts and intra-specific differences in migratory change in the willow warbler

avianbiology
10 October 2014

Every year, billions of birds move across the Earth to reach their wintering and breeding grounds. One of these mass movement members is the willow warbler, a long-distance migrant that winters in sub-Saharan Africa and breeds in northern Europe and Asia.

Changes in wintering bird populations in Finland

avianbiology
9 October 2014

The numbers of wintering urban birds have increased three times and the number of water birds have increased ten times in Finland since the end of 1950s...

Prey size affects global distribution of the golden eagle

avianbiology
7 October 2014

In this study we show that the availability of optimal-sized prey (between 0.5-5 kg) is a crucial driver of foraging behaviour, breeding success and distribution patterns of the Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos L. on a continental scale.

Spring phenology and timing of breeding in short-distance migrant birds

avianbiology
18 September 2014

In this impressive long-term study the authors explore if common goldeneyes can track environmental cues and adjust their breeding in response to a changing climate. At their study site in Finland the ice-out date has advanced with 2 weeks during their 24 yr study...

Automated tracking of wild hummingbird mass

avianbiology
12 September 2014

In this study the authors examine the use of automated collection of hummingbird mass data using low-cost, low-power radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. In a field study in southern Ontario, wild hummingbirds were captured, subcutaneously implanted with...

Costs of rearing and sex-ratio variation

avianbiology
5 September 2014

The broods of most avian species are composed of about equal numbers of males and females. However, under certain circumstances the brood sex ratio has been found to deviate from unity and as such situations are of special interest for evolutionary...

Editor´s Choice - Negative Impact of geolocators

avianbiology
4 September 2014

Tiny light-level geolocators with a mass of less than 1 gram give great hopes that it will be possible to reveal the annual migratory journeys of many small songbirds on an individual level, but evidence are also accumulating that equipping a small bird...

New impact factor and other numbers

Johan
14 August 2014

About two weeks ago Thomson Reuters published their annual Journal Citation Report. For us editors this is a day of excited anticipation – even though most of us agree that this measure is far from perfect, it...

Regional and seasonal flight speeds of soaring migrants and the role of weather

avianbiology
4 August 2014

A big challenge for migration ecologists is to resolve how environmental conditions along the migration routes of birds affect their migration timing and individual fitness. Read the authors own story behind this recent Open Access paper...

Editor´s Choice - Impressive seabird foraging studies

avianbiology
14 July 2014

Rapid advances are now being made in the knowledge of the amazing foraging journeys undertaken also b y the smallest pelagic seabirds, thanks to the use of miniaturized geolocators (light loggers). Two impressive studies are published in this issue...

Density-dependent effects on nesting success of temperate-breeding Canada geese

avianbiology
2 July 2014

Canada geese nesting in suburban environments are often considered a nuisance. However, their demographic expansion and ease of study offer the opportunity to examine important ecological processes. In this study, the authors conclude that both negative...

Irruptive movements and breeding dispersal of snowy owls

avianbiology
13 June 2014

Tracking snowy owls has been (and still is) a great challenge. The fact that those birds are highly mobile, that they show almost no breeding site fidelity and disperse over huge distances from one year to another yet increases the challenge. The use of satellite...

South temperate birds have higher apparent adult survival than tropical birds in Africa

avianbiology
2 June 2014

In the low vegetation of a nature reserve surrounding a nuclear power station on the south-west coast of South Africa, a community of passerine birds breeds at an extraordinarily high density. With up to 1,640 nests monitored and 1,255 birds banded each year...

Editor´s Choice - Colonization pathways of the northeast Atlantic by northern fulmars

avianbiology
9 May 2014

The fulmar Fulmarus glacialis has expanded greatly in the North Atlantic during the recent 350 years, as compiled and analyzed from faunistic historical literature by James Fisher. This expansion may have started from either or both of the two oldest breeding...

Editor´s Choice: Avian malaria is associated with increased reproductive investment

avianbiology
7 May 2014

High quality individuals or Terminal investment? Avian malaria parasites, e.g. Haemoproteus and Plasmodium, are commonly found in many bird species. Studies aiming at estimating these parasites’ fitness effects have typically either found no effect or...

Nuthatch fecundity improves with mountain pine beetle outbreak

avianbiology
7 April 2014

Food pulses during the breeding season can reduce competition for food and increase fecundity. But, for cavity-nesting birds that excavate new nest cavities, a reproductive cost associated with excavation, may limit the reproductive response to food pulses.

Editor´s Choice - The exception to the rule: Bewick's swans migrate slower in spring than in autumn

avianbiology
14 March 2014

A dominating pattern among migratory birds is that migration speed during spring exceeds that during autumn. This makes exceptions to this pattern particularly interesting. The fascinating study by Nuijten et al. compares migration speed of Bewick's swans...

Editor´s Choice - Parent-environmental interactions shape acoustic signatures in tree swallows: a cross-fostering experiment

avianbiology
11 March 2014

It has previously been found that the acoustic signature of begging calls is similar between nestlings from the same brood. Even though this similarity seems adaptive in colonial species where nestlings might mix, it might also be important for parental recognition...

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