The male desert sandgrouse might not be much to look at, but his belly feathers give him the unique ability to absorb and carry water. Researchers have, for the first time, closely examined the ...

The 19th century poet Gerard Manley Hopkins paid homage to the kingfisher’s brilliant plumage in his poem “As Kingfishers ...

Some of the brightest colors in nature are created by tiny nanostructures with a structure similar to beer foam or a sponge, according to Yale University researchers. Most colors in nature—from the ...

The color of some feathers on dinosaurs and early birds has been identified for the first time. The research found that the theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx had simple bristles -- precursors of ...

Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. As far as birds go, the tiny, swift hummingbird is pretty in touch ...

Photograph of a male bird of paradise using its super-black feathers to try to attract a mate Male birds of paradise have exceptionally black feathers and now researchers in the US have explained how ...

Peacocks, perhaps nature's most trippy bird, shake their tail feathers when it's time to attract a new mate. Why? Shaking those feathers — called "train-rattling" — causes an illusion where the ...

Dippers (Cinclidae) are the only passerines that find their prey almost exclusively under water. We examined the breast feathers of the five species of dippers for barb diameter and spacing. These ...

Blackbirds, it turns out, aren’t actually all that black. Their feathers absorb most of the visible light that hits them, but still reflect between 3 and 5 percent of it. For really black plumage, you ...

This book, about the natural history of feathers, begins with Archaeopteryx. This late-Jurassic (about 150-million-year-old) fossil, something between a reptile and bird, confounded and delighted ...