Birdfeeding: Friends of a Feather Flock Together

Cretaceous fossil from Antarctica reveals earliest modern bird

Sixty-six million years ago, at the end of the Cretaceous Period, an asteroid impact near the Yucat n Peninsula of Mexico triggered the extinction of all known non-bird dinosaurs. But for the early ancestors of today's waterfowl, surviving that mass extinction event was like ... water off a duck's back. Location matters, as Antarctica may have served as a refuge, protected by its distance from the turmoil taking place elsewhere on the planet. Fossil evidence suggests a temperate climate with lush vegetation, possibly serving as an incubator for the earliest members of the group that now includes ducks and geese.

Bird brain from the age of dinosaurs reveals roots of avian intelligence

A 'one of a kind' fossil discovery could transform our understanding of how the unique brains and intelligence of modern birds evolved, one of the most enduring mysteries of vertebrate evolution.


Bird brains are surprisingly complex, and pack more of a punch for their size, which leads mammalian scientists to underestimate avian intelligence. Anyone who has tried to keep birds from peeling the foil off milk bottles, or keep big greedy birds from eating all the food meant for smaller songbirds, knows how smart the little bastards are. I've seen sparrows figure out how to snatch a bite of suet or thistle from an upside-down feeder!