2024

Duncan Leitch

• California wildfire smoke linked to reduced bird activity and health
  Avian residents are facing challenging times as wildfires intensify across the state during the summer months.
• Wild megalopolis: Study shows unexpected pockets of biodiversity pepper Los Angeles
  Still, biologists say it will still be a challenge to elevate the overall level of biodiversity in the city.
• Acute sense of touch helps hummingbirds hover near flowers without bumping them
  A study shows they create a 3D body map when gusts of air touch their wings.
• As the climate warms, birds in the East Africa mountains are getting bigger
  With global temperatures rising, many birds have been decreasing in size. But new research calls into question some long-held theories.

2023

Charles J. Sharp/Wikimedia Commons

• Climate change, habitat loss threaten East African bird populations
  A study assesses complex effects of environmental stressors.
• What does it take to thrive in cities, if you’re a bird?
  Identifying traits that help wildlife adapt to urban living can help cities bolster biodiversity through better urban planning.
• Wild birds lead people to honey – and learn from them
  The greater honeyguide can recognize distinct vocal signals to help people in Africa locate bee colonies.
• What’s behind the toxic levels of mercury in tropical birds? Gold mining, study shows
  An international team also found high levels of toxicity in carnivorous birds and those in aquatic habitats.
• Birds living at UCLA were less afraid of humans after the pandemic closure
  After a COVID-19 year with little human interaction, dark-eyed juncos were surprisingly more comfortable with people once campus life returned to normal
• How do smoke and smog affect birds? A new initiative invites Californians to help find out
  Project Phoenix, developed by UCLA and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, is asking everyday people to assist in documenting the behavior of birds in their neighborhoods.
  

  Jeffrey Adams/National Wildlife Federation
• Birds raise fewer young when spring arrives earlier in a warming world
  Scientists say that conservation strategies need to address avian responses to climate-driven shifts.
• When migrating birds go astray, disturbances in magnetic field may be partly to blame
  New research could help scientists better understand the threats to birds – and their potential ability to adapt.

2022

• Birds getting smaller, ‘wingier’ as planet warms
  A 30-year study tracked changes in migratory species across North America and found a reduction in body size — but not in wing size.
• Pockets of paradise on campus
  Take a closer look at the oases of nature at UCLA where wild flora and fauna flourish.

2021

• Migratory songbirds’ travels disrupted by earlier springs
  In North America, climate change is causing spring to arrive earlier each year. Researchers look at the effects these earlier ‘green-ups’ have on the behavior and survival of migratory birds species.

2020

Peter Bohler

• Biologist receives award from the American Ornithological Society
  Tom Smith, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and founder of UCLA’s Congo Basin Institute, was honored for his decades of work studying birds.
• ‘Romeo seeking Juliet in the animal kingdom’
  In a planet alive with romance, adolescence is the time to master one’s moves. Find out how birds and other animals practice the art of wooing mates and becoming good partners.

2019

• Visitors flock to UCLA’s Clark Library for rare glimpse at winged guest
  The red-flanked bluetail usually spends winters in Asia and is a rare visitor to North America. But this year, one has taken up residence on the library’s West Adams property, and it has the local birding community buzzing. 

2018

Tom Smith

• After 31 years, a strange bird brings UCLA professor’s career full circle
  The black-bellied seedcracker has long held a particular fascination for Tom Smith. Now, advances in genetics and computing are helping him answer questions about these birds he posed more than three decades ago.
• UCLA faculty voice: The case for ‘sanctuary cities’ for endangered species
  Parrots are not uncommon around Los Angeles: More than a dozen different species have established wild populations in the area, descendants of pet birds that escaped at some point. In Ursla Heise’s vision, the city can become a sanctuary for these and other endangered animals and plants. 
• Willow flycatchers, an endangered species, also imperiled by climate change
  Genetic research reveals that global warming has added to the serious threats faced by the migratory songbird.
• Design media arts professor explores avian communication
  Victoria Vesna’s sonic installation “Bird Song Mimic” invites participants to listen and respond to recordings of bird songs or other humans mimicking bird songs.
• Genes in songbirds hold clues about human speech disorders
  Insights into how birds learn to sing — and the identification of key genes involved in the process — may provide scientists with a roadmap for treating disorders.
  

  Joe Ellis
• Genetic mapping shows migratory birds’ vulnerability to climate change
  UCLA biologists with the Bird Genoscape Project are racing against time to find out the potential for adaptation and how best to protect vulnerable populations of birds like the yellow warbler.

2017

• How the Galapagos cormorant lost its ability to fly
  Changes in same genes that clipped the sea bird’s wings cause human bone disorders, scientists say.
• Volunteer birder helps UCLA amass world’s largest feather collection
  Joanna Eckles, a conservation biologist, and dozens of volunteer bird enthusiasts are pulling feathers from dead birds, carefully placing them in small manila envelopes and mailing them to UCLA.

2016

• Researcher’s 200-plus wild ‘fairy’ birds make their home at UCLA
  A wing-flapping, darting, squeaking colony of 200-plus hummingbirds tend to gather around the campus office of UCLA researcher Melanie Barboni, sometimes called the “hummingbird whisperer.”
• New book from UCLA’s Ursula Heise examines the conservationist thrall and narratives of extinction
  In ‘Imagining Extinction,’ the UCLA professor asks why people care about endangered species.
  

  Melanie Barboni
• UCLA engineer on team of scientists studying how birds fly
  Yong Chen, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is working with the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research to produce the most detailed analysis of bird flight ever made for an aerospace engineering project.

2015

• UCLA’s project to aid conservation efforts for North American birds threatened by climate change
  The Bird Genoscape Project will create the first maps identifying the migration paths of bird species and their sub-groups to determine where conservation is needed most to combat the effects of climate change.

2014

• She breaks through boundaries of art to create high-tech visual poetry
  UCLA Professor Jennifer Steinkamp’s bird-based “Murmuration,” a 26-by-24-foot video installation in the  lobby of the Gov. George Deukmejian Courthouse in Long Beach won an award for best public art.

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