Why Wait to Grow Up? Shorebirds' Delayed Maturity Tied to Coastal Living
Often seen roosting or foraging near coastlines, Oriental Pratincoles (Glareola maldivarum) are among the species analysed in the study. Their life-history strategies reflect the behavioural demands of complex habitats — an important factor in the timing of maturity. © Arkajit Chakraborty
Breeding and Life-cycles

Why Wait to Grow Up? Shorebirds' Delayed Maturity Tied to Coastal Living

Shorebirds that winter along dynamic coastlines delay their first return to breed, a strategy linked not to body size, but to the behavioural demands of tidal habitats — revealing new insights into how environment shapes avian life-history timing.

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Same Species, Different Clocks: Migration That Shapes Reproductive Timing in Birds
A Dark-eyed Junco (Junco hyemalis oreganus) in the fresh light of spring. While this species isn’t featured in the study, it serves as a reminder of how migration and seasonal timing weave together in the lives of birds across latitudes. © Ilya Povalyaev

Same Species, Different Clocks: Migration That Shapes Reproductive Timing in Birds

Why do some birds get ready to breed while others are still preparing to migrate—despite living in the same place? The answer lies in how they sense time.
Breeding and Life-cycles
The Ornithologist

The Ornithologist
Fabricated Birds: AI and the Future of Ornithology
AI-generated image. A Shoebill (Balaeniceps rex) in papyrus habitat. The bird depicted here does not exist – a reminder that in the age of generative imagery, realism is no longer proof of presence. Image created by Daniel Szimuly/The Ornithologist. All rights reserved.

Fabricated Birds: AI and the Future of Ornithology

When we generated a Shoebill that never existed, the realism was flawless – and unsettling. In an age where synthetic plausibility becomes effortless, ornithology must reconsider what authenticity means and how it is protected.
Editorial
Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly
Upstream of Science: The Role of Bird Art in Understanding — An Interview with Szabolcs Kókay
A reconstruction of a species now considered extinct, placed carefully within the landscape that once held it. Slender-billed Curlew with Eurasian Curlews on oil (2010). All Rights Reserved by Szabolcs Kókay

Upstream of Science: The Role of Bird Art in Understanding — An Interview with Szabolcs Kókay

Ornithology begins not with numbers, but with looking. This conversation with Szabolcs Kókay examines how bird art operates upstream from science – shaping what we notice, understand, and value.
Editorial
Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly