The Sanctuary in the Sidewalk: Trees Rescue Birds in Mexico’s Cities
City trees offer shelter and song: House Finches are among the adaptable species thriving in Mexico’s urban nature pockets. © Braxton Landsman
Ecology and Behaviour

The Sanctuary in the Sidewalk: Trees Rescue Birds in Mexico’s Cities

Even in the heart of a city, a tree can be a sanctuary for birds. A new study from Mexico reveals that urban trees do far more than provide shade – they offer critical nesting and foraging habitats for native species under pressure from habitat loss elsewhere.

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Sound-based surveys uncover fine-scale habitat selection in the declining Crested Tit
Forest birds are often assumed to depend primarily on age and maturity, yet fine-scale structure and composition may shape habitat use long before breeding begins. © Steve Roach

Sound-based surveys uncover fine-scale habitat selection in the declining Crested Tit

New research from Finland suggests that Crested Tits respond more to fine-scale forest structure than to forest age in early spring, challenging assumptions about how habitat quality is defined in managed boreal forests.
Ecology and Behaviour
Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly
Choosing Survival: Habitat Shifts in Wintering Taiga Bean Geese
Winter landscapes can appear rich in food, yet a few degrees below zero can render familiar feeding grounds unusable. For Taiga Bean Geese, survival depends on recognising when to abandon frozen pastures and seek alternative refuges. © Lars Petersson

Choosing Survival: Habitat Shifts in Wintering Taiga Bean Geese

When frost locks grasslands out of reach, Taiga Bean Geese turn to winter cereal fields to survive. New research shows how these fields become lifelines during the coldest days of winter.
Ecology and Behaviour
Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly
How European Is the European Roller?
European Roller in Hungary — a bird still closely associated with Europe by name, even as much of its population and range now lie far beyond the continent’s western edge. © Attila Szilágyi

How European Is the European Roller?

Conceptual Note: This piece sits deliberately between observation and explanation: it outlines what is currently supported by evidence, then turns to the not knowing that remains — treating uncertainty not as a failure of understanding, but as a necessary part of how knowledge advances. The European Roller carries one of the most self-assured names in ornithology. It sounds precise, settled, geographically honest. Yet the bird it describes has always been only partly Eu
Conceptual Notes
Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly
Is Woodpecker Drumming More Than Noise?
Syrian Woodpecker – Drumming is one of the most conspicuous signals in a woodpecker’s behavioural repertoire, yet its evolutionary role is often taken for granted — recognised immediately, but rarely interrogated in the way birdsong has been. © Pavel Štěpánek

Is Woodpecker Drumming More Than Noise?

Conceptual Note: This piece sits deliberately between observation and explanation: it outlines what is currently supported by evidence, then turns to the not knowing that remains — treating uncertainty not as a failure of understanding, but as a necessary part of how knowledge advances. The forgotten song Among birds, few behaviours are as immediately recognisable as the drumming of a woodpecker. Long before the bird itself is seen, the rapid, percussive burst carries
Conceptual Notes
Gyorgy Szimuly

Gyorgy Szimuly
American Oystercatchers Take to the Rooftops: A Desperate Response to a Shrinking Coastline
An American Oystercatcher on a gravel rooftop nest shows a precarious adaptation as shrinking shorelines force birds to seek refuge above ground. © Kara Durda, Audubon Florida

American Oystercatchers Take to the Rooftops: A Desperate Response to a Shrinking Coastline

As coastal nesting habitats disappear, American Oystercatchers along Florida’s Gulf Coast are turning to gravel rooftops—an extraordinary but risky adaptation driven by urban expansion and shrinking shorelines.
Conservation
Abigail McKay

Abigail McKay