Tag Archive for 'Bill'

Reconstruction of the living bar-tailed trogon (Apaloderma vittatum) in the Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum.

Trogons Once Had Ordinary Feet, 55-Million-Year-Old Fossil Shows

Sep 25, 2026 by Enrico de Lazaro

Trogons — a group of colorful, medium-sized birds that live in tropical and subtropical forests around the world — are recognizable by an odd...

A pair of kiwi by John Gerrard Keulemans in A history of the birds of New Zealand, 1873. Image credit: National Library NZ.

First Remote-Touch Probing Birds Appeared in Cretaceous Period

Dec 9, 2020 by News Staff

Some probe-foraging birds locate their buried prey by detecting vibrations in the substrate using a specialized tactile bill-tip organ. This remarkable...

Holotype specimen of Eudyptes atatu: (a) right lateral view of skull and block with (c) mandible and (d) postcranial elements; (b) right lateral view of the Snares crested penguin (Eudyptes robustus) for comparison. Referred material of Eudyptes atatu including (e) dorsal view of skull, (f) left lateral view of skull, (g) right humerus caudal view, and (h) dorsal and (i) plantar views of right tarsometatarsus. Image credit: Jean-Claude Stahl, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa / R. Paul Scofield, Canterbury Museum.

Ancient Crested Penguin Unearthed in New Zealand

Aug 18, 2020 by Natali Anderson

A new species of crested penguin that lived 3.2 million years ago (Pliocene period) has been identified from multiple exceptionally well-preserved specimens...