Tag Archive for 'Waterfowl'

An artistic reconstruction of a female Rēkohu shelduck (Tadorna rekohu) showing the darker plumage common in birds isolated on islands. Image credit: Sasha Votyakova / Te Papa.

Ancient Shelducks Colonized Chatham Islands 390,000 Years Ago

Aug 26, 2025 by Enrico de Lazaro

A team of paleontologists from New Zealand and Australia has described a new extinct shelduck species from Holocene fossil bone deposits on the Rēkohu...

Vegavis iaai. Image credit: Mark Witton.

Earliest-Known Waterfowl Lived in Antarctica 69 Million Years Ago

Feb 5, 2025 by Natali Anderson

Paleontologists from the United States and Australia have discovered and described a new, nearly complete skull of Vegavis iaai, a foot-propelled diver...

Space weather from the Sun, such as coronal mass ejections, disturbs Earth’s magnetic field, causing the aurorae and potentially decreasing the magnetic field’s reliability for migrating birds. Image credit: John Megahan.

Severe Space Weather Events Disrupt Nocturnal Bird Migrations, Researchers Find

Oct 11, 2023 by News Staff

Earth’s magnetic field is occasionally but regularly impacted by bursts of energy from the Sun (space weather), such as coronal mass ejections. Birds...