Many species of songbirds have evolved to have strikingly colorful plumage, aiding them in catching the eye of mates, signaling, and recognizing each other. These eye-catching patterns have long ...

The average songbird has anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 feathers. A swan can have up to 25,000. But if Bill Rice had to think about that, he'd hang up his band saw, rasp and hook knife and go back to ...

Simon Griffith receives funding from the Australian Research Council. Birds are perhaps the most colourful group of animals, bringing a splash of colour to the natural world around us every day.

Feathers are a sleek, intricate evolutionary innovation that makes flight possible for birds, but in addition to their stiff, aerodynamic feathers used for flight, birds also keep a layer of soft, ...

Two tiny wings entombed in amber reveal that plumage (the layering, patterning, coloring, and arrangement of feathers) seen in birds today already existed in at least some of their predecessors nearly ...