Recently in birds Category

Two pairs of rare - and critically endangered - blue-crowned laughingthrushes are nesting at Leeds Castle aviary in Kent.

Despite evidence to the contrary last week, chickens obviously aren't all murderous. They have a cute and endearing side, too.

Take Mabel. This hen has adopted a litter of puppies and keeps the pups warm by roosting on them.

Having mentioned the killer chickens on Wednesday, I now see Matthew Naylor has LAID down a challenge for me regarding puns.

I'd obviously never descend to such juvenile levels when covering a story - especially one that involved murder most FOWL.

I also fear that in a bid to out-do him, I could end up in a FLAP and make a COCK-up of this EGG-xtraordinary tale of FEATHERS flying as a BIRD-BRAINED attacker got OUT-FOXED.

My take on the whole incident is quite simple. I positively gobbled up the news of these birds which obviously weren't CHICKEN and showed real GRIT in pulling off this COUP, even if they were merely FEATHERING their own NEST.

My only worry is that, having knocked the STUFFING out of this HEN-PECKED fox, they could find themselves UP BEFORE THE BEAK and getting their WINGS CLIPPED.

Can you think of any more puns, or have we totally exhausted this one? If you can, let me know - and the sender of the one I like best will receive a copy of the gloriously titled book, Know Your Chickens. Now the winner of that really would have something to CROW about. Either leave a comment or email me.

There are some great animal pictures in the media today - cute polar bears in The Telegraph, killer chickens in The Mail and amorous kingfishers in The Times.

Birds are in the news today.

There's an owl in trouble over its noisy attempts to attract a mate, while a nationwide count this weekend will attempt to measure how badly birds have been hit by the bad winter. More people than ever before, it seems, have been putting out food for our feathered friends this year - which is good news for the birds and, indeed, for opportunists such as Bracken.

Some bird news. A couple of great pictures of bald eagles in today's Telegraph and the incredible story of the Arctic tern's migration in The Independent.

I hate seagulls - so was interested to read about this plan to combat them with birds of prey in Rhyl.

They could always call on the services of Merlin and Sin...

Birdwatching - it's the new rock and roll, according to The Observer.

I've been to one of the reserves mentioned, Minsmere, but I'm afraid I didn't get the bug.

And speaking of birwatching, apparently an Alaskan Loon Diver has been spotted in Cornwall. Whatever one of those might be...

We like dramatic tales of rescues on the high seas - particularly when they involve, eer, budgerigars.

Birds can be incredible. Look at these pictures of a falcon grabbing a swift. Or in this instance maybe it wasn't quite so swift!

I'm interested in the sex lives of animals. I can't claim it's for some deeply scientific or zoological reason - it's just because, well, it's interesting. I found, for example, the confused peacock fascinating.

This piece in today's Times made informative reading, therefore. It's about lesbian albatrosses. And they're not two words you hear used in the same sentence very often.

A hummingbird can fly faster than a fighter jet, according to The Independent.

Rooks are actually pretty smart, according to this article in The Telegraph. It highlights research from Cambridge Univesity and the aptly named Chris Bird.

Mockingbirds can distinguish between different people, according to this article in today's Independent.

If you look carefully at this photo, you'll spot a duck in it.

Richard Carter from Gloucestershire got in touch to tell us about this truly dedicated creature.