The color of some feathers on dinosaurs and early birds has been identified for the first time. The research found that the theropod dinosaur Sinosauropteryx had simple bristles -- precursors of ...

A bird preserved in a museum drawer for years has begun to draw attention after closer inspection revealed an unusual tail ...

A 121-million-year-old fossil from China shows that extreme feather displays are not a modern bird invention. Plumadraco bankoorum had two tail feathers nearly twice its body length—likely useless for ...

New Guinea’s tropical rainforests are home to one of the animal kingdom’s most spectacular courtship rituals, with male birds of paradise prancing about and showing ​off their plumage, hoping to ...

Feathers define birds. Other critters, like insects, fly; but no other critter wears feathers. And what amazing structures they are, these feathers. They allow birds to fly, perform mating displays, ...

Hummingbirds are some of the most brightly-colored things in the entire world. Their iridescent feathers reflect light in a way that other birds can't match, and scientists weren't sure what made ...

A study explores how birds rearrange feathers after flights through gusts and foliage. The durability of bird feathers is evident in the ease with which birds preen and repair ruffled feathers using ...

Peacocks, perhaps nature's most trippy bird, shake their tail feathers when it's time to attract a new mate. Why? Shaking those feathers — called "train-rattling" — causes an illusion where the ...

Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more. Pterosaurs ruled ...

The eastern bluebird is a special bird. The blue of its feathers is unique. However, this colour is not based on pigments but on the special structure of the feather. Viewed under the microscope, the ...

Blackbirds, it turns out, aren’t actually all that black. Their feathers absorb most of the visible light that hits them, but still reflect between 3 and 5 percent of it. For really black plumage, you ...