At a time of unprecedented biodiversity loss, researchers are increasingly recognizing the broad range of benefits provided to humankind by nature. However, as people live more urbanized lifestyles there is a progressive disengagement with the natural world that diminishes these benefits and discourages positive environmental behaviour. The provision of food for garden birds is an increasing gl...

Birdsong and human speech share some genetic origins (Haesler, Rochefort, Georgi, Licznerski, Osten, & Scharff, 2007; Vargha-Khadem, Gadian, Copp, & Mishkin, 2005). In two studies (N1⁄4 67 infants and N1⁄4 28 adults) in Scotland (UK) and Saxony (Germany), perceptual discrimination of innate, repetitive, lower frequency sea-bird sounds vs. learned, melodic, higher frequency garden-bird songs was...

Interacting with nature is widely recognised as providing many health and well-being benefits. As people live increasingly urbanised lifestyles, the provision of food for garden birds may create a vital link for connecting people to nature and enabling them to access these benefits. However, it is not clear which factors determine the pleasure that people receive from watching birds at their fe...

SIR, – Over recent weeks, the Garden Bird Health Initiative (GBHi) has received an unusual increase in the number of calls from members of the public reporting finch morbidity and mortality in their gardens. The greenfinch (Carduelis chloris) and chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) are the species most frequently involved, sometimes in large numbers, and the national surveillance scheme has collated ...

The importance of wild bird populations as a reservoir of zoonotic pathogens is well established. Salmonellosis is a frequently diagnosed infectious cause of mortality of garden birds in England and Wales, predominantly caused by Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhimurium definitive phage types 40, 56(v) and 160. In Britain, these phage types are considered highly host-adapted ...

Supplementary feeding of garden birds generally has benefits for both bird populations and human wellbeing. Birds have excellent colour vision, and show preferences for food items of particular colours, but research into colour preferences associated with artificial feeders is limited to hummingbirds. Here, we investigated the colour preferences of common UK garden birds foraging at seed-dispen...

Avian Influenza (AI) H9N2 is endemic in Iran; therefore, it is necessary to estimate the disease prevalence among birds in live bird markets (LBMs) and assess the risk spread across the country. Accordingly, this study aimed to estimate the prevalence of AI subtypes in LBMs, bird gardens, and zoos during October and November 2015 in Iran and investigate the associated risk factors. Data related...