Four sandpipers congregate on a workbench in the basement of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. At first glance, the shorebirds look genuine — not unlike the hundreds of taxidermy specimens ...

Stanford University engineers have created a robot bird that can use its feet to perch and carry things. “It’s not easy to mimic how birds fly and perch,” said Stanford engineer William Roderick.

Bird species have unique behaviors and preferences. Macaws, for example, use their powerful beaks to tear apart materials that less destructive birds such as canaries show no interest in. Budgies and ...