An unusual prisoner spent the night in Akureyri police station’s cells last night: a falcon chick which was found alone near to the north-Icelandic town yesterday evening. Read the full story

A lonely snowy owl, who flies all the way from Greenland to Scotland every breeding season, is still to find a Valentine after nine years. Read the full story

While most birds make seasonal nests depending on the circumstances each year, one bird that nests in Greenland has laid down roots that stretch back millennia. The gyrfalcon, which is the largest type of falcon, nests in the craggy cliffs of Greenland, among other Arctic locations. But they may be forced to move with the climate if things continue to warm up. Read the full story

The puffin population in Iceland’s Westman Islands has fallen so dramatically over recent years that the species will likely be put on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) watch list. Read the full story

Palaeontologists have made a groundbreaking discovery in Scandinavia, according to reports in Science Daily. Scientists discovered the fossilised remains of parrots which could be 55 million years old. The presence of the fossils indicates that parrots, a generally tropical species of bird, once inhabited the area of the world now known as Norway and Denmark.

The discovery has led to some speculation that parrots could have evolved in the north, and emerged earlier than scientists had believed.

The fossil, which was found in northwest Denmark, on the Isle of Mors, is a previously unknown species which is being nicknamed the ‘Danish Blue Parrot’.

Dr David Waterhouse was the lead author in the paper which publicised the discovery. He explained: “Obviously, we are dealing with a bird that is bereft of life, but the tricky bit is establishing that it was a parrot. As with many fragile bird fossils, it is a wonder that anything remains at all, and all that remains of this early Danish parrot is a single upper wing bone (humerus). But, this small bone contains characteristic features that show that it is clearly from a member of the parrot family, about the size of a Yellow-crested Cockatoo.”

The species, which is scientifically named the ‘Mopsitta tanta’ is the oldest remains of a parrot ever to be found. “No Southern Hemisphere fossil parrot has been found older than about 15 million years old,” Dr. Waterhouse said. “So this new evidence suggests that parrots evolved right here in the Northern Hemisphere before diversifying further south in the tropics later on.”