Red-tailed Hawk / Photo by George Gentry (USFWS)
Bird and birding news
- The presence of introduced black rats on Mediterranean islands has caused serious problems for the European Storm-Petrel but not for other breeding seabirds.
- About 200 Bearded Vultures have been recorded in India, where most vulture species are critically endangered.
- The US Navy is trying to re-establish Loggerhead Shrikes on its San Clemente Island property in California.
- A former quarry in Scotland could become a free-flight aviary for restoring endangered vultures in Europe.
- Microscopic examination of an Archeopteryx fossil shows that the species was transitional between dinosaurs and modern birds, but probably closer to dinosaurs. It had a denser bone structure and probably a slower metabolic rate than birds today. The scientists who did the study suggest Confuciusornis as the earliest known species with a bird-like metabolic rate. (You can read the study online here.)
- Continued hunting (with nonlead ammunition) is important for condors to survive since carcasses and gut piles left by hunters provide an important food source. (The article refers to an AOU report available as a pdf.)
- Scientists studying guillemots are using computers to analyze CCTV video of nesting colonies to learn about their behavior.
- According to a study of zebra finches low-quality females prefer the songs of low-quality males. "Low-quality" birds are those reared in larger broods in which chicks have to compete more for food.
- Abandoned fishing nets pose a major danger to marine birds, fish, and invertebrates. Up to 30,000 birds a year die after getting trapped.
- 10,000 Birds: 1st winter Mediterranean Gulls
- Rich Guthrie: A Very Strange Hawk in New Baltimore
- The Drinking Bird: A Group Thing
- avian images: Shins and more shins
- View from the Cape: Black-throated Green Warbler foraging
- Since regular hikers and backpackers tend to support conservation, a decline in hiking over the past three decades may signal future trouble for conservation organizations. (See also the Nature Conservancy's take.)
- Smithsonian research documents how global climate patterns such as El Niño affect the migration patterns of tropical Statira Sulfurs. Butterfly numbers are linked to plant species that in turn are affected by rainfall levels, which usually increase in El Niño years.
- The EPA is reviewing the health effects of atrazine, a common herbicide.
- A British report argues that oil production is likely to peak in 10 years.
- Arctic sea ice did not shrink as much this summer as last year, but the long-term trend is still worrisome.
- Literary Interlude on the lives of whales and the immensity of the Pacific at Great Auk or Greatest Auk.
- The Clade: Suit Filed Over Bighorn Sheep Habitat
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