Western Grebe / Photo by Kevin Cole
Bird and birding news
- As of Tuesday, the Dubai Star oil spill in the Bay Area had killed at least 18 birds and another 32 were being cleaned. The dead birds included American coot, eared grebe, western grebe, short-billed dowitcher, long-billed dowitcher, surf scoter, lesser scaup, and greater scaup. Update: According to a more recent story, the spill killed 24 birds, with another 37 in rehabilitation.
- Great White Pelicans have started to eat Cape Gannet chicks at a breeding colony in South Africa. Their change in diet is attributed to declining fish populations.
- A Californian couple, whose first date was a birding expedition, is completing a 37-year project to document the birds of Inyo County.
- The BBC has slow-motion video of the Marvelous Spatuletail Hummingbird's mating display. This Andean bird has just four tail feathers, but they are extraordinarily long. The male flexes them as part of its mating dance.
- A bird shut down the Large Hadron Collider by dropping a piece of bread on it. The bird species was not specified (or perhaps even known), but the article oddly chooses an oystercatcher to represent it.
- Here is a graphic illustration of why wind turbines need to be sited carefully: a video of a Griffon Vulture colliding with a turbine.
- An amateur photographer captured photos of a Giant Shoebill at the San Diego Wild Animal Park picking up a duck and moving it out of its way.
- The Guardian has a photo gallery of starlings gathering in their winter roosts. The flocks are impressive.
- The RSPB wants British golf courses to adapt their landscaping to benefit rare and declining birds.
- Prairie Ice: State of the Art - Greater Sage-Grouse
- Saw-whet Owl Research: Owl Nightlife, or... what does a saw-whet do at night?
- IBRRC: Deadly sea foam subsides, 10,000 seabirds die
- According to the IUCN, 17,291 out of 47,677 species are threatened with extinction. That includes 21% of mammals, 30% of amphibians, 12% of birds, and 28% of reptiles, 37% of freshwater fishes, 70% of plants, 35% of invertebrates. Some taxa, such as reptiles, are underrepresented on the Red List.
- Rising sea levels could wreak havoc on the marshes of the Delmarva peninsula.
- The Senate Environment and Public Works committee passed its version of the Kerry-Boxer bill to address climate change. The bill still requires reconciliation with the the Energy and Natural Resources committee's version and passage by the full Senate.
- A new study reports that deforestation is responsible for only 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions rather than 17%. However, peatlands degradation is responsible for 3% of global emissions, meaning that habitat destruction is responsible for at least 15% of human-caused warming.
- Wolves that kill moose contribute to biodiversity by enriching the soil around carcass sites with important chemicals and microbes that promote plant growth.
- A study found that indoor plants can remove harmful airborne chemicals that emanate from artificial substances such as paint or adhesives. The most effective plants tested were Hemigraphis alternata (purple waffle plant), Hedera helix (English ivy), Hoya carnosa (variegated wax plant), and Asparagus densiflorus (Asparagus fern).
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