Fox Sparrow at Alaska Maritime NWR / Photo by Carla Stanley (USFWS)
Bird and birding news
- Recent surveys show that Idaho's Greater Sage Grouse population is severely declining despite anecdotal evidence to the contrary.
- It appears that large, flightless birds lost their ability to fly independently of each other about 65 million years ago since moas are more closely related to tinamous than ostriches and emus. Removal of the predation threat from dinosaurs most likely made flight less necessary.
- A study based on banded Gray Catbirds in New Jersey suggests that catbirds use some sort of olfactory sense to guide migration.
- The Baltimore Sun profiles a wildlife biologist who works to prevent bird strikes at BWI airport in Maryland. He discusses his techniques, from habitat reduction to harassment and lethal control.
- A Red-tailed Hawk was badly burned but survived after a small plane crashed near its roost in Illinois. There are photos of the recovering hawk on the rehabilitation center's blog.
- Climate change is spurring Pied Flycatchers to begin spring migration sooner, but they often do not reach their destinations earlier because of bad weather along the way.
- Some seabird species change their movements to take advantage of fishery activities.
- At least two pairs of Bald Eagles are nesting in Middlesex County, NJ.
- The former Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island is becoming a birdwatching location, good for raptors and grassland species.
- A recently discovered fossil dinosaur has many bird-like features and suggests birds diverged earlier than previously thought.
- Brown Pelicans wintering along the Oregon coast have suffered from cold and hunger.
- Washington state has a new birding trail. Maps can be viewed or ordered online at Audubon Washington's website.
- Birds are being cleaned and rehabilitated after an oil spill in Port Arthur, Texas.
- An Allen's Hummingbird wintering in Cape Cod died after getting sugar water frozen on one of its wings.
- Shorebirder: The Ivory Gull Situation
- Chip Notes: The grand plan for 'eBird alerts'
- Great Auk or Greatest Auk: The Lone Pipit, or, Who Was That Brown Bird?
- The Marvelous in Nature: Wandering Winter Waxwings
- Conservation Maven: Minimizing the impact of approaching boats on nesting shorebirds
- IBRRC: Cosco Busan bird toll update; Plovers survive spill
- A survey of invasive species in 57 countries found a total of 542 invasives, most of them plants.
- Here is a list of peer-reviewed impacts of global warming.
- Slower warming in the past ten years may have been caused by a decrease in water vapor in the middle atmosphere. Water vapor, like carbon dioxide, is a greenhouse gas that traps heat near the earth's surface. However, the longer trend is still towards warming because of massive carbon emissions.
- Middlesex County, NJ, plans to dredge two ponds in Johnson Park and turn one into an environmental study area.
- Biofuel crop diversity increases the number of beneficial insects attracted to the crops and could improve the amount of fuel it produces.
- Closing the ozone hole may intensify climate warming.
- A gene found in both dolphins and bats evolved the same mutations independently to allow the animals to use echolocation.
- White-nose syndrome is still an ongoing problem among eastern bats.
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