Snow Geese at Forsythe NWR / USFWS Photo
Birds and birding news
- A California Condor egg hatched at Pinnacles National Monument for the first time in 100 years. The nest is visible from the High Peaks Trail – after a mere two-mile hike and 1100-foot rise in elevation from the parking area.
- Animals like birds increase plant growth by eating invertebrates that otherwise would eat plants. A study calculated that birds, bats, and lizards reduced plant damage by 40% and increased plant mass by 14%.
- Bowerbirds learn the calls they mimic by listening to other species rather than other bowerbirds.
- Vultures in the Everglades have been tearing off rubber car parts such as windshield wipers and sunroof seals.
- When choosing a mate, female hummingbirds value a quality breeding territory over a spectacular courtship display.
- Cornell's Macauley Library of Sound contains recordings of over 9,000 animal species, all available online and free of charge. The library was named for William and Linda Macauley. Linda Macauley has recorded calls and songs for 2,668 species of birds, and her recordings are included in the library's collection.
- Ducks have a gene that allows them to host influenza without being harmed. Chickens do not have the same gene and will die if infected with the same influenza strain.
- Barnacle Geese are being tagged with satellite transmitters to trace their migration routes and altitudes. The data will provide evidence for how wind farm development would affect them.
- The Telegraph has a photo of a Reed Warbler feeding a Cuckoo chick.
- Green roofs are attractive to Black Redstarts.
- Four men in Florida have been charged with capturing Indigo Buntings, Painted Buntings, and a Northern Cardinal for the exotic pet trade. The twenty birds have been released.
- The Syncrude trail, considering the company's responsibility for the deaths of 1,600 waterbirds in one of its tailings ponds, heard testimony this week on the importance of the region around Fort McMurray for migratory waterfowl.
- Brewster's Linnet: On hosting rare birds
- Prairie Ice: More Greater Sage-Grouse
- Birding Dude: Study Time in the Field: Greater vs Lesser Scaup
- The Thoughtful Animal: Giant Birds And Terrified Monkeys
- Stokes Birding Blog: Winter Wren
- IBRRC: Oil spill hits Australia's Great Barrier Reef
- The Drinking Bird: With friends like these...
- Archea: Peregrine Beauty: Birds of Prey
- Bird Treatment and Learning Center: Aerial courting goes awry for bald eagles
- According to a GAO report, the Obama administration's decision to open the Chukchi and Beaufort seas to oil drilling was based on a faulty environmental analysis.
- A new fossil turtle species (Cerrejonemys wayuunaiki) was discovered in a Colombian coal mine. Other new turtle species may be present among the fossils discovered at the site.
- The US EPA wants consumers to recycle old cell phones rather than throwing them out.
- Paul Krugman has an essay in this sunday's New York Times Magazine about the economics of climate change mitigation.
- Australia's prime minister is angry about a coal freighter that ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef and leaked oil. Authorities will begin removing the oil soon.
- Texas oil companies have donated $500,000 to a petition drive for a ballot initiative to overturn California's climate change law.
- From 1973 to 2000, the area covered by eastern forests declined by 4.1%. Principal causes include logging, suburban expansion, and mountaintop removal mining.
- Twenty major rivers and streams in the U.S. show signs of long-term warming.
- The thawing of permafrost releases nitrous oxide into the atmosphere. Nitrous oxide is considered the third most important greenhouse gas after carbon dioxide and methane.
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