Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Loose Feathers #50

News and links about birds, birding, and the environment.

  • This year, New Jersey's breeding population of piping plovers is down to about 100 pairs. The population is believed to be held in check by increasing predation by foxes.
  • Appalachian ruffed grouse depend on a ready supply of acorns for breeding success. Unfortunately timber harvesting and deer browsing has reduced this supply in many areas.
  • A cull of Canada geese in upstate New York has been frustrated by a group of residents who scare the geese away from the traps.
  • The limited range of Bicknell's thrushes may be under pressure from the development of ski resorts in the Adirondacks and elsewhere in the northeast.
  • The possible presence of a Kirtland's warbler may impede the development of a nickel and copper mine in Marquette County, Michigan.
  • Maryland's official state insect, the Baltimore Checkerspot, has become hard to find due to habitat loss and degradation. (Via Delusional Duck)
  • A Jersey birder has photographs of an adult Carolina wren feeding a presumed brown-headed cowbird fledgling.
  • A wildlife rehabilitator who specializes in birds has been charged with being responsible for making his neighbors' cats disappear. They think that he trapped the cats and took them to be euthanized.
DC Happenings
  • Al Gore will be signing copies of his book, An Inconvenient Truth, at noon tomorrow (June 15) at Olsson's Books in Penn Quarter, on 7th St NW (between D and E Streets).
  • Also tomorrow at 6:30 pm, there will be a lecture on what fossils reveal about the early evolution of birds. The lecture will be at the AAAS headquarters at 12th and H Streets NW.
Tags: