Friday, March 06, 2009

Loose Feathers #177

Red-throated Loon on Nest / Photo by Dave Menke (USFWS)

Bird and birding news
  • Male nightingales sing at night because that is when female nightingales are most likely to be evaluating their songs. Daytime song, on the other hand, maintains territorial boundaries.
  • A "red tide" algae bloom in the Pacific killed hundreds of seabirds by producing a soap-like substance that stripped the waterproofing from the birds' feathers.
  • Scientists in Peru have recovered a fossilized skull of an early seabird that had teeth.
  • A reintroduction program has restored the Northern Aplomado Falcon to much of its former range in the U.S. Southwest.
  • NJ Audubon is looking for suggestions about the best birding sites in the Pinelands for their next free birding trail publication. Sites should be in Atlantic, Gloucester, Camden and Burlington counties. Nominations can be submitted here.
  • Eighteen whooping cranes from the Aransas NWR flock have died this winter, and another thirty-four are missing, making this the second worst winter for crane mortality in 20 years. The main problem seems to be malnutrition.
Birds in the blogosphere
Environmental news
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