Friday, August 22, 2014

Loose Feathers #457

White-tailed Ptarmigan / Photo by Peter Plage / USFWS
Birds and birding news
  • Nine Hawaiian Crow chicks hatched at the Keauhou Bird Conservation Center on Hawaii; the world population of this species is now up to 114 crows. Hawaiian Crows are extinct in the wild, but a captive breeding program seeks to re-establish a wild population.
  • Thirteen birds newly recognized as distinct species based on older specimens are already extinct.
  • Magpies do not steal shiny objects; in fact, they are afraid of shiny things. 
  • There have been large discrepancies in the avian mortality figures reported for the Ivanpah solar plant. Here is a way to understand where they come from.
  • A Bronx resident created a bird sanctuary in a city lot that has become a city park.
  • The recovery plan for endangered salmon in Oregon calls for killing some of the cormorant colony at the mouth of the Columbia River.
  • First-winter songbirds tend to return north later than adults of the same species.
  • Ospreys have produced a pair of chicks in Cumbria, England, for the first time in 150 years.
  • A Glossy Ibis pair is attempting to nest in the U.K. for the first time.
Science and nature blogging
Environment and biodiversity