Friday, August 28, 2015

Loose Feathers #509

Osprey hovering / Photo by Ron Holmes/USFWS
Birds and birding news
Science and nature blogging
Environment and biodiversity
  • Ash trees in the Emerald Ash Borer's native range produce compounds that discourage the beetles from attacking healthy trees.
  • Melting of sea ice in the Arctic has forced thousands of walruses ashore near Alaska in an unusual mass stranding event.
  • In addition, there have been a series of unexplained whale deaths in the Gulf of Alaska.
  • Damage from Hurricane Katrina lingers in the marshes around New Orleans ten years later. 
  • California may have the worst drought, but other western states have drought trouble too.
  • Urban areas have an average summer temperature 1.9°C higher than surrounding the rural areas; areas with less than 35% impervious surfaces had less severe warming effects.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Loose Feathers #508

Roseate Tern / Photo by Kirk Rogers/USFWS
Birds and birding news
Science and nature blogging
 Environment and biodiversity

  • Hillary Clinton has come out against oil drilling in the Arctic.
  • Trail cameras recorded wolf pups in northern California. Prior to wolf OR7's visit to the state in 2011, no wolf had been recorded in California since 1924.
  • Some scientists may have found a way to immunize bats against white-nose syndrome.
  • A worldwide survey of non-native plants found that there are 13,168 species that are not native to places where they currently grow and that North America has the highest number of non-native species.
  • Activists call for increasing the share of wind and solar power in New Jersey's next Energy Master Plan. 
  • Progress has been slow on improving management of the newly-created San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
  • So many coastal towns have been building sea walls that now 14% of the U.S. coastline is covered in concrete.

Friday, August 14, 2015

Loose Feathers #507

Arctic Tern / Photo by Kirk Rogers/USFWS
Birds and birding news
Science and nature blogging
Environment and biodiversity

Friday, August 07, 2015

Loose Feathers #506

Golden-cheeked Warbler / USFWS Photo
Birds and birding news
Science and nature blogging
Environment and biodiversity