Posts
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| Barred Owl at Great Swamp NWR / my photo |
- Birders reported a variety of unusual bird behaviors to eBird during the total solar eclipse this week, including birds roosting and nocturnal birds emerging in the middle of the day.
- Britain’s seabird colonies are in steep decline as warming waters disrupt their food supply, but a crucial study of their populations has been blocked.
- Studies of bone samples are shedding light on parts of the Dodo's natural history, including their breeding and molting cycles.
- Birders in the Mid-Atlantic (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia) are encouraged to complete a survey on non-consumptive coastal recreational activities by September 5th. Data from the survey will help guide management decisions by state and other agencies.
- A wild fire in Montana was blamed on a hawk carrying a snake that collided with a powerline and produced sparks.
- A study combining eBird observations with land-use and climate models suggested extra protections for forests on the wintering grounds of migratory birds.
- Feathered Photography: Barn Swallow In Flight Feeding A Fledgling
- awkward botany: Summer of Weeds: Willowherbs and Fireweed
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Northeast Region: Looking for Love in the Right Places
- Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.: The Human Birdwatcher Project Presents: How To Chase a Rarity
- Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Adult Ring-billed Gull Hovering Over The Marsh At Farmington Bay
- World Shorebirds Day: Shorebirds never seen during Global Shorebird Counting
- Outside My Window: Birds’ Beaks Are Air Conditioners
- The Afternoon Birder: Warbler Photography Tips
- Birding New Jersey!: In Eclipse
- The Interior Department is recommending boundary adjustments for a number of national monuments. So far it has not revealed which monuments or how much of a reduction they will face, but early indications point to Bears Ears, Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Cascade-Siskiyou as the main targets. Read more about those monuments here. Reduction or elimination of any monuments would likely face legal challenges.
- Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument was expanded by President Obama to protect its biodiversity, including endangered species like Northern Spotted Owls.
- Bears Ears National Monument is notable for its archaeological and fossil sites.
- A tanker ship carrying liquid natural gas sailed from Norway to South Korea via the Arctic without the help of an icebreaker for the first time. The event shows both the loss of Arctic sea ice and the potential for toxic material spills in remote areas as more commercial activity happens in northern seas.
- A study found that the burden of climate change in the U.S. will fall disproportionately on states in the Southeast and Southwest.
- Alaska's permafrost is already thawing, and further thawing could contribute up to 1.7°F to climate change.
- A court ruled that regulators need to account for the potential greenhouse gas emissions from pipelines when evaluating their environmental impact.
- A federal report predicts climate change to produce 2.5°F of warming in the next few decades in the U.S.; the East would get wetter and the Southwest drier.
- Thousands of farmed Atlantic Salmon escaped from a pen in Washington state; the environmental consequences are so far unclear, but potential consequences could include the introduced salmon becoming invasive or spreading disease among local wild salmon. The state blames the escape on the solar eclipse.
- The Xerces Society has a new guide to native thistles.
- An entomologist is studying how climate change and other factors affect bumblebees in California.
- Environmentalists protested against the proposed border wall expansion in the Rio Grande Valley last weekend. Several sections of the wall would harm parts of wildlife preserves.
