Posts
News and links about birds, birding, and the environment.
- Some important local news this week concerned the state of the Chesapeake Bay. Testing has revealed that the water at many beaches is dirty enough to violate public health standards, yet Maryland does not require such beaches to close. Virginia's rivers have pollution problems as well.
- A fight over development is brewing along the Pocomoke River on the Eastern Shore. This situation and the one at Blackwater NWR are probably just the beginning of many fights as the Eastern Shore becomes more suburbanized.
- Banding hummingbirds is a delicate process.
- It is old news by now, but there has been a Western Reef Heron lingering at Cape Breton in Nova Scotia.
- Here is a discussion of the pronunciation of plover. For the record, I say plover as in Grover rather than Glover.
- This Sunday's Washington Post has a section devoted to green issues. The most useful article of the group concerned how to increase the gas mileage on one's car.
- First it was gulls, now it is geese. Within the last week, drivers ran down geese in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.
- If you are following the Senate race in Pennsylvania, here are some answers by the two candidates to select questions on the environment.
- The Unhappy Planet Index attempts to measure humans' well-being in comparison with their ecological footprint. Colombia ranks second-highest while the United States is 150th. The main reason is the vast use of natural resources since the U.S. ranks well in the other categories. (via How to Save the World, which has a longer discussion)
- Nuthatch tackles the problem of carbon offsets: how much do they really help reduce global warming?
- See Birds etcetera for information on a bird news mailing list.
- Authors, Readers, and Writers, a new blog carnival focused on the art of writing, is up. One of my book reviews is included.
- The Travel Carnival is in its second edition.
