Dendroica: Loose Feathers #103

Friday, June 15, 2007

Loose Feathers #103

Green Heron / Photo by Lee Karney (USFWS)

News and links about birds, birding, and the environment

The Bush administration has proposed reducing the critical habitat designated for the Northern Spotted Owl. Designated habitat would shrink from the current 6,887,000 acres to 5,337,839 acres, a decrease of about 1.5 million acres. The proposed rule (pdf) is currently open for comment at regulations.gov.
An Audubon study using the data from the Christmas Bird Count and Breeding Bird Survey revealed that many common species have declined sharply in the past forty years.
Female Nazca boobies frequently change mates even after successfully raising chicks. This came as a surprise to researchers since staying with a single mate confers the advantage of breeding experience.
The breeding ranges of North American birds are moving northward.
A judge has blocked new grazing rules for public lands on the grounds that the Bureau of Land Management unlawfully revised regulations based on a proposal from the livestock industry while ignoring the findings of the agency's scientists.
A young red-tailed hawk that fell from its nest gathered a crowd of onlookers in midtown Manhattan. (More at Palemaleirregulars)
A new dinosaur precursor to birds has been discovered in China.
Delaware's moratorium on harvesting horseshoe crabs has been overturned.
The population of white pelicans at Chase Lake NWR has decreased from last year and returned to normal levels. Meanwhile white pelicans are nesting in increasing numbers in Wisconsin, which suggests that their range may be moving eastward.
Medical researchers are using zebra finches to study stuttering in humans. An MRI study found that finches rely primarily on the right side of their brains when listening to sounds from other birds. The goal is to study how learn animals learn sounds.
Several pigeon fanciers have been charged with killing raptors. Killing or otherwise taking birds of prey is illegal under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Gulls participated in a recent Detroit Tigers game against the Mets by feasting on moths on the field.
Wild turkeys are not the cause of low ruffed grouse numbers in Wisconsin.
California is threatening a lawsuit to force the EPA to grant a waiver under the Clean Air Act for the state's stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards.
Despite its problems, ethanol is getting a major push as a renewable fuel solution in the current Congress.
A genetic study of plants in Scandinavia found that Arctic plants have shifted their ranges long distances in the past in the face of changing climate conditions. The study offers some hope that organisms will be able to adapt to future climate change.
The Nature Conservancy has a photo gallery of a Red-cockaded Woodpecker chick being banded at the Piney Grove Preserve in southeast Virginia. Piney Grove Preserve is the northernmost breeding population of this declining woodpecker.