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Blackpoll Warbler, fall plumage / Photo by USFWSNews and links about birds, birding, and the environment
- Chimney swifts have decreased in population in recent years. Swifts need chimneys and other vertical surfaces for nesting and nighttime roosts. Their decline is linked to the practice of capping chimneys or lining them with smooth material so that the swifts cannot roost.
- Researchers in Australia compared the behavior of birds along trails where people frequently walk dogs with trails where dogs are banned. Bird numbers along trails with dog-walkers dropped by 41%, and the diversity of bird species fell by 35%. Humans walking alone caused a minor disturbance, but far less than dogs. The results suggest that dogs should be kept out of sensitive conservation areas. (Commentary here.)
- The federal government is testing the use of poisoned bait to kill blackbirds who eat sunflower crops in the Dakotas.
Red-throated and black-throated divers (a.k.a. loons) have increased their breeding populations in Scotland despite losses elsewhere in Europe. The RSPB is not sure why the outcomes have differed.- Officials in Ireland are investigating the shooting of a red kite. Elsewhere in the British Isles, red kites have enjoyed a successful revival.
- Research on the dinosaur Mahakala omnogovae found that birdlike dinosaurs evolved their small size prior to evolving the ability to fly. Previously palaeontologists assumed that the reverse was true.
- Malaysia has suffered a significant loss of shorebirds due to development and reclamation projects.
- The establishment of a wild breeding population of California condors in southern California has been hampered by the ingestion of human-made trash. The "junk" eaten by young vultures has included shotgun pellets (causing lead poisoning), as well as things like glass fragments, bottle caps, and pieces of plastic.
The most impressive sight at this year's Bex air show - intended for fighter pilots to show off their skills - was a flock of geese and cranes flying in formation with an ultralight aircraft flown by a French filmmaker.- Missouri Master Naturalists offers classes in bird banding for volunteer banders.
- Invasive plant control programs are most beneficial to birds when they are accompanied by a program to replace the weeds with native food plants.
- A new study indicates that offspring of birds whose nests were parasitized are more likely to have their own broods parasitized than other birds of the same species.
- The Independent profiles an ornithologist whose life was saved by a field guide.
- A study found that urban birds are better able to survive a wide range of differing habitats and climate conditions.
- The use of switchgrass as a source for ethanol may replace tobacco as a cash crop in Virginia.
- See yesterday's I and the Bird
- Friday Ark #155
- I and the Bird #57
- Birds in the news #97
- Festival of the Trees #15
- News from the BirdLife Partnership, August 2007
