Posts
Harlequin Duck / Photo by Laura WhitehouseNews and links about birds, birding, and the environment
- Connecticut is preparing for a major fight over mute swan control. Connecticut Audubon wants the DEP to reduce the mute swan population to protect marine wetlands. A group called "Save Our Swans USA" threatens a lawsuit if such plans are enacted. Connecticut is the only state that has a large mute swan population but no control measures.
- Dead birds continue to be found on Staten Island, this time outside a Burger King. The article does not mention the species, but the birds in the photograph appear to be starlings. There is still no confirmed cause of death. Last Friday, residents found 45 dead grackles.
There is concern over what will happen to Cuba's natural resources after Castro's death. The U.S. embargo has encouraged conservation by preventing U.S. corporations from developing the island and American tourists from visiting in high numbers. Currently, U.S. law also makes it difficult for American and Cuban scientists to collaborate on conservation projects. The island provides important winter habitat for several migratory North American birds and is host to many endemic species.
A Scottish MP is proposing a law to allow more regulation of oil transfers that may affect sensitive nesting areas for seabirds. Birds in the North Sea have been affected by several recent oil slicks, including one that resulted in over 1,000 oiled birds in Sussex.- Studies of bird song are revealing how animals learn and maintain important motor skills.
- Christmas Bird Counts in the news: Dublin (GA); Louisville (KY); Santa Clara (CA); Forsyth County (NC); Hilton Head (SC); Magic Valley (AZ); Minot (ND); Buena Vista (CA); Allentown (PA)
- New Zealand is trying to restore its kiwi population by incubating the eggs of wild kiwis in laboratories where mammalian predators cannot eat them.
- The new federal appropriations bill cut money for several Chesapeake Bay cleanup programs.
- New York State is conducting two studies on its wild turkey population: a banding project and an annual winter census.
- The Tokyo metropolitan government has banned people from feeding wild birds, particularly ducks, under the reasoning that feeding would make them too fat to fly north in the spring.
- Mike Huckabee hunted pheasants (and reporters) to attract votes in Iowa.
- Coffee and Conservation: More shade coffee farms for Cerulean Warblers
- Mike's Birding & Digiscoping Blog: Patterns
- Drinking Bird: Death of the OLF
- CBCs on the blogs: Milwaukee; Buffalo River (TN); Salmon River (CT); Bronx/Westchester; Red Wing (MN); Indian River Valley (AK)
- Towheeblog: Bird of Winter: Junco hyemalis
- RealClimate: A barrier to understanding?
