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Black-capped Chickadee / Photo by Donna Dewhurst (USFWS)News and links about birds, birding, and the environment
A record number of whooping cranes returned to Texas for winter this year. Currently there are 257 cranes in the Coastal Bend area, with a few more expected to arrive soon.- Measures to reduce bird deaths at Altamont Pass wind farms so far are behind schedule. A legal settlement among Alameda County, the wind farms, and conservationists called for the shutdown or relocation of the 300 deadliest turbines to reduce raptor deaths by 50 percent. A Scientific Review Committee has determined that an additional 100 will also need to be shutdown to meet that goal.
The number of Florida Scrub Jays is shrinking even in protected areas that have been set aside for them.- Avian reovirus, which causes internal hemorrhaging, is killing hundreds of crows in New York State.
- South Brother Island in the Bronx is now a city park. The island provides nesting territories for 3,000 great egrets, snowy egrets, black-crowned night-herons, and double-crested cormorants.
- Coverage of Christmas Bird Counts: Loveland (CO); Jonathan Dickinson SP (FL); Cape Cod; St. Clair NWA (ON); Uxbridge (ON); Comal County (TX); Lake County (FL); Groveland (CA); Truro (MA); Bucks County (PA).
- In San Diego, amateur kayakers rescue birds caught by baited fishing lines.
- Following Delaware's lead, Maryland may create its own birding trail (pdf, p. 9).
- Biofuels may have worse environmental effects than fossil fuels. They emit less carbon when burned, but their production requires vast amounts of farmland and reduces biodiversity, especially in the tropics.
- California has filed a lawsuit against the EPA for blocking its fuel efficiency regulations.
- BrdPics: Make It Count
- CBCs in the blogs: Ramsey (NJ); Buffalo River (TN); DeKalb (IL); Taney County (MO); Prineville (OR); Sandia Mountains (NM); Pittsburgh; Hudson.
- Earth, Wind, and Water: Top 10 Nature Moments meme participants
