Posts
Red Crossbill / Photo by Dave Menke (USFWS)Bird and birding news
- EBird has a useful overview of how to identify crossbill species by ear, with linked audio samples.
- Cape May NWR acquired an additional 437 acres last week. There seem to be two tracts involved – a saltmarsh along Bidwell Creek in Middle Township and a 371-acre grassland in Lower Township. At least some of the land acquired will be open for hiking and birding.
- In addition, Pennsylvania is getting its third National Wildlife Refuge. The new refuge comprises 20,466 acres in Cherry Valley in the Poconos. Land within the refuge will be protected with a combination of purchases and conservation easements. People with existing property will continue to live within the refuge boundaries. Cherry Valley is the first NWR designated in the Northeast in a decade and the first in Pennsylvania since Tinicum in 1972.
- Hen harriers face extirpation in England due to persecution, primarily from game wardens.
- Shade coffee not only benefits birds, but also preserves local plant diversity.
- Rob's Idaho Perspective: Egg recognition as a defense against intraspecific brood parasitism
- A dam burst in Kingston, Tennessee, released 300 million gallons of toxic coal ash into nearby towns and the Clinch River and Tennessee River watersheds. The ash had been dumped within the dike by a TVA power plant. State and federal officials so far are playing down the potential hazards, but past government studies have shown that coal ash contains sufficient amounts of carcinogens to pose a health risk.
- Striped bass living in the San Francisco Bay estuary are exposed to multiple toxins prior to birth, with many birth defects (e.g., smaller brains, dysfunctional livers) as a result.
- The FDA is re-opening its investigation of bisphenol-A, a chemical found in many plastic food containers (including baby bottles) made from polycarbonate (plastic #7).
- Meanwhile, the National Resource Council recommended that the EPA investigate the cumulative risk from long-term exposure to phthalates and chemicals that could cause similar problems.
- Those decisions come none too soon, since explosure to endocrine disruptors like bisphenol-A has been linked to a variety of birth defects in all major classes of vertebrates. (via)
