Posts
Ruddy Turnstone / Photo by Tim Bowman (USFWS)Bird and birding news
- Avian predators target average-looking prey and ignore prey with rare traits. This may help explain how unusual variations survive.
- A lawsuit to protect sage grouse habitat from livestock and energy development will go forward. The suit claims the Bush administration performed improper environmental reviews on federal land leases.
- Delaware's transportation department may have violated federal wildlife protection laws by digging drainage ditches along Fowler Beach Road in Prime Hook NWR without obtaining permits.
- Indonesia set aside 36 acres of beachfront for the endangered maleo. This bird lays and abandons its eggs to incubate in the sand.
- A king penguin kidnapped and attempted to brood a skua chick. While penguins often adopt chicks from other species, this was unusual since skuas prey on penguins.
- A reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer argues for switching off the planned Lake Erie windmills during fallout conditions to protect low-flying songbirds.
- The Boreal Songbird Institute has collected over 60,000 signatures supporting preservation of the boreal forest to protect its breeding birds.
- All of the rescued birds affected by the Moreton oil spill have been released.
- Power lines in British Columbia are a frequent hazard for birds, which fly into the lines are get electrocuted.
- A program to restore Spanish Imperial Eagles is entering its second phase of habitat management and education.
- Teams in last weekend's World Series of Birding recorded a total of 269 species within New Jersey. Results are posted here.
- Rob's Idaho Perspective: Differential Autumn Migration of Accipiter Hawks
- The Clade: Species of the Week - Elegant Crested Tinamou
- Drawing the Motmot: Am I Blue?
- BES Group: Large-tailed Nightjar and its unique features
- Earth, Wind, and Water: Jacana Drama
- Laura's Birding Blog: Death of an Ovenbird
- Several bloggers participated in and reported on the World Series of Birding: Hawk Owl's Nest; Feather and the Flower; Behind the Bins; New Jersey Outdoors; Round Robin.
- The importance of islands is underestimated by conservation models that do not account of the high proportion of endemic species that occur in island habitats. Human impact may also be higher on islands because of the lack of space.
- A study found that a collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would not be as bad as previously predicted; the sea would only rise 10 feet rather than 15-20 feet.
- Meanwhile, Arctic sea ice is likely to be mostly gone in summer by 2020; instead sea ice will only be present in winter.
- Democrats claim to have the votes to pass cap-and-trade legislation out of its House committee. The additional votes came at the expense of weakening many of its provisions.
- Prior to clean air regulations, global warming was slowed by airborne lead pollution.
- Not all biofuels emit less greenhouse gases than petroleum; the carbon footprint for charcoal grilling is about three times that of propane.
- The Green Life: Ecotourism: Too Much of A Good Thing?
