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Grasshopper Sparrow / Photo by dominic sheronyBird and birding news
- Waders continue to decline rapidly in Europe, West Asia, and Africa. While shorebirds are often protected within the EU, their wetland habitat elsewhere has dried up thanks to changes in water flow and irrigation.
- Scientists have surgically implanted transmitters in 15 Black-tailed Godwits in the Netherlands. The transmitters will report the godwits' movements on their European breeding grounds and during their migrations to Africa.
- Shorebirds on the Delaware Bay found much better foraging this year. Last year, only 15% of shorebirds reached their ideal weight, while this year 60% did according to banding studies.
- Audubon California is looking for volunteers to search for Yellow-billed Magpies this weekend and report the results through eBird.
- Reed Warblers learn to attack Common Cuckoos by watching the actions of other warblers. Cuckoos lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species rather than building and incubating their own nests.
- A petition has been filed to list Western Gull-billed Terns under the Endangered Species Act because there are only two breeding populations with a total of 300-500 birds. Currently the USFWS plans to reduce one of those populations by 43% to protect other endangered species.
- A study of avian influenza found that the viruses can survive in water up to 150 days, and thus disease transmission can occur even if no infected birds are present.
- A graduate student in Boise is studying the effects of urbanization on wild birds.
- Two of the Franklin Institute hawks have fledged.
- A wild Great Bustard bred in the U.K. for the first time since 1832.
- The Philadelphia Zoo just opened a new aviary.
- The Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission has been having trouble keeping pigeons off one of its overpasses without killing birds.
- A New Jersey birder posted a photo study of Black Skimmers.
- The House and Other Arctic Musings: The more things change...
- The Hawk Owl's Nest: Monk Parakeets
- Hemmy.net: BullFrog And The Unlucky Sparrow
- Wild New Jersey: Thousands of Red Knots migrate through New Jersey
- Birds 'n Such: One Brave Mockingbird
- Today is World Environment Day. (via)
- Some New Jersey biologists fear that 95% of the state's bats died over the winter.
- Phragmites outcompete other plants by secreting a toxin that kills them; this toxin becomes more potent degrades into a more potent toxin when heated by UV-B rays.
- Endocrine disruptors make fish more susceptible to disease.
- The black salt marsh mosquito of the Galapágos has evolved to prey on reptiles in addition to mammals, as its mainland relatives do. This could cause problems if West Nile or a similar pathogen were to reach the islands.
- Research using guppies has shown that species can evolve rapidly to meet the challenges of changing environments. However, this may not work as well for species that reproduce more slowly.
- Tropical cyclones may be a source of feedback for global warming.
- Ignoring terrestrial carbon sources while taxing industrial ones is likely to result in massive deforestation and additional carbon emissions. Valuing industrial and terrestrial sources equally would increase forest cover and reduce the cost of emission reductions.
- Global warming could actually lead to some limited regional cooling due to increased haze.
- DCR Virginia: Why We Need State Parks
