Posts
Cerulean Warbler / Photo by David CreeBirds and birding news
- Carbon dating of guano shows that a Gyrfalcon nest site near Kangerlussuaq in western Greenland has been in nearly continuous use for about 2,500 years. Other nearby nests are around 1,000 years old. These are the oldest known raptor nesting sites; the oldest known bird nesting sites are a 34,000-year-old Snow Petrel colony and a 44,000-year-old Adelie Penguin colony.
- A new fossil ceratosaur, Limusaurus, relates the evolution of bird and theropod fingers. Instead of having digits I, II, and III, theropods may have had II, III, and IV, like modern birds, but with II modified to act like I. Read more about it at the blog of one of the study's authors. Apparently it was also an herbivore, unusual for a theropod.
- Another new dinosaur, Psittacosaurus gobiensis, had a parrot-like skull and may have fed on nuts.
- A new paper argues that the size of flying birds is limited by the time it takes to replace flight feathers during their annual molt. The length of flight feathers doubles for each tenfold increase in mass, but the speed of feather growth increases only by 1.5 times.
- Marbled Murrelets in the Pacific Northwest will retain their protections under the Endangered Species Act. The US Fish and Wildlife Service reversed a Bush-era decision to the contrary.
- In addition, the USFWS has agreed to list or propose for listing 31 foreign species under the Endangered Species Act.
- About 100 Jackass Penguins were released back into the wild after surviving an oil spill in Namibia.
- The USDA plans to capture and kill resident Canada Geese from 20 locations around New Jersey airports to prevent bird strikes. There are about 80,000 resident geese in the state.
- Scientists are using satellite telemetry to track the migration of Long-billed Curlews from their breeding grounds in Montana to their wintering grounds on the coast.
- Bird conservation groups are opposing lethal control of Double-crested Cormorants.
- Birds recognize members of the same species by appearance and song.
- The Lear's Macaw is now only Endangered, instead of Critically Endangered, thanks to conservation efforts that stabilized the species.
- Great Auk or Greatest Auk: Birdnappers in Brooklyn
- BES Group: Black-naped Tern’s unsuccessful attempt at copulation
- Earbirding: Mimicry in Cardueline finches
- Field of View: Cornell scientists discuss wind energy, wildlife, and bioacoustic monitoring
- Inhabitat: BAM’s Green Rooftop Aviary for Migrating Birds
- Greg Laden: The Science of Birdwatching
- The EPA has declared a public health emergency in Libby and Troy, Montana. A vermiculite mine has sickened at least 500 people (out of a population of 3,900) with asbestos-related illnesses.
- Mount Mabu, a hidden forest in Mozambique found with Google Earth, has produced at least ten new species within the past year.
- You can submit comments on the EPA's endangerment finding via Audubon Action.
- A developer wants to turn a 12,000-acre wetland along the Pearl River in Mississippi into a 4,133-acre lake and a lakeside development.
- The Mekong River Irrawaddy dolphin is on the brink of extinction thanks to pollution.
- A study of single-celled plankton reveals that atmospheric carbon dioxide is at its highest level in the last 2.1 million years.
- Sport hunters are depleting lion and cougar populations because game managers set bag limits to control rather than conserve big cats. The effect is magnified when males kill their rivals' cubs.
- The Mackenzie River is transporting excessively high levels of methyl mercury to the Arctic Sea.
