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Black-tailed Godwit / Photo by apalca
Bird and birding news
- A recent study found that migratory European robins can sense direction using light-sensing cells in their eyes. Previous studies (in different species) had suggested birds can sense the Earth's magnetic field with iron particles in their beaks.
- In the past week, thousands of birds have died off the Pacific Northwest because of an algae bloom. Over 450 were taken to the International Bird Rescue and Research Center for rehabilitation.
- The migration route of Eleonora's Falcon has been documented using satellite tracking. The falcons fly from northern Africa directly across the Sahara on their way to Madagascar. An unusual feature of this species is its ability to migrate by both night and day.
- Most of the UK's 63 rare birds have increased their populations over the past decade thanks to active conservation programs. A gallery of some rare species is available here.
- About 80 distinctive Australian birds are in trouble due to habitat destruction and climate change.
- Twenty-two rare bird species have been documented in a rugged mountain forest on Timor Island.
- The American Bird Conservancy is pushing a program to reforest parts of Appalachia as a potential green jobs program. Among the potential beneficiaries would be declining forest species such as Cerulean Warblers.
- The Drinking Bird: Rare Birds and the Media
- Field of View: Researchers discover a second breeding season for five migratory songbirds
- The Feather and the Flower: Citizen's Guide: Obstacles in Temperate North America [I'd Love to Save the World]
- Earbirding: The Alternate Song of Prothonotary Warbler
- Biological Ramblings: Building New Homes for Endangered Woodpeckers
- 600 Birds: Digiscoping with a Digital SLR
- Curious Birder: Cool Website Alert! Northeast Avian Data Center
- 10,000 Birds: The Spoon-billed Sandpiper: Part One (of Six)
- Born Again Bird Watcher: Photo Interlude: When a Plover Meets a Plover…
- The capture and sale of Atlantic bluefin tuna, used for premium sushi, may need to be banned entirely if the species is to avoid extinction.
- The Union of Concerned Scientists is publishing reports on regional impacts from climate change in the U.S. Here are the ones for the Northeast.
- Despite opposition to cap and trade legislation from the agricultural sector, farmers can expect severe consequences from unrestrained climate change.
- Climate change also poses a severe threat to the 80% of Australia's population that lives in coastal areas.
- The Senate started hearings on cap and trade legislation this week.
- A scientist has been studying black bears up close and claims they are less dangerous than advertised.
- In British Columbia there have been 48 control kills of grizzly bears per year over the past fifteen years. Most deaths were probably preventable.
- RealClimate has an open letter to Steve Levitt regarding the problems with the climate change chapter of Superfreakonomics.
