Loose Feathers #225

 

Snow Bunting /Photo by Kelly Colgan Azar

Birds and birding news

• As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, the 2010 Great Backyard Bird Count starts today. Count birds early and often!
• A new study links variations in a Great Tit's willingness to explore new things to variations in a gene known as DRD4. Similar results have been obtained for that gene in humans.
• A ban on fishing within a marine protection zone has shown immediate results for the threatened African Penguin: birds no longer have to travel as far to eat as they did before the ban went into effect. Penguins not protected by the protection zone still need to travel a long distance for food.
• The eastern flock of Whooping Cranes has been bothered by swarms of black flies, which often cause the adult cranes to abandon their nests.
• Blackwater NWR's eagle nest cam filmed the laying of the second egg.
• Seven warbler species regularly winter in the southeastern U.S., and others are possible.
• Another study argues that some dinosaurs descended from birds rather than the other way around; this appears to be a minority viewpoint.
• The IBRRC released 14 rescued Brown Pelicans in San Pedro, CA, this week. Pelicans have become sick and died this winter in unusual numbers for reasons that are not entirely clear.
• Cornell and NRDC have released a new networking site for bird lovers called We Love Birds.

Birds in the blogosphere

• Conservation Maven: Bird communities as bioindicators of stream degradation 
• NeuroDojo: I have a big beak and a small tongue: Hornbill feeding 
• The Sage of Discovery: Birds of a feather are bred together: domesticated turkeys in prehistoric SW US
• Stokes Birding Blog: White Ibis, wing bones and Yellow-throated Warbler, Get out!! 
• The Birders Report: California Department of Fish and Game Exposed: Burrowing Owl Guidelines Supressed
• Hawkwatch at the Franklin Institute: New link for the hawkwatch camera at the Franklin Institute
• Round Robin: Happy Valentine: We Love Birds Launches

Environment and biodiversity

• A new study proposes areas for building wind farms off the coast of Maryland. Wind farms would begin nine miles away from shore to protect coastal birds and reduce visibility from shore. The study was released by the Abell Foundation and the University of Delaware's Center for Carbon-free Power Integration; Maryland's wildlife agencies and environmental groups want time to study possible ecological impacts in more detail.
• The government of Canada has created Mealy Mountains National Park in Labrador, a new refuge preserving 11,000 acres of boreal landscape and encompassing eight Important Bird Areas, including breeding grounds for the eastern population of Harlequin Ducks.
• The Energy Department wants to remove and process 99% of the contaminants from the Hanford reactor site and then cap what remains; Oregon officials want a more thorough cleanup. The main long-term threat is contamination of the Columbia River via groundwater.
• A 30-year drought in southwestern Australia may be linked to a rise in snowfall in Antarctica, and both may be caused by increasing greenhouse gases.
• Oregon has banned the sale of English ivy and butterfly bushes, both considered by the state to be invasive weeds.