Posts
Wilson's Warbler / USFWS
Birds and birding news
- For some bird species, songs change significantly from generation to generation; in other species they are more stable.
- Flocks of pigeons change direction according to group decisions. Each pigeon can influence direction, but higher-ranking pigeons have more influence and take leading positions.
- New Caledonian Crows have solved another multi-step problem using tools. This time they figured out how to retrieve a short stick on a string and then use it to retrieve a larger stick that they could use to retrieve a piece of meat.
- Some Thin-billed Prions molt in South America, and others molt in Antarctica. Individual birds show a preference for one molting ground over the other, but the two groups are not genetically separate populations.
- A hummingbird caught and banded a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird with a green gorget.
- Cancellation of airline flights due to volcanic ash complicated efforts to reintroduce Common Cranes to the U.K. from Germany.
- Cornell's Macaulay Library re-released Songs of the Warblers of North America as a digital download. The guide has 311 recordings for 57 warbler species and includes photographs to accompany the songs (on devices that show images).
- The NY Times reviews iPhone apps for birding.
- The Raptor Trust in Millington, NJ, is a center for raptor rehabilitation and education for visitors.
- The Guardian's music blog wants to know your favorite songs about birds.
- Nature Observances: Thrushes of North America
- 10,000 Birds: Interview: David Sibley on the Spoon-billed Sandpiper
- Bell Tower Birding: A Short Appreciation of the Eurasian Magpie
- Skeptic Wonder: What songbirds can teach us about language: Does syntactic complexity require selection?
- Achenblog: Birding season: No grousing or sniping
- Raising Maine: Mama Bird: Heron vs. Snake: Florida
- An oil drilling rig exploded on Wednesday off the coast of Louisiana, with a smoke plume visible from space. Yesterday the rig sank, and 11 workers are missing. Oil spilling from the sunken rig (at a rate of up to 8,000 barrels per day) may reach the Gulf Coast. Update: Oil spilled from the rig with the initial explosion and fire, but the drilling site is no longer leaking.
- It is not clear what killed a beached whale on the Pacific coast, but a lot of trash (including plastic bags, pants, a golf ball, duct tape, and surgical gloves) was found in the whale's stomach. (Follow the link for disgusting pictures.)
- Mercury is higher in sushi made from bluefin tuna than yellowfin tuna.
- Nepalese mountaineers are ascending Mount Everest to remove trash left by hikers and the bodies of several dead climbers.
- Two photographers took images of large African mammals using a remote-controlled DSLR on wheels. The camera was mounted with a wide angle lens and took the photos from ground level.
- A New Jersey artist created ghostly photographs of discarded plastic bags.
- Earth Day in 2010 is awash in much more greenwashing and corporate sponsorships than the original one 40 years ago.
- Environmentalists should be careful to distinguish between natural deserts, which are usually diverse and stable, and desertification, the transformation of a natural landscape into a barren one.
- Myrmecos: Adapting the iPhone for Insect Photography
