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Spotted sandpiper chick / Credit: Brette Soucie/USFWS
Birds and birding news
- A federal judge ruled that the US Fish and Wildlife Service followed the law in designating part of Cape Hatteras National Seashore as critical habitat for endangered Piping Plovers. The decision was under attack from ORV users who are upset that a portion of beach will be off limits to their vehicles.
- An analysis of extinct "terror birds" (Andalgalornis steulleti) suggests that the birds' bills were structured to give sharp, straight-on blows but not side-to-side rips. You can read the full paper at PLoS ONE.
- Several New York City skyscrapers will be dimming their lights during the peak of migration this fall to prevent bird collisions.
- British Greenfinch and Chaffinch populations have suffered from a repeated outbreaks of trichomonosis, a disease that first emerged among finch populations in 2005. The disease is usually associated with pigeons and doves. The study is reported in PLoS ONE.
- Woodpecker expert Jerome Jackson reviews the Ghost Bird movie.
- Polar bears have been eating the eggs of Barnacle Geese. The behavior seems to result when ice floes melt and the bears are left stranded on land. In one breeding colony, only 40 of 500 nests were successful as a result of predation.
- Conservationists have been successful in building artificial nest structures for kingfishers.
- Birds, Words, and Websites: Who Are The Next “Great” Birders?
- WildBird on the Fly: When we guard birds, do we harm birding?
- The Drinking Bird: On Carolina Black-capped Chickadees
- Sibley Guides: Distinguishing Pacific and Winter Wrens
- View from the Cape: Morning flight photography
- From C to Carnivore: The many (scientific) uses of penguin poop (Part I) (Part 2)
- Coyote Crossing: Avian mortality at a desert concentrating solar facility
- A senior scientist from NOAA admitted that the government's report on the fate of the oil was overly optimistic. Instead, it is likely that 75% of the oil remains in the Gulf in some form.
- Meanwhile, a new paper in Science reported that a 22-mile oil plume remained in the Gulf at such a depth that natural decomposition would act very slowly. Toxic residue from the spill could create dead zones that harm commercially important fish species that spawn in the area. According to one estimate, the dead zones are likely to last two years.
- Oil buried under Gulf of Mexico beaches may have a detrimental effect on sand fleas, a food source for birds and crabs and bait for anglers.
- The bottom kill of the Deepwater Horizon's well has been put off until after Labor Day. Federal officials want BP to remove, preserve, and replace the blowout preventer as evidence for future court cases.
- Passaic Valley Sewerage Commissioners employees and volunteers recently hosted a cleanup to reduce the amount of trash along the Passaic River watershed, which includes the second-highest waterfall east of the Mississippi.
- A column discusses the history and landscape of Forsythe NWR.
- According to a recent study, urban prairie dogs spend less time foraging and more time watching for predators than their rural counterparts.
- The wild population of Kihansi Spray Toads is being restored through a captive breeding program.
- The July tied the warmest Julys on record, and the year to date is the warmest on record according to the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The global average temperature in the second half of the year may moderate thanks to La Niña.
- Myrmecos: Ants from the Grave of Thomas Say
- Urban Dragon Hunters: The mystery of meadowhawks
