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Western Flycatcher / Photo by Dave Menke (USFWS)
Birds and birding news
- Endangered Southwestern Willow Flycatchers are at the center of a dispute over whether and how to control invasive Eurasian tamarisks. Land managers had introduced beetles as a biocontrol for tamarisks, which push out native trees and reduce biodiversity – and the beetles have largely been successful at reversing the tree's spread. However, the beetles tend to strip trees of foliage at a bad time for nesting flycatchers, which often nest in tamarisk trees.
- Biologists are trying to determine the number and types of birds that migrate through the Gulf of Maine region each fall. The researchers are combining a variety of techniques, including radar, passive acoustic observation, and banding.
- Hatch year Whooping Cranes have begun their migration from Wisconsin to Florida guided by an ultralight aircraft.
- Two new species have been found in Nepal: Grey-necked Bunting and Long-billed Wren Babbler.
- Scienceray has a list of what it considers the 20 most brilliantly colored birds in the world.
- Birds are dying from type-e botulism along Lake Michigan.
- The songs of 20 birds that are rarely heard on the streets of Brooklyn are going to be broadcast from loudspeakers in various Brooklyn neighborhoods. You can read more about the project at Birds of Brooklyn.
- A study of outdoor domestic cats in New Zealand claims that belled collars reduce the amount of predation but does not eliminate it. (Keeping cats indoors is still more effective.)
- Conserve Wildlife Blog: Studying oystercatcher migration in New Jersey
- GrrlScientist: Colour My World: Red parrot feathers resist bacterial degradation
- Notes From Soggy Bottom: Phantom Followup: Bachman's Warbler
- 10,000 Birds: Ask Not What the ABA Can Do For You…
- Tetrapod Zoology: You can never have too many shoebills
- According to an Audubon report, birds in Important Bird Areas along the Gulf Coast are rebounding, but threats remain from residual oil and chemicals. Major concerns include oil that has seeped into the sand and tar mats just below the tide line. Even birds that look healthy now could suffer health effects from residual oil in the future. You can read the short version or the full report (pdf).
- Many migratory water birds have been using wetlands created by flooding farm fields as an alternate habitat to oiled marshes along the Gulf Coast.
- The Danube watershed has many lingering environmental hazards, such as a reservoir of toxic sludge that engulfed a Hungarian village this week.
- Climate policy proposals are now moving away from cap-and-trade, which died in the Senate this year, towards subsidies to reduce the cost of cleaner energy such as wind and solar.
- Google will help finance transmission lines for offshore wind development along the Atlantic Coast.
- Climate change poses a major threat to corals. Record high water temperatures in the Caribbean Sea this summer caused extensive bleaching on multiple reefs. Meanwhile, scientists found evidence of temperature increases over several decades in Pacific corals.
- Invasive Amur honeysuckle is encouraging the spread of Lone Star Ticks and thus ehrlichiosis, cases of which rose from 100 per year in 1999 to 600 per year in 2006. Both Amur honeysuckle and Japanese barberry may also promote the spread Lyme disease.
- A whale biologist used a photo posted to Flickr to document the 6,000 mile journey of a humpback whale from Brazil to Madagascar. Humpback whales can be identified by the markings on their tails.
- Amtrak is running a special train from Los Angeles to Mojave National Preserve to test whether there is a market for such a line.
