Friday, November 05, 2010

Loose Feathers #263

Parasitic Jaeger / Photo by Art Sowls (USFWS)

Birds and birding news
Birds in the blogosphere
Oil Spill
  • National Geographic has a video on citizen science efforts to track birds in the area affected by the BP spill.
  • The federal government enrolled 470,000 acres of farmland for habitat conversion to attract migratory shorebirds and waterfowl away from the Gulf of Mexico. The fields are flooded so that birds may use them as temporary wetlands.
  • Beyond the threat posed by lingering oil, birds migrating over the Gulf at night can be disoriented by the bright lights on oil platforms, much like birds flying through cities can be disoriented by skyscrapers. The U.S. Minerals Management Service has failed to push oil companies to install safer lighting, even though its own study discovered the threat.
  • Louisiana has decided to stop the sand berm project and convert the existing berms into barrier islands.
  • Many Gulf residents continue to distrust the evaluations of industry and government scientists about the safety of the Gulf's waters.
Environment and biodiversity
Carnivals