Posts
Chipping Sparrow / Photo by John Benson
Birds and birding news
- A business blog posted an analysis of birding blogs and argued that birding-related businesses should pay attention to the bird-blogging community. It also posts a list of the "top 20 influencers" among birding blogs. As expected, 10,000 Birds was ranked first; I was more surprised to see this blog ranked third on the list.
- Here is an update on eBird's development through 2010 and a look ahead at interface changes coming in 2011.
- Pigeons with darker feathers (that is, plumage with a higher melanin content) tend to have stronger immune systems. The dark-feathered pigeons have lower concentrations of a blood parasite.
- An unknown disorder is causing penguin chicks on both sides of the South Atlantic to lose all of their feathers. Chicks afflicted with the condition often die from having to expend so much energy on keeping warm.
- The hatch of the third baby eagle in Decorah, Iowa, was recorded by the webcam. You can watch the live stream here. The camera at that particular nest has become very popular this spring.
- Some scientists are trying to use computer models to reduce seabird deaths caused by longline fishing.
- Meanwhile, Falkland Skuas, a subspecies of Brown Skua, have declined, losing half of their breeding population over the past five years.
- Seabird colonies can be difficult to study due to hostile terrain, such as a frigatebird colony where scientists have to deal with thorny thickets and bomb craters.
- Among White-ruffed Manakins in Costa Rica, migrating to lower elevations during the rainy season may cost them prime breeding locations when they return.
- Two new studies show that lead ammunition left in the remains of hunted animals is ingested by carrion-eating birds and can cause lead poisoning in those birds. This effect was previously found in endangered California Condors and has now been confirmed among Turkey Vultures and Golden Eagles.
- Sibley Guides: The Proper Use of Playback in Birding
- Birdchick: Eagle Parenting Mistakes
- 10,000 Birds: Gnatcatchers Nest-making
- birdspot: Aimophila, or not.
- Fotoportmann: Nesting Ospreys: Jamaica Bay, NYC
- The open-access journal ZooKeys published a catalogue of family-group names for beetles (Coleoptera) as a monograph. Anyone can download the monograph as a pdf.
- A wolf that crossed Lake Superior helped revive the dwindling pack on Isle Royale; in eight years he produced 34 pups, which went on to breed as well. While the size of the pack has not increased, it seems that his presence arrested its decline.
- Meanwhile, legislators in Idaho are planning to give the governor emergency powers to reduce the number of gray wolves in the state. The Speaker of the Idaho House was quoted as saying, "If we don't take care of this problem soon, we won't have any wildlife to hunt or to look at."
- Some American Elms on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., are resistant to Dutch Elm disease, which has wiped out most other elms in the U.S. These resistant elms have three rather than four sets of chromosomes, suggesting that they may be a hybrid between a standard tetraploid elm and a haploid one.
- New York is trying to make it easier for consumers to recycle used electronics.
- As mountain pine beetles moved eastward, they jumped host species from lodgepole pine to jack pine. This poses a major threat to those parts of the boreal forest composed of jack pine.
- The monarch population that winters in Mexico appears to have shrunk over the past 17 years, judging by surveys at their wintering areas.
- A mayfly made a lasting impression in Massachusetts 300 million years ago.
- Bug Eric: Wasp Wednesday: Parancistrocerus perennis
- NCSU Insect Museum: The Coffee Berry Borer
