Loose Feathers #294

Spectacled Eider / Photo by Laura L. Whitehouse (USFWS)

Birds and birding news

• British scientists are fitting cuckoos with satellite trackers to record their migration patterns. They hope to gather more data to help determine why the species is declining.
• As many as 300,000 seabirds are killed each year as a result of longline fishing practices. Seabirds, especially albatrosses, get caught when they dive after bait attached to the lines.
• The Great Indian Bustard (Ardeotis nigriceps), one of the world's largest birds, is on the brink of extinction according to the 2011 edition of the IUCN Red List. According to this year's list, 1,253 bird species are threatened – about 12% of all species worldwide. (To check on other bird species, see the IUCN Red List here.)
• Conservationists want to see a halt to horseshoe crab harvests in Maryland and Virginia to protect the food source for migrating Red Knots and other shorebirds. While New Jersey has banned the harvest of horseshoe crabs, those states and Delaware have not, and the annual harvest of horseshoe crabs along the Atlantic coast is still unsustainably high if the shorebirds are to survive.
• A survey of Canada's Wood Buffalo National Park recorded 75 active Whooping Crane nests, a new record.
• A Kookaburra that survived a high-speed auto collision and a 400-mile ride stuck to a vehicle's grille has been returned to its home territory and released.
• An oil refinery in Wyoming will pay a fine for an incident that killed 80 migratory birds in a wastewater pond.
• Both Yellow-billed and Black-billed Cuckoos like to feast on caterpillars, especially tent caterpillars.
• NY Times City Room has an image of one of the Washington Square Park nestlings panting because of the heat.

Birds in the blogosphere

• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Crows and parrots – brainy birds, but in different ways
• March of the Fossil Penguins: Tour of the Penguin Skeleton II: The Tarsometatarsus
• BirdWatching Field of View: Photos reveal the Golden-winged Warbler's struggle against the Blue-winged Warbler
• Birdchick: Chickadee Nest Location Unintentionally Hilarious
• The Word on Birds: House Finch versus Purple Finch: How they look

Environment and biodiversity

• State parks are facing severe budget cutbacks, including indefinite or permanent closure of many parks.
• A spider (Palpimanus gibbulus) that lives around the Mediterranean hunts other spiders, including spider species that also hunt spiders.
• A new report expects an average reduction of 10-20% in the average annual flows of the Colorado River due to climate change. States and cities that depend on the river for their water will need to decide how to deal with the declining flows while at the same time meeting the needs of their growing populations, as well as the needs of agriculture and industry.
• New Jersey is releasing copepods (Macrocyclops albidus) into roadside ditches and other pools of stagnant water to eat the mosquito larvae in them. Macrocyclops albidus is native to New Jersey. The state will also be stocking some areas with larvae-eating fish.
• Palaeontologists found fossils of a giant sea turtle in southern New Jersey.
• 615 species were discovered in Madagascar in the last decade. Many of them are believed to be endangered due to their small ranges, as well as deforestation and the illegal trade of captive wildlife. 
• Here is an interview with an entomologist on the benefits of studying honeybees. 
• The U.S. is lagging behind other countries in encouraging the development of green technology due to the lack of government support for reducing greenhouse gases. 
• Diving bell spiders can remain underwater for a day or more by means of a silk sac that they fill with an air bubble. Here is a gallery of diving spiders.
• Coyote Crossing: KCET and Naming The Joshua Tree part 3