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| Arctic Tern / Photo by Kirk Rogers (USFWS) |
Birds and birding news
- Hummingbirds have flexible bills that allow them to snap their mouths shut around insects more quickly than they could using jaw muscles alone. Insects form a crucial part of hummingbird diets, as they provide more proteins than nectar.
- The American Bird Conservancy warns that the draft for new federal wind energy guidelines does not contain sufficient protections for migratory birds.
- State forest land in Oregon has potential future territories for Spotted Owls if the current trees are given a chance to mature into old-growth forests.
- Some bird species, such as Scaled Quail, Loggerhead Shrike and Rock Wren, are less affected by heat and wildfires in their habitats than others.
- New research argues that young puffins explore their own migration routes rather than learning from their parents or using a genetically predetermined route.
- Waterfowl breeding in the northern U.S. and Canada had an unusually productive breeding season in 2011.
- Arctic Terns have the longest annual migrations and see the most sunlight of any bird species.
- Earlier this week, Mongabay.com featured a Scale-crested Pygmy Tyrant as its picture of the day.
- The Pied Wagtail is a common but sometimes overlooked bird in Europe; a column in The Guardian sums up its appearance and habits.
- The Iowa DNR is requiring the use of non-lead ammunition for its new dove hunting season.
- Sibley Guides: Differences in plumes of Little and Snowy Egret
- eBird News and Features: From NOAA's Gordon Gunter, by Tom Johnson
- Birding Dude: Field Notes - Finding A Sandwich Tern on LI
- 10,000 Birds: Portlandica Plumage Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisaea)
- Conservation Maven: How songbird brains respond to new songs
- The Birder's Report: Ash-throated Flycatchers Nesting
- Mass extinctions may be easier to trigger than commonly thought. The end of the Triassic appears to have come with a small rise in carbon dioxide, which caused a larger release of methane gas in a warming feedback loop.
- Arctic sea ice is at a smaller extent than at the same point in July 2007, the year of the lowest sea ice extent ever recorded. There is a strong possibility that 2011 will break that record if trends continue. Typically Arctic sea ice achieves its lowest extent in September of a given year.
- A female polar bear wearing a GPS logging device was recorded swimming for nine days straight and covering a distance of 426 miles. This is the longest swim by a polar bear ever recorded.
- A new study identifies six new species of ermine moths from Costa Rica. These moths are in the family Yponomeutidae, which also includes the Ailanthus webworm.
- A new study identified an eye gene called optix as the gene responsible for mimicry of red wing colors in butterflies.
- The Grand Cayman blue iguana population is recovering from near extinction.
- This year's dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico has potential to be the largest ever, thanks to unusually large amounts of sediments and nutrients being carried downstream by the flood waters. Meanwhile, Disko Bay in Greenland had its longest-ever algal bloom this spring.
- An expedition to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia found 18 new species of ferns and flowering plants.
- A coalition is working on adapting the Nisqually River in Washington so that it will retain its character and productivity even as the climate warms.
- The Friends of the Wissahickon are experimenting with Angora goats as a means of controlling invasive plants in Wissahickon Valley Park.
- Scientists have determined that the underwater plume observed in the Gulf of Mexico last summer was composed of BTEX chemicals (benzene, toluene, ethybenzene, and total xylenes) that were released from the leaking oil well.
