Loose Feathers #310

Common Yellowthroat / Credit: Bill Thompson/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A study found that weaver birds, which construct some of the most complex nests, learn how to build nests through trial and error.
• Workers are restoring a former wetland on Santa Cruz Island in California. The habitat restoration project is expected to benefit species such as the Island Fox and Island Scrub Jay.
• France is planning a cull of Canada Geese, which are not native to Europe.
• A study of forest types in Papua New Guinea found that birds are most abundant in primary forests, as opposed to primary forest edges, secondary forest edges and agricultural land.
• Mongabay has a photo of a Chestnut-breasted Coronet, a bird native to Andean forests.
• Tom Reed has already broken the big year record for New Jersey but faces strong competition to finish the year with the most species.

Nature blogging

• Laura's Birding Blog: A closer look at North American field guides
• 10,000 Birds: New Zealand Storm-petrels; Back from the Dead
• Coffee and Conservation: Research: Types of fruit trees on shade coffee farms important
• ABA Blog: The Chittering Curlew
• Mike's Birding and Digiscoping Blog: Curlew Caper Resurrected!
• The Drinking Bird: Birder Jargon Project: Abbreviatory

Environment and biodiversity

• The colors of ancients beetles are preserved in fossilized beetle remains. However, the colors are red-shifted because of chemical changes, so that a blue beetle now appears green, and so on. LiveScience has a gallery of extinct and living metallic-colored insects.
• Madgascar is seeking CITES protection for its rosewood and ebony because of a period when a coup opened its forest to unrestricted logging.
• Research on katydids found that female katydids will search for males if the males offer a gift in addition to the sperm packet. 
• Over 100 people were arrested for civil disobedience in Ottawa during a protest against the Keystone XL pipeline.
• One of the two major ice shelves in the Canadian Arctic melted almost entirely this summer.
• Scientists have installed a data-collection device on one of the Cape May-Lewes ferry vessels to gather information on the health of Delaware Bay. The device measures the temperature and salinity, as well as levels of dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll.
• Oil left from BP's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is still harming Gulf Killifish (Fundulus grandis), even without killing them.
• Now is the season to gather black walnuts.
• LiveScience has a gallery on the devastating drought in Texas.