Posts
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| Surf Scoter / Photo by Rinus Baak (USFWS) |
- For a variety of reasons, Operation Migration was unable to complete its annual migration training program this year. So instead, the young cranes will be driven to Wheeler NWR in Alabama to stay for the rest of the winter before they head back north.
- This year's irruption of Snowy Owls into southern Canada and the United States continues to attract media attention. While there are indeed a lot of owls, data collected through eBird shows that this is not a record-breaking winter for Snowy Owls in the Northeast and Northwest, but the numbers are unusually high for the Midwest and Central Plains.
- A verdict is pending in a lawsuit launched by two environmental groups against the owners of three high-rises that have some of the highest rates of bird fatalities in Toronto.
- A Laysan Albatross that recently hitched a ride in a pickup truck in Los Angeles was released back into the Pacific after medical care and feeding.
- The Rattling Crow: The fascinating love life of the Dunnock
- Tetrapod Zoology: A symbiotic relationship between sunfish and… albatrosses? Say what?
- Sibley Guides: The two stages of field identification
- Extinction Countdown: Accidental Kakapo Death Lowers Population of Rare, Flightless Parrots to 127 Birds
- Bird Canada: Advanced Birding Techniques - Finding the Northern Pygmy-Owl
- Not Exactly Rocket Science: Male spider snaps off own genitals inside female to fertilise her remotely, while being eaten
- Wild New Jersey: New Jersey Moths: The Toothed Phigalia - A true winter moth with an interesting historical connection to New Jersey
- Compound Eye: An Enemy in the Ranks
- The Birdist: Would Unrealistic Field Guides Be Useful?
- The Dragonfly Woman: Dragonfly Haiku
- Pixiq: A Natural Plant Support
- Bird Digiscoper: More about Eye Relief
- Splendor Awaits: No-Fail Checklist for Macro
- North Campus: L.A.'s Urban Nature: Unusual Bird Sighting: Common Yellowthroat
- Obsessive-Compulsive Birding: The Cost Effective Solution to Maximize Birding Potential
- Outside My Window: Winter Warbler?
- The Atlantic sturgeon is being listed as an endangered species. Listing the fish may affect a planned dredging project along the Delaware River, as the species prefers to spawn in some of the same areas of the river used by shipping.
- Four maned wolf pups were born in Virginia as part of a captive breeding program for this rare species. More photos are here.
- Invasive species such as pythons and lionfish continue to wreak havoc in the ecosystems they invade. In South Florida, mammal populations have crashed since the python invasion.
- When road salt runs off into vernal pools and other bodies of water, it harms amphibians by stunting their development and reducing the invertebrate prey they depend on. Road salt sometimes also intoxicates songbirds.
- February 2 was World Wetlands Day, celebrating the anniversary of the Ramsar Convention in 1971. Click through the first link for a gallery of significant wetlands around the world.
- Another NASA study found that recent climate change is not linked to solar activity, as the Earth's energy budget remained out of balance even during a period of low solar activity. A report with graphics is on the NASA website.
- Humpback whales on opposite sides of the Indian Ocean sing different songs, which suggests that the two populations keep separate.
- A fungus from the Amazon is able to eat polyurethane, one of the most environmentally harmful plastics. Polyurethane is used in many products that end up in landfills, so this fungus represents a potential solution.
- A new study found that 80% of the biodiversity hotspots in the Andes are unprotected, and 226 endemic species of the region lack any protection for their habitats.
- The Southern Environmental Law Center ranked the top 10 endangered places in the U.S. South.
