Posts
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| Brown Pelican / Photo by Roy W. Lowe (USFWS) |
- Wind tunnel tests that mimic high-altitude conditions are exploring how Bar-headed Geese are adapted for flying over the Himalayas.
- Treadmill tests showed that Rock Ptarmigans are just as fit after fattening up for the winter as at their (lighter) summer weight.
- If they survive their first year, guillemots are able to stay fit and active into their 30s with little deterioration in their abilities.
- Scientists think they have found the genes that allow parrots to mimic sounds.
- Analysis of the stomach contents of dead Northern Fulmars from the Pacific Northwest shows a severe problem with plastic pollution in that region. (Note that the press release posted at Science Daily includes a photo of the wrong species.)
- The endangered Hawai‘i Creeper, Hawai‘i ‘Ākepa, and ‘Akiapōlā‘au have been found at lower elevations for the first time in several decades, which suggests that the birds may be developing resistance to diseases that contributed to their decline.
- An Arizona mining company will pay a fine of $6.8 million for the deaths of migratory birds that were killed by drinking acidic water at one of the company's mines.
- The Dragonfly Woman: Dragonfly Pond Watch
- Bird Ecology Study Group: Please do not “rescue” young birds…
- The Daily Wing: Monday Morning Birding Basics – No. 11: All in the Family
- Tails of Birding: The Crow Family
- Birdchick: Dickcissel Invasion
- The Birdist: How To Make A "Where I've Birded" Map Using Your eBird Data
- The record-breaking wildfires in the Rocky Mountains and Southwest are probably exacerbated by climate change, which causes drier conditions and hotter summer temperatures in those regions.
- Brown widow spiders are expanding into the black widows' traditional range. Brown widows' venom is somewhat less toxic than black widows' venom.
- How white-nosed syndrome affects bat populations depends in part on how social a species is at its winter hibernation sites. The most gregarious species tend to be hit the hardest.
- Federal officials are still trying to rid the Delmarva Peninsula of invasive nutria, a mammal similar to native muskrat and beaver. Nutria are a concern because they can defoliate large expanses of marsh, which then become open water.
