Loose Feathers #358

Palm Warbler / Photo by Keenan Adams (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• Fossils discovered in China provide an example of therapods eating prehistoric birds and small feathered dinosaurs.
• Scientists are trying to find out if Blue Tits might be able to control an invasive moth in the UK.
• Climate change may increase the spread of avian influenza in wild birds by disrupting their normal migration patterns. 
• The breeding population of Chinstrap Penguins is declining on the Antarctic Peninsula. The researchers think that climate change is the most likely culprit.
• This video shows a Green Heron using a piece of bread as bait to catch a fish.
• A series of images show a Velvet-purple Coronet and a Buff-tailed Coronet fighting over the right to feed at a banana flower.
• Ecologists are pushing the French government to stop unregulated hunting on the island of Guadeloupe.

Nature blogging

• Net Results: Dearborn Passenger Pigeons: Then and Now
• 10,000 Birds: How do Birds get their Color?
• Birding Frontiers: Jankowski’s Bunting: A Very Rare Bird Indeed
• The Smaller Majority: Danger, in black and white
• Bug Eric: Wasp Wednesday: Ageniella accepta/conflicta
• BugBlog: On insect migration and fairy tales
• Nemesis Bird: Maryland Herald Petrel – 8/25/12
• Laelaps: Giant Squid vs. Mosasaur
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Robins start with a magnetic compass in both eyes, and end up with just one 
• PetaPixel: Hiker in Alaska Killed After Taking Close-Up Pictures of a Grizzly Bear

Environment and biodiversity

• Scientists finally figured out what a strange-looking marine larva becomes as an adult.
• A recent study showed how the extinction of one species can hurt other species.
• A botany study proved that New England Banksia is a separate species from Hairpin Banksia.
• Three prehistoric arthropods — a midge and two mites — have been found in Triassic amber from Italy.
• Sea ice in the Arctic is already at a record low. With three weeks of melting left, this summer will likely break the record by a substantial margin.
• Shad have virtually disappeared from the Delaware River, and attempts to restore them have had frustratingly slow results.
• Yosemite National Park has closed 91 cabins after two people died from hantavirus after sleeping there.
• A man was caught trying to enter Switzerland with 15 kilograms of caterpillars in a false compartment in his luggage. When he was caught, he started eating them.
• Climate change may cause significant changes to the stretches of the Atlantic coastline within the National Park system from erosion and rising temperatures. 
• The Obama administration has given Shell permission to start preparations for drilling in the Chukchi Sea.
• An unidentified white moth from Venezuela has become a hit on social media sites.
• Five new species of cuckoo bees were documented on the Cape Verde Islands.