Loose Feathers #360

Herring Gull / Photo by Bill Thompson (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• A 73-year-old birder was raped and beaten in Central Park this week. The assailant has been arrested, but the brutality of the attack has left the park's birding community uneasy.
• Brown Treesnakes have reduced the numbers of birds on Guam, whose absence has in turn increased the number of spiders. 
• Crows use similar parts of the brain to remember familiar faces as humans do.
• Bird diversity is at risk if shade plantations and forests are converted into open farmland.
• Scientists are using radio transmitters to track social networks in New Caledonian Crows, in order to see if social networks transmit information about sophisticated tool use.
• A five-year research project is evaluating the breeding population of Kittlitz's Murrelets. The study may result in placing the species on the Endangered Species List.

Nature blogging

• The Birdist: Defining East Coast Pelagic Borders
• Audubon Guides: Hawk ID, Part 4: Buteos 
• Round Robin: 9/11 Tribute in Light Illuminates Thousands of Migrating Songbirds 
• Extinction Countdown: Endangered Cayman Islands Parrots and Iguanas Could Use More Shelters and Havens
• The Smaller Majority: The Mystery of Flying Honeydew: A Strange Case of Unabashed Thievery 
• View from the Cape: Sorting out the saddlebags
• Laelaps: Ida Hands are Paleontologist Playthings
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Ancient flower lives only on two Spanish cliffs, and uses ants to survive
• Flickr Blog: Colorful ode to salt ponds
• Blue Marble: Fisheries Declared Disasters on Four Coasts
• March of the Fossil Penguins: Fossil penguin…. poop?

Environment and biodiversity

• The continued progress of climate change means that the new USDA plant zones map is already out of date.
• A German monk was found naked and disoriented in the woods after he mistakenly ate the berries of a Deadly Nightshade plant. While many wild plants and fungi are edible, this should serve as a reminder not to eat plants if you are uncertain about their identity.
• A new monkey species called the lesula has been discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
• The IUCN has created a list of the world's 100 most endangered species.
• This summer was the 3rd-hottest in US history. 
• A man was arrested for trying to smuggle lorises in his underwear.
• Researchers in New Jersey are trying to revive American Chestnut trees, which were decimated by blight in the 20th century.
• A ninth person has been infected with hantavirus linked to cabins at Yosemite National Park.