My Best Photos of 2013

I have not been uploading my own photos on this blog as much as I used to, but I am still photographing birds, insects, plants, and other things. The best place to follow my photos are my Flickr account and my Twitter account. (I usually tweet links to my Flickr photos.) Here is a selection of my best photo from each month of 2013.

1. Snowflakes on broomsedge, 2. Ring-billed Gull, 3. Snowy pines, 4. Spring Beauty, 5. Pink Lady's Slipper, 6. Periodical Cicada, 7. Isabella Tiger Moth, 8. American toad, 9. Merlin, 10. Yellow-collared Scape Moth, 11. Turkey Vulture in flight, 12. Fish Crow

Loose Feathers #424

Razorbill photographed by Bill Thompson/USFWS

Birds and birding

• More and more land is being taken out of the Conservation Reserve Program in the U.S. due to budget cuts and high grain prices, with bad results for birds and insects.
• A mystery illness is killing Bald Eagles in Utah. Samples are being analyzed for toxins and pathogens, but no cause is known so far.
• Prior to the breeding season, Bridled Terns eat a diverse diet, but once the eggs are laid, they restrict their foraging to waters close to their breeding colony and eat mainly crustaceans and black-spotted goatfish.
• At Cape Denison in Antarctica, the arrival of an iceberg has made it more difficult for the breeding Adélie Penguins to forage.

Science and nature blogging

• Backyard and Beyond: Xmas with the Owls
• Outside My Window: I Am Not Starving
• Cicada Mania: Photos of Cicadas from Australia
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Sex and the Birds: 10. Dunnock’s mixed bag of breeding systems
• ABA Blog: The 2013 Snowy Owl Invasion: It’s getting crazier by the minute
• 10,000 Birds: It Ain’t Over ’til the Fat Thrush Sings
• LepScience: Grasshoppers of Florida
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Bird Cheaters Target Teams, But Teamwork Beats Cheats

Environment and biodiversity

• A key problem with reducing greenhouse gases is how to assign responsibility for emissions attributable to consumerism, particularly when goods are traded across international borders.
• Venezuelan scientists are trying to save the Orinoco crocodile; this reptile's population plunged over the course of the 20th century.
• Restoring grassland habitat and increasing milkweed availability will be key to rebuilding the Monarch population.
• Most of the dolphin deaths on the east coast this year are attributable to morbillivirus, but two dolphin die-offs in the Gulf of Mexico may be related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, in addition to other environmental factors.
• The New York Times has a video of ants that can flow like a liquid or float as a mass on top of water.
• The hemlock wooly adelgid has now been discovered in a third Pennsylvania forest.
• The Franciscan manzanita recently received its critical habitat designation.
• The Delaware & Raritan Canal Commission rejected the DEP's plan to clearcut trees on Bull's Island in New Jersey.

Loose Feathers #423

Northern Harrier / Photo credit: Doug Racine/USFWS

Birds and birding

• Snowy Owls have migrated into the northeastern U.S. in large numbers this fall. You can use this eBird tool to get a sense of the scale of the irruption.
• Bird deaths at Ivanpah were down to 11 from 52 in October. Two of the birds from November had signs of scorching, an injury likely caused by the method Ivanpah uses to generate solar energy.
• Cooperative breeders are better at repelling brood parasites like cuckoos, but their cooperative breeding systems also make them better parents for the chicks of brood parasites.
• Fossil evidence suggests that the kiwi evolved in Australia and that its closest living relative is the emu.
• Acrobatic displays like those of Golden-collared Manakins do not use as much energy as one might expect.
• Woodpeckers may be able to slow the spread of the emerald ash borer.
• An Emperor Penguin colony found in 2012 may have as many as 15,000 penguins.
• New estimates suggest that the Giant Moa weighed about 14% less than generally thought.
• Researchers measured the population densities for four species of hornbills in northeastern India.
• The Bar-tailed Godwit should be able to adapt its migration timing to climate change.

Science and nature blogging

• WolfeNotes: D&R Canal Commission Rejects DEP Bull’s Islands Tree Cut Plan
• LepScience: The Smallest Butterflies Are Some of The Toughest! Dainty Sulphur (Nathalis iole)
• Tetrapod Zoology: A new living species of large mammal: hello, Tapirus kabomani!
• Myrmecos: How to identify the bullet ant, Paraponera clavata
• Flickr Blog: Bee portraits like you’ve never seen before
• Hidden New Jersey: Deck the Hook with boughs of holly
• Bug Eric: Eastern Cicada Killer
• Outside My Window: Success Through Nepotism
• All About Birds: How to Plan a Birding Day Trip With eBird Hotspot Explorer

Environment and biodiversity

• Europe will ban some types of deep-sea trawling, but not all of it.
• This November was the hottest November on record since 1880.
• Climate change is likely to be a major problem for the desert tortoise.
• A judge approved a settlement that will help fund cleanup of the lower Passaic River.

Loose Feathers #422

Northern Gannet / Credit: USFWS

Birds and birding

• This week the NY Daily News reported that the Port Authority was shooting Snowy Owls at NYC-area airports (particularly JFK airport). This caused a furor, an online petition was started, and by the end of the day, the agency announced that it would work with New York to capture and relocate Snowy Owls at JFK and La Guardia. The Port Authority also announced that it already had permission to relocate owls trapped at Newark airport in New Jersey. Boston's Logan airport has long employed wildlife specialists to relocate Snowy Owls rather than killing them, with the help of Massachusetts Audubon.
• The Center for Biological Diversity argues that the Western Yellow-billed Cuckoo should be listed as endangered rather than threatened.
• A new regulation regarding wind energy development weakens existing protections for Bald and Golden Eagles.
• One problem with Amazon's drone delivery proposal is that the drones are likely to be attacked by raptors and other birds.
• A study found that Little Penguins can switch from their primary prey to alternate food sources, but their reproductive success falls if those alternate sources are not available.
• If a cuckoo fledges from a magpie nest as part of a mixed brood, the magpie parents are likely to stop feeding the baby cuckoo and focus on their own magpie fledglings.
• Eurasian Tree Sparrows can recognize eggs that are placed in their nest by other birds, but they do not always reject them.
• Chalk-browed Mockingbirds will attack Shiny Cowbirds that attempt to lay eggs in their nests. This does not stop the cowbirds from laying eggs, but it does stop them from destroying the mockingbirds' eggs.

Science and nature blogging

• The Birdist: Lapland Longspurs at the Washington Monument
• Bruce Mactavish: 300 Snowy Owls in Newfoundland Weekend - An Explanation
• ABA Blog: THE TOP 10: Most Awesome Bird Names in the World
• Myrmecos: Crazy ants, the New York Times, and the failure of Americans to support basic research
• 10,000 Birds: The North Wind Doth Blow
• Birding Dude: Ugh...Gulls!
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Sex and the Birds: 8. Splendid Fairy-wren, monogamous and promiscuous
• Anything Larus: Ross's Gull: Lake Red Rock
• Hidden New Jersey: The Red-headed Woodpecker goes industrial

Environment and biodiversity

• A Maine seafood company was caught overharvesting sea scallops off the coast of New Jersey.
• River otters are becoming common again in New Jersey but are still hard to spot.
• An extremely rare shrub in California will retain its endangered species protections despite a petition to remove its listing.
• Dolphin deaths have tapered off in New Jersey, but only because the dolphins (along with the deadly morbillivirus) have migrated south.
• The gray wolf known as OR-7 made a brief return to California.
• An employee of USDA Wildlife Services shot a Mexican wolf, a animal protected under the Endangered Species Act.
• At least 22 pilot whales died when they became stranded off the coast of the Florida Everglades last week. The fate of the rest of the pod is unclear.
• NJ Audubon is handing the Weis Ecology Center over to the state DEP. Under the current plan, it is likely that most of the buildings will be removed.
• Photographer Daniel Beltrá documented the Deepwater Horizon oil spill from the air.
• An Asian cockroach species that can tolerate cold and snow was discovered living in Manhattan, the first documented of this species in the United States. While it is currently unknown how the species came to be there, it is likely that it came in on one of the nonnative ornamental plantings for the High Line.
• Grizzly bears in and around Yellowstone may lose their endangered species protections.

Loose Feathers #421

Black Duck (by Scott Nielsen/USFWS)

Birds and birding

• As most North American birders know by now, there is a major flight of Snowy Owls to the East Coast this winter. One of the more impressive results, in addition to the 138 Snowy Owls found in Newfoundland, is that Snowy Owls have even made it to Bermuda. Multiple Snowy Owls have been seen at Sandy Hook.
• The outbreak of conjunctivitis among House Finches provided new data on how a disease becomes an epidemic.
• The real "game changers" in the world of birding field guides are not to be found among printed guides but in mobile field guide apps.
• Hummingbirds can switch easily from burning glucose to burning fructose to make their metabolism as efficient as possible.
• Peahens focus their attention on the lower parts of a peacock's display train.
• The expansion of a reserve in Ecuador will protect the rare El Oro Parakeet and other birds.
• The fleshy red badge on the head of the Pūkeko (the New Zealand subspecies of Purple Swamphen) advertises its fitness, particularly its physical dominance.
• Hummingbirds can survive in the low-oxygen conditions at high altitude because their hemoglobins have high oxygen-binding properties.
• A sea eagle in Australia picked up a motion-sensitive camera and flew off with it while the camera kept filming.
• A team of scientists is attempting to reintroduce the critically endangered Northern  Bald Ibis to Europe.
• It is hard to establish exactly why the Orange-bellied Parrot is so rare.

Science and nature blogging

• 10,000 Birds: Do Snowy Owls really belong in genus Bubo?
• Outside My Window: The Battle Is On
• Nemesis Bird: Things That Look Like Snowy Owls
• View from the Cape: Snowy Owls in the Cape May area 
• Birding Dude: Enjoy Those Snowy Owls But Don't Forget Birding Ethics
• Kymry: Fork-tailed Flycatcher in Hadlyme, Connecticut
• Beetles In The Bush: Party on a pin oak
• Jessecology: Please stop with the Lyme tick nurseries
• Anything Larus: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Cycle Thayer's: Last Day of November
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Tundra Swan: Too Cool Not to Share!
• Earbirding: The Seven Basic Tone Qualities 
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Little Egrets in combat 
• The Rattling Crow: Blackbird alarm calls 

Environment and biodiversity

• US border policy is a human and environmental disaster.
• The New Jersey Pinelands are threatened by an invasion of southern pine beetles. Thanks to warmer winters, the beetles are now able to survive farther north than they previously could.
• A bill proposed in the Senate would gut the Endangered Species Act more radically than even some proposals during the Bush administration. Luckily it is unlikely to go anywhere in this Congress, but it may become a constant threat in the future.
• A new report argues that the recent IPCC report underestimates future sea level rise from climate change.
• The Obama administration gave approval to a pipeline that would carry light oil from Illinois to Alberta for mixing with tar sands crude.
• Dozens of pilot whales beached this week in Florida's Everglades National Park.
• New fossils suggest that Hymenoptera (wasps, bees, and ants) evolved from ancestors similar to Megaloptera (dobsonflies) and Raphidioptera (snakeflies).
• Witch hazel is one of the few shrubs that blooms in the fall.
• Here is a gallery of some of the many forms of camouflage insects use.
• Geologists believe that there are freshwater aquifers buried deep under the seabed of continental shelves, one of the largest reserves being off the Atlantic coast of North America.

Loose Feathers #420

Common Goldeneye / Photo by Bill Thompson (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• Christmas Bird Count season is coming up very soon. Here is a list of the CBCs in New Jersey. Use the Audubon website to find CBCs in other states.
• The IUCN Red List was updated this week. Here is a summary of some of the changes. Here are some winners and losers. Almost 200 species of birds are listed as critically endangered. In India, 15 bird species are critically endangered.
• Some Laysan Albatross females form same-sex pairings with other females to raise offspring. This works because male albatrosses often mate with more than one female, even though they only contribute to raising one chick. 
• Urban birds fared better than their rural counterparts during the UK's cold and wet spring in 2012.
• A research project is trying to determine why fewer Wood Thrushes are breeding in Delaware.
• While there has been much success raising Whooping Cranes in captivity, it has been much more difficult to reintroduce the captive-raised birds to the wild to form a migratory population.
• Duke Energy is paying a $1 million fine for killing 14 Golden Eagles at two wind farms in Wyoming over the past three years.
• Barn Owl chicks can recognize the calls of their nest mates.
• Climate change is threatening a flightless cormorant found only in the Galápagos archipelago.
• A research team is investigating exactly how the structure of owls' feathers allows it to fly silently.
• In California, Turkey Vultures are often mistaken for condors.
• Unlike the oversized domestic breeds, Wild Turkeys are able to fly.

Science and nature blogging

• The Roaming Ecologist: Why prairies matter and lawns don’t 
• Birding New Jersey: Will It Be a Snowy Winter?
• View from the Cape: Snowy Owls for Thanksgiving?
• 10,000 Birds: How to CBC like a Pro
• Nemesis Bird: MacGillivray's Warbler - Highspire, Pennsylvania
• Charismatic Minifauna: Ag Extension, NIFA, the Farm Bill, and You
• Arthropod Ecology: The effect of insecticides on jumping spider personalities
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: The Second World That Forms On Sunken Trees 
• The St. Lawrence Lowlands: Meet the Norway Maple (Acer platanoides)

Environment and biodiversity

• After the New York Times eliminated its environment desk, its coverage of environmental issues dropped significantly.
• A pocket of high-salinity water at the bottom of the Chesapeake may date back to the Cretaceous.
• A wildfire burned 230 acres near Cheesequake State Park in Old Bridge, New Jersey.
• An editorial argues for keeping natural areas wild in urban parks.
• Two new wasp species in the genus Abernessia were described from Brazil.
• The bonobo is threatened by human activity over most of its range.

Loose Feathers #419

Male and female Short-tailed Albatross at Midway NWR / USFWS Photo by Dale Chorman/SeeMore Wildlife Systems

Birds and birding

• BirdWatching has an interview with David Sibley about his revised Guide to Birds, which is due to appear in March of next year. The interview includes several sample pages.
• Red Knots have been proposed for listing as threatened, but the regulation is not finalized yet. You can submit comments on the proposed listing through this form or through the Federal Register. (A comment through the latter that cites scientific data is most useful.)
• Many seabirds die each year in gillnets; potential solutions are in the works, but they depend on the location and types of seabirds involved.
• Forsythe NWR, an important birding site in New Jersey, contributes to the local economy.
• Around this time each year, there is a parade of articles on Wild Turkeys. This one explores the bird's success in recolonizing New York City.
• Another frequent November theme is Benjamin Franklin's stated preference for the turkey over the bald eagle as a national symbol, which Nicholas Lund discusses in depth.
• The ABA's Birder’s Guide to Listing and Taxonomy is now available online. 
• A rare Hoogerwerf's Pheasant was photographed by a camera trap in Sumatra.
• A study of White-throated Sparrows found that the birds can adjust their behavior according changes in the barometric pressure. 
• One reason House Sparrows are so successful is that their immune systems adjust to the pathogens present in the areas they invade.
• Several conservation groups are calling on the Interior Department to protect Northern Spotted Owl habitat in its rules for post-fire salvage logging.

Science and nature blogging

• Nemesis Bird: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and Lark Sparrow!
• Philly Bird Nerd: Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - in Philly
• Extinction Countdown: Sunday Species Snapshot: Jackass Penguin
• Charismatic Minifauna: Hummingbird Banding is Like Holding Magic
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Solar-Powered Slugs Are Not Solar-Powered 
• Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds: How To Bird The Bay Area (Winter Edition): Part 1 
• Tails of Birding: Waterfowl Aggression 
• March of the Fossil Penguins: Crown Penguins: Younger than Ever 
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Pacific Golden Plover feeding

Environment and biodiversity

• The Open Space Institute works closely with the state of New York to preserve open space as it becomes available for purchase. In many cases, the conservation group has bought land before the state had funding for it and then resold the land to the state at or below cost. It has been especially active in expanding Minnewaska and Fahnestock state parks. It hopes eventually to create a band of preserved land connecting New Jersey with the Catskills.
• A seismologist in Oklahoma is proposing to test the link between earthquakes and fracking.
• Speaking of fracking, here is a top ten list of the politicians who get the most money from fracking interests. 
• Carbon dioxide emissions are likely to set a record high of 36 billion tonnes in 2013.
• The impacts of invasive plants tend to lessen over time, but this does not necessarily help native plants since the invasive plants are just as likely to be pushed out by other invasive plants.
• Three new species of wafer trapdoor spider (Fufius) were described from Brazil.
• Planting more native trees in Western Australia may help mitigate the effects of climate change and drought since the drop in rainfall may have been exacerbated by deforestation.
• Northern New Jersey is entering drought conditions, and it is not clear whether there will be enough rainfall this winter to alleviate it.
• Two men in Newfoundland rescued a shark that was choking on a piece of moose hide.
• South Plainfield wants to build a truck route through the Dismal Swamp.
• A farmers co-op in Iowa is leading the state in solar energy generation.

Loose Feathers #418

Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstones / Photo by Bill Buchanan (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• We need to find better ways to prevent midair collisions between birds and airplanes. So far, American agencies have mainly hazed and killed unwanted birds around airports. However, experimentation in other countries suggests that avian-detecting radar and methods to alert birds to an aircraft's presence may prove more effective.
• A plan to make power lines safer for endangered California Condors is running into opposition from residents for aesthetic reasons.
• Some bird species in the northern hemisphere have begun to shift their migration schedules earlier in the spring in response to climate change. According to a new study of Icelandic Black-winged Godwits, this is because chicks that hatch earlier survive better than ones that hatch later. Individual birds have not changed their migration times.
• A new study argues that penguin evolution was spurred by a cooling period in Antarctica 20 million years ago.
• Oregon planned to sell a tract of Elliott State Forest for logging, but after the discovery of threatened Marbled Murrelets breeding there, the appraised value dropped from $22.1 million to $3.6 million.
• A banding study in the Amazon rainforest found that birds will return to deforested areas as the forest regenerates, but it can take a decade or two to happen.
• The US Fish and Wildlife Service is taking a harder line with the proposed Palen Solar Electric Generating System in the light of numerous wildlife deaths associated with the similar Ivanpah solar installation.

Nature and science blogging

• The Digiscoper: On Reporting Owls
• 10,000 Birds: A Patch for Every Birder, and for Every Birder a Patch
• Bird Ecology Study Group: More Observations On Red Junglefowl Behaviour (Continued) 
• Extinction Countdown: How the Western Black Rhino Went Extinct
• Bug Eric: Redwinged Grasshopper

Environment and biodiversity

• A study estimated that 600,000 bats were killed at wind turbines last year. The precise number is hard to determine; it could be as high as 900,000. Deaths occur mainly when bats are hit by moving blades, but in some cases sudden changes in air pressure might be fatal. Several solutions are currently being tested.
• In other bat news, a church in Hunterdon County wants to keep its steeple as welcoming to bats as possible as it repairs hurricane damage. 
• A new interactive map from the University of Maryland shows how forests have changed worldwide from 2000-2012. Among other things, it makes clear the scale of forest loss in Indonesia.
• The Senate defense bill has language exempting the Navy from laws protecting the southern sea otters of California.
• Morbillivirus is spreading south with migrating dolphins along the Atlantic coast, and it may be infected whales as well.
• The US government crushed six tons of ivory to demonstrate its seriousness about ending the illegal ivory trade (and the consequent slaughter of elephants).
• Since the return of wolves to Yellowstone, grizzly bears there have had more berries to eat.
• A recent study of modern and fossil DNA suggests that dogs were first domesticated in Europe. However, other recent studies have pointed to origins in China or the Middle East, so there is not yet a consensus.
• A 90-car train carrying 2.7 million gallons of crude oil derailed and caught fire in Alabama. The damage to surrounding wetlands is so far unclear.
• A clam that was thought to be 405 years old turned out to be 507 years old.
• In local news, a rabid fox was found in the vicinity of College Farm Road in New Brunswick. This is the 14th rabies case in Middlesex County this year. Also, a pumpkin-launching catapult was found in the beach in Laurence Harbor, an occasional birding site.

Loose Feathers #417

Red-bellied Woodpecker / Photo by Frank Miles / USFWS

Birds and birding

• The Tasmanian subspecies of the Wedge-tailed Eagle probably flew to the island recently rather than speciating as a result of Tasmania being cut off from the mainland. 
• While most seabirds can avoid hitting offshore by flying around them or underneath the blades, some high-flying species such as gulls are at greater risk. Potential solutions include mounting the blades on taller towers or installing larger but fewer turbines.
• The US Fish and Wildlife Service has proposed removing the Inyo California Towhee from the Endangered Species List. This is a range-restricted species, but it has seen a strong population recovery.
• A study using computer models suggests that homing pigeons are able to find their roosts using clues available in the atmosphere.
• The British Trust for Ornithology is working to use its existing network of refuges to assist birds threatened by climate change.
• A Finnish kayaker rescued a Northern Hawk-Owl that was swimming and exhausted in Lake Tuusula. (There are a lot of errors in that article, but it is one of the few in English.)
• Many hawk species migrate through New York City.
• A column from 100 years ago encourages bird lovers to use binoculars rather than guns to identify birds.

Science and nature blogging

• ABA Blog: Avian Changes in the West 
• 10,000 Birds: Sage Grouse — The Other Kind of Listing 
• Birding Is Fun!: The Ovenbird's unusual enemy 
• Outside My Window: Crows Adapt 
• The City Birder: Blue Grosbeak versus Indigo Bunting
• Birding Dude: Banded Red Knots on Long Island NY 
• Laelaps: Jurassic Froghopper Sex Set in Stone 
• Extinction Countdown: How Much Did the U.S. Spend on the Endangered Species Act in 2012?

Environment and biodiversity

• California's Catalina island fox is recovering from its brush with extinction.
• Climate change effects in the developing world are not just economic; there is also social and cultural disruption.
• In China, there is a movement to give up shark fin soup, and so far it has been fairly successful.
• Whales are dying from ingesting plastic trash in the ocean. 
• A new beetle species has been described from the Solomon Islands.
• The New York Times wins the bad headline pun of the week award with "This Little LED of Mine," an article on the growing use of LEDs for energy-efficient lighting.
• A lot of pundits and journalists seem to have the mistaken impression that Chris Christie is moderate on environmental issues.
• The EPA is going to clean up a Superfund site in South Plainfield, New Jersey.

Loose Feathers #416

Immature Bald Eagle / Photo Credit: Neil Mishler/USFWS

Birds and birding

• The Crow Honeyeater, a bird that had not been seen in several decades, was rediscovered in New Caledonia, along with up to 16 new species.
• Many charismatic animals have repugnant behaviors. The article includes a discussion of the Adélie Penguin, about which a shocked scientist in the Scott Antarctic Expedition wrote: "There seems to be no crime too low for these penguins."
• The US Fish and Wildlife Service will list the Greater Sage Grouse population in the Mono Lake region as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
• Feeding behavior among Semipalmated Sandpipers is affected by a bird's position in the group. Birds on the outside of the flock take short nibbles while birds on the inside feed more intently.
• Two fossilized footprints in Australia are probably from a bird that lived during the Cretaceous.
• A column in The Guardian discusses raven mythology, including the recent deaths of two of the Tower Ravens.
• The American Bird Conservancy's bird of the week is the Black Vulture.

Science and nature blogging

• The Birdist: Scary Birding Stories!
• The Corvid Blog: Crows and Shiny Objects 
• Outside My Window: More Males Than Females
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: NFL Week 8: Falcon vs. Ravens
• Charismatic Minifauna: Why "Kill It With Fire" Is a Terrible, Terrible Idea
• Compound Eye: 13 Horrifying Ways to Die (If You’re an Arthropod)
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Here’s What Happens When A Tick Bites You
• 10,000 Birds: The Fourth Record 
• Anything Larus: Lake Michigan Pelagic: California & Thayer's Gulls
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Sex and the Birds: 3. Fidelity and Promiscuity
• The City Birder: Blue Grosbeak versus Indigo Bunting

Environment and biodiversity

• An oarfish that washed ashore in California has yielded information about what sort of parasites live in their guts. Some were adult forms of parasites that spend their larval stage in crustaceans, which suggests that oarfish feed on crustaceans. There were also larval forms of parasites that reach their adult form in sharks, so sharks may feed on oarfish.
• A wildlife survey found 128 spider species and many other animals on the grounds of London's Heathrow Airport.
• Also in urban biodiversity news, a new beetle species was discovered in Manilla.
• "Spider bites" are usually something quite different, like a bite by another arthropod (like a mosquito) or an infection (like staph).
• Climate change will make New Jersey increasingly vulnerable to coastal flooding, which raises questions about whether some areas should be rebuilt. 
• While much of the shore is getting rebuilt, Cumberland County has received much less attention and rebuilding money after Hurricane Sandy. Cumberland County’s Downe Township faces a higher risk of future flooding than any other township in New Jersey.
• The American Mink is quite common in New Jersey, even though people rarely encounter it.
• Here are ten animals "that don't need Halloween costumes."

Loose Feathers #415

California Quail / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding

• Two dead California Condors were recently found in water tanks used for fighting forest fires. One found near the Tehachapi Mountains was one of the few condors hatched and reared in the wild. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Kern County Fire Department are working to prevent future condor deaths at the tanks.
• Here is a tongue-in-cheek essay about why a zombie apocalypse would be good for condor conservation.
• A citizen science project is tracking bird collisions at windows.
• The Ashy Storm-Petrel, a rare seabird found in the Pacific, was denied federal endangered species protection. 
• North American birders will be familiar with a Red Knot subspecies (Calidris canutus rufa) that migrates along the Atlantic coast. Another Red Knot subspecies, Calidris canutus piersmai, breeds in Siberia, migrates through China, and winters in Australia. Like the North American subspecies, C.c. piersmai faces threats to its migratory stopover sites, in this case from coastal development.
• Since invasive rats were exterminated from Rat Island in Alaska, seabirds have begun to breed there again. The island, which is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, has been renamed Hawadax Island, a name chosen by the local Unangan people.
• An international agreement has banned ships from dumping PIB, the chemical responsible for killing and injuring numerous birds in the English Channel.
• If you are setting up outdoor Halloween decorations, be careful of how they might affect birds.
• Meanwhile, 30 dead birds were found around the Ivanpah solar installation; half of them had burn injuries. 
• Scientists have discovered some genes that govern the molecular clock of the Common Buzzard. A molecular clock is an internal mechanism that governs things like circadian rhythm and migratory timing.
• A newspaper article from 100 years ago records the appearance of a white starling.
• A new condor cam has a live feed of a condor feeding area in central California.

Science and nature blogging

• The Digiscoper: The Last Sparrow!
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Fri-D: The Stringer Within 
• Nemesis Bird: Lincoln's Sparrow vs. Song Sparrow - PSU Fall Banding
• Earbirding: The Four Basic Song Patterns 
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Sex and the Birds: 1. Copulation 
• Bug Eric: Brown Recluse
• Charismatic Minifauna: You Are Within 6 Feet of a Spider Right Now 
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Of 70,000 Crustacean Species, Here’s The First Venomous One 
• Extinction Countdown: Sunday Species Snapshot: Tasmanian Devil
• Why Evolution Is True: Where did ants (and their social behavior) come from?
• John Hawks Weblog: The new skull from Dmanisi
• The Loom: Nature’s Double Con

Environment and biodiversity

• An Israeli study of ancient pollen points to climate change, and prolonged drought in particular, as the precipitating factor in the collapse of Late Bronze Age civilizations.
• Chicago has streamlined the process for rooftop solar installations.
• A train carrying oil and propane derailed in Alberta, and several cars caught fire. Unlike at Lac-Mégantic, no one was killed. 
• In general, moving shale oil across the tundra is a risky business.
• Purple loosestrife is very adaptable to different climates, which may be a key to its invasive potential.
• Here is a primer on hoodoos, the type of formation knocked over by a Boy Scout leader in Utah.
• A section of the Henry Hudson Trail in Monmouth County is set to reopen.

Loose Feathers #414

Hermit Thrush / Photo credit: Bill Thompson/USFWS

Birds and birding

• With the end of the shutdown, national parks and other federal lands are opening to the public. On the first day that Forsythe NWR reopened, a birder found a Gray Kingbird there.
• Volunteer birders, including Nicholas Lund of The Birdist, are collecting dead birds outside buildings in DC to determine which buildings kill the most birds.
• The recent listing proposal for Red Knots should give the species extra protections, but endangered species laws themselves face threats at both the state and federal levels.
• Scientists in Ecuador found that playback of bird songs may harm birds by causing them to expend more energy repelling the presumed intruder.
• When seen by other birds, Common Cuckoos closely resemble birds of prey like the Sparrowhawk. An interesting finding is that this mimicry seems to be highly localized: cuckoos mimic the hawks that are in their immediate geographical area.
• Volunteers count migrating hawks at the Green Valley Forest Preserve's hawk watch in Illinois.
• BirdWatching Daily tells why seawatching is as important as hawk watching for conservation.
• The man who raped a birder in Central Park got a 30-year sentence.
• Swiss officials caught a man smuggling the eggs of rare parrots in his underwear.

Science and nature blogging

• Nemesis Bird: Lincoln’s Sparrow vs. Song Sparrow – PSU Fall Banding
• 10,000 Birds: Four wings good two wings better? 
• The Corvid Blog: I Am Not A Baby Crow! 
• Extinction Countdown: Century-Old Egg Answers Mystery about Critically Endangered Bird
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Watching a Rare Bird Disappear
• Myrmecos: How Field Naturalists Die 
• Bug Eric: Woodlouse Hunter
• ReWild: California is First State to Ban Lead Ammo in Hunters' Guns

Environment and biodiversity

• Genetic research shows that ants and bees most likely evolved from mud dauber wasps. In this view, the building of nest structures would have evolved first and from there other species evolved with more complex social arrangements.
• National parks lost a lot of revenue from admission fees and other sources during the shutdown.
• A class at Richard Stockton College is testing pollutants in Barnegat Bay to determine their sources.
• A new blog will cover wildlife conservation in California.
• Princeton, New Jersey, decided to conduct further studies on the local coyote population before decided whether to pursue a cull.
• New Jersey has a new senator, Cory Booker, who is currently mayor of the state's largest city. Grist puts Booker's environmental record into the context of his predecessor's and of Newark's long history of environmental advocacy.

Loose Feathers #413

Cedar Waxwing / Photo by Dave Menke (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• Some songbirds, like Great Tits and Blue Tits, search for food sources in the morning but wait until late afternoon to do most of their eating. This strategy seems to reduce their risk of being eaten by hawks during the day.
• Shifts in melatonin production may make urban birds respond to artificial lights as if they were an earlier dawn.
• Like Ivanpah, the Genesis Solar Project is causing bird deaths. Over 60 dead birds were found there in August, including 18 that are usually found in wetland habitats rather than the plant's desert location.
• New Caledonian Crows know how to use tools without having to guess.
• The autumn population of Barnacle Geese tripled in the eastern Gulf of Finland.
• A fossil bird from the Cretaceous had two tails.
• Dodos may have survived a few decades longer than generally thought.

Science and nature blogging

• Maniraptora: Journal Club: Butterbutt biology: warblers, migration and mitochondria
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Three Swifts Probably Flew Non-Stop For 200 Days
• Myrmecos: How to recognize Apoidea
• Native Plant Wildlife Garden: Bumble Bee Life Cycle
• South Jersey Butterfly B/Log: One state, one year: 101 species
• The Corvid Blog: Mariana Crow
• Bug Eric: The Emerald Ash Borer Invades Colorado
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Fri-D: Molting Shorebirds
• Bird Ecology Study Group: A closer look at a juvenile male Emerald Dove

Environment and biodiversity

• Thanks to the shutdown, it looks like American scientists will not get to Antarctica in time for the spring research season. As the shutdown drags on, it is likely to reduce the National Weather Service's ability to predict upcoming storms.
• A misconception that climate change has slowed down has dominated reporting on the recent IPCC report.
• New Jersey's Oyster Creek nuclear plant had to shut down a day after it restarted.
• While IPCC reports include climate records for much of the world, the IPCC has had trouble getting reliable information on the state of glaciers in the Himalayas.

Loose Feathers #412

Merlin / Photo by me

Birds and birding

• Just before the government shutdown, the US Fish and Wildlife Service finally proposed the rufa subspecies of Red Knot as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Here is a reaction from the American Bird Conservancy. Here are reactions from some scientists involved in Red Knot conservation. Here is some background on the Red Knot's decline.
• More details have come out about the burned birds at the massive Ivanpah solar installation.
• Two new parcels added to Brazil's Serra Bonita Reserve will provide protection for six rare bird species. 
• About 500 ducks are being rescued and rehabilitated after an oil spill in Wales.
• A report from Canada has similar results to reports by the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the US Fish and Wildlife Service on the effects of feral and outdoor cats on bird mortality.
• Analysis of fossilized feces gives clues about the habitat preferences of extinct moa species.
• A proposed wind farm in the Shetlands may not be approved because of concerns about a rare wader. Apparently the bird in question is the Whimbrel; 95% of its breeding population in the UK nests in the Shetlands.
• Birds exposed to urban light pollution produce lower levels of melatonin, a chemical that regulates the sleep cycle.

Science and nature blogging

• Laelaps: “Lake That Turns Animals to Stone” Not so Deadly as Photos Suggest
• Myrmecos: Genomic data reveal that ants and bees are close relatives
• All About Birds: Infidelity in Australian Bird May Be the Secret Keeping a Species Together
• 10,000 Birds: The Problem with Eagles
• Wild New Jersey: The Pine Barrens around Helmetta No. 25: Back in the woods
• The Rattling Crow: Canada Geese taking off decisions
• Outside My Window: Starling Story Problem 
• Earbirding: The Five Basic Pitch Patterns
• View from the Cape: "How do you know it's a Parasitic Jaeger?"

Environment and biodiversity

• Last week the IPCC published its latest report on climate change. Here is analysis by Weather Underground. Here is analysis by a climate scientist. Past predictions have held up well, despite claims to the contrary. BirdLife calls for an aggressive response to climate change, which threatens many bird species.
• Because of the federal shutdown, all national parks are closed, as are national wildlife refuges. (Take action!) It may still be possible to visit some public lands managed by the Forest Service and BLM. The National Eagle Repository is shut down. At her new home at Wired Science, Bug Girl reviews the effects of the shutdown on conservation and science. A former head of the USGS argues that a prolonged shutdown will affect all scientists. The government shutdown also could be very troublesome for some renewable energy projects that are waiting for approval.
• A new leak of radioactive water at Fukushima was caused by a worker error.
• Meanwhile, a reactor in Sweden had to be shut down because jellyfish clogged its water intake.

Loose Feathers #411

Varied Thrush / Photo by Roy W. Lowe (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• As the massive solar installation at Ivanpah starts to come online, more birds are getting killed around it. Some appear to have died from collisions, but others seem to have been burned by the intense solar flux created by the project's mirrors. This week Ivanpah synced to the grid for the first time.
• As Chaffinches colonized the Azores and Canary Islands, they lost the syntax that structures their songs on the European mainland.
• Cuckoo finches lay multiple eggs in the nests of their hosts to make it harder for their hosts (usually the African tawny-flanked prinia) to tell the eggs apart.
• A lot of eagle and videos turn out to be fakes, but this one of a Golden Eagle taking down a Sika Deer in Siberia seems to be the real thing.
• Wired has a gallery of birds-of-paradise courtship rituals.
• In Western Australia, Black Cockatoos are recolonizing replanted forests at former mining sites.
• Urban birds fare better in cold winters than rural birds since they are not as dependent on a single food source.
• Artificial light in urban areas causes Blackbirds to start their dawn song earlier in the morning.
• The British House Sparrow population seems to have stabilized since 2009.
• A judge dismissed the case against a New Jersey couple that was ticketed for feeding birds.
• Conservationists want to turn an airfield used by British bombers in World War II into a wildlife refuge.

Science and nature blogging

• South Jersey Butterfly B/Log: Kevin Karlson you need not be: the value of blurry photos
• Native Plants and Wildlife Gardens: Where are the Monarchs (in 2013) ?
• The Scicurious Brain: IgNobels 2013! The dung beetle and the stars
• Extinction Countdown: Banned Pesticide DDT Is Still Killing California Condors
• Outside My Window: Sleepy Oranges
• Laelaps: Fossil Crabs, Reefs Hint at the Future of Earth’s Sea 
• Flickr Blog: Mantis popularity 
• The Loom: Genetically Engineering the Wild

Environment and biodiversity

• Research at a reservoir site in Thailand showed that mammal diversity decreases rapidly after a forest is fragmented.
• As dolphins migrate south past the US Atlantic coast, the numbers of dead dolphins are likely to rise.
• Asiatic bittersweet looks pretty in autumn, but it is a noxious invasive.
• A rare Gray Comma butterfly was found in a preserve in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.
• The FAO estimates that greenhouse gas emissions from livestock could be reduced by 30% without major changes. The main sources of greenhouse gases associated with livestock are: "feed production and processing (45% of the total), outputs of greenhouse gases during digestion by cows (39%), and manure decomposition (10%)."
• The Nez Perce are fighting to prevent equipment bound for tar sands mining operations in Alberta from passing through their reservation.
• Some climate change deniers have been pushing the idea of a "global warming pause." This is based on cherry-picked data and misses the bigger picture.

Loose Feathers #410

Red-shouldered Hawk / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding

• A Cornell study of Black-capped Chickadees and Song Sparrows found that ingesting PCBs alters the birds' songs.
• Capercaillie chicks fledged in a place where the species had not bred in years.
• This is prime hawk watching season; find a local spot to watch hawks at the HMANA website.
• One hawk watching site in central New Jersey is the Chimney Rock Hawk Watch.
• Blue-footed Boobies are being seen off the coast of California.
• A study of Great Tits found that some male birds are "shy" and tend to associate with fewer other birds while maintaining closer relationships.
• Maniraptoran fossils show abrupt changes in the relative lengths of forelimbs and hindlimbs shortly before birds evolved from dinosaurs. 
• A ten-year mapping project found that birds' cerebrums have a columnar organization similar to that of mammals.
• Birds lack an anti-inflammatory protein present in mammals.

Science and nature blogging

• Extinction Countdown: The 5 Biggest Myths about the Endangered Species Act
• Flickr Blog: Wilderness of Alaska
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Biography Of A Blue Whale, Told Through Ear Wax 
• 10,000 Birds: Spoonbills are ibises with big flat bills
• BugBlog: Spider portraiture
• The Scicurious Brain: IgNobels 2013! Who ate the dead shrew for science?
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Bird Ecology Study Group Nest of the Rufous Woodpecker

Environment and biodiversity

• New York is deciding what land use restrictions to apply to some land it recently purchased in the Adirondacks. A key question is how much use by motorized vehicles should be permitted.
• Native goldenrods are becoming more popular as garden plants.
• Aerial photos by photographer Edward Burtynsky show the many ways that humans use water. Particularly striking is the photo of the Colorado River Delta, which gets barely any water since most of it is diverted for drinking water or agriculture further north.
• Speaking of Colorado, the recent floods may have long-lasting effects. One problem is that oil and gas wells are leaking in the flooded areas.
• Another water issue is that the Dead Sea is slowly disappearing because of the diversion of water for other sources.
• Four new species of legless lizard were found in California, including one just off the runway at Los Angeles International Airport.
• An American team drilled through a glacier to find that it was melting from below.
• Unlike most vertebrates, Marbled Salamanders breed in autumn.
• A new antivenin for black widow bites is undergoing clinical trials.
• Here are some invasive species recipes.
• My home town banned fracking this week.
• Finally, please sign a petition to restore scientific research to the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.