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| Wood Duck / Photo by Tiffany Kersten (USFWS) |
- Atlantic Puffins have had a hard time in Maine the past few years. On Matinicus Rock and Machias Seal Island, up to a third of nests failed to produce fledglings. In addition, high numbers of adult puffins have washed ashore in winter after dying of starvation. The current explanation is that climate change has affected the availability of fish, whose populations are gradually moving north.
- However, a breeding survey at the Isle of May in England found similar numbers of puffin nests as a survey in 2009.
- A study of Black-legged Kittiwakes found significant differences between the gut microbes of adults and nestlings.
- A new study identified a mechanism for why male ducks and geese have penises while most other birds do not. See also Ed Yong's report on the study.
- So far, Purple Martins have not adjusted their migration schedule to keep pace with changing food availability due to climate change.
- Each colony of Northern Gannets maintains its own foraging territory despite not doing anything to defend it from other gannet colonies.
- A birdlike robot has gotten attention from real birds — some try to fly in formation with it and raptors attack it.
- A vice president from New Jersey Audubon argues for maintaining the state moratorium on harvesting horseshoe crabs.
- The Birdist: Raising Money for Bird Conservation - Maine Birder Bands
- 10,000 Birds: Purple Herons at Waghäusel
- National Moth Week: Moths and Light Pollution
- Bug Girl's Blog: National Moth Week 2013
- The Dragonfly Woman: Dragonfly Emergence
- Wanstead Birder: June. Oh dear.
- The Skeptical Moth: The Last Butterfly Described in the US?
- The Trust for Public Land released its 2013 city park system rankings. Minneapolis took the top ranking, with New York City, San Francisco, Sacramento, and Boston close behind.
- The neighborhood where ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline spilled is still seriously contaminated.
- Meanwhile, several oil wells in the Gulf of Mexico have been leaking oil since Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
- Natural gas is often promoted as a cleaner alternative to coal, with lower carbon emissions. While that is true, the effect is balanced by methane leaks at natural gas wells.
- An "extinct" frog was rediscovered in Israel, and it turned out to be the sole surviving member of its genus.
- The Wildlife Conservation Society is hoping that Instagram users will photograph Brood II cicadas and tag the photos with #cicadasinmyhood.
- While periodical cicadas are numerous and widespread, their emergences can be quite localized, so that places not far from each other see vastly different numbers of cicadas.
- People who reject climate science are also likely to believe in other conspiracy theories.
- Here's another way that deer overpopulation changes forests: too much deer urine prevents young hemlocks from growing since they prefer low-nitrogen soil.
- Reindeer can reduce the amount of solar energy absorbed by the tundra by grazing on dark-colored plants, but if they overgraze reindeer lichen, that effect is negated.
- An environmentalist in Costa Rica was murdered for defending sea turtle nests.
- Here is a short piece on the environmentalist roots of the protests in Turkey. See also this longer article about the environmental movement in Turkey.
