Posts
 |
| Puerto Rican Parrots in a captive-breeding aviary / Photo by Danna Liurova (USFWS YAP) |
- There is a good article on eBird in the New York Times this week.
- Birds learn how fast cars travel down a road and flush at a time appropriate for the speed limit when they are approached by a car.
- Here are seven endangered wildlife species, including several birds, that stand in the way of the Keystone XL pipeline.
- Puerto Rican Parrots are slowly recovering from near extinction. This year a record 51 parrots were born in captivity, and another 15 hatched in the wild. Scientists also found a new nest with eggs.
- The U.S. military is trying to reduce its use of lead ammunition to protect endangered birds.
- Old-time bird bloggers may remember Jonathan Trouern-Trend, who wrote about his bird observations while stationed in Iraq on his blog, Birding Babylon (later a book). Here is an update on the bird situation in Iraq.
- Here is a gallery of photos from a bird banding station in England.
- Atlantic Puffins and Little Terns are struggling to cope with climate change due to shifting food supplies and changes to their nesting habitats.
- Penguin numbers fluctuate with changes in climate, and they tend to be more numerous in cooler periods. For example, penguins thrived during the Little Ice Age.
- A USFWS study suggests that some forest interior birds benefit from foraging in younger regrown clearcuts prior to migration.
- Darker ventral feathers appear to provide a health benefit for Barn Swallows.
- Not Exactly Rocket Science: Parasitic Bird Fights Evolutionary Arms Race… With Itself
- Extinction Countdown: World’s Largest Owl Needs Equally Large Trees and Forests
- Earth Desk: What is a Sturgeon Moon?
- 10,000 Birds: Exploring the relationship between flamingos and grebes: The wonderful birds
- The Freiday Bird Blog: Fri-D: Adult vs. Juvenile Shorebirds
- Nemesis Bird: Photo Study: Herald Petrels in the Gulf Stream
- Outside My Window: Western Hummer Season
- The Birdist: Google Street View Birding II: Midway Atoll
- Bird Ecology Study Group: Ashy Tailorbird feeding a large Plaintive Cuckoo fledgling
- There are indications that the Keystone XL pipeline may not be as safe as advertised.
- New York is reintroducing Hellbender salamanders to streams in the western part of the state with the help of a captive-breeding program at the Bronx Zoo. Read more about Hellbenders from the NY DEC.
- Chris Christie vetoed the bill to allow commercial logging in state forests because it required the DEP to get certification from the Forest Stewardship Council. So now it is unclear if a revised version can pass.
- Lyme disease rates are much higher than previously reported, according to the CDC.
- Several species of Eupithecia moths in Hawaii catch and eat other insects during their larval stage. The Eupithecia moths in North America are herbivorous. The only carnivorous caterpillars I am aware of in North America are those of the Harvester butterfly.
- The USGS is inviting interested observers to record and submit insect sounds to the Atlas of North American Calling Insects on iNaturalist.
- New York City is introducing an Asian weevil to eat mile-a-minute weed in Pelham Bay Park and other parts of the city.
- There is evidence that the situation at the Fukushima nuclear reactor is much worse than Tepco is admitting, as radioactive water continues to leak from the plant.
- Immature male Humpback Whales join their elders in choruses, in a mating ritual that resembles a lek.
- Here is a gallery of the wildlife found in and around Korea's Demilitarized Zone.
- New York City is home to all four known haplotypes of the American Cockroach, and the roaches' genetic diversity tends to cluster by neighborhood.
- This writer wants Hollywood to start portraying animals more accurately. For example, put animals in appropriate habitats and groupings (no penguins at the North Pole!) and respect natural gender arrangements (no male honeybees visiting flowers!).
- Scientists found a fossil of an early mammal.
- Older European forests are nearing the point where they cannot store any more carbon.
- Monarchs are scarce this number after facing a very difficult winter.
- A study found that urban wetlands like the New Jersey Meadowlands are efficient at capturing and storing carbon.
- Six more dead dolphins were found along the Jersey shore last weekend, raising the total since July 9 to 52. The deaths are part of a pattern affecting the entire Atlantic coast.
