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.