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."