Posts
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| Sanderling and Ruddy Turnstones / Photo by Bill Buchanan (USFWS) |
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
