Loose Feathers #435

Gray Jay / Photo by Ryan Hagerty/USFWS

Birds and birding

• The Wall Street Journal interviewed David Sibley on the subject of his new field guide. See my own review of the guide.
• Marbled Murrelets that nest in Santa Cruz County, California, will get better protection from nest scavengers.
• A study of crows and ravens found that they can delay eating a piece of food if they know a better food is coming later.
• Scientists are trying to figure out how well penguins can cope with climate change, particularly with regard to changing sea ice levels. 
• De-extinction is a popular idea among certain groups, but any resurrected species are likely to be very different from the originals, in both genetics and behavior. The Passenger Pigeon, for example, would have to be raised by a Band-tailed Pigeon and perhaps use some of its genetic code.
• Volunteers are needed for a study on Barn Swallows and light pollution.
• Here is a summary of the Great Backyard Bird Count results.
• A photographer pled guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act by getting too close to a nest occupied by endangered Snail Kites.
• Urban birds and plants are more diverse than you might think. Aside from a handful of cosmopolitan species, most birds and plants in a city are native to the area.

Science and nature blogging

• The City Birder: Raptor on Raptor Violence
• Birding Is Fun!: The Black-necked Stilt: My Favorite Bird, Probably
• All About Birds: Birding Tips: On Cold Spring Mornings, Spend Some Time in the Sun
• Laelaps: A Forgotten Fossil Megamouth Gets a Name
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Snipe for Identification
• Compound Eye: Photographing Uncooperative Insects: The Nest Entrance Trick
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Spider Hides From Spider Among Spider-Eating Ants
• Native Plant Wildlife Garden: A Bestiary: Part Twenty-eight ~ Songbirds: Warblers ~ Northern Parula
• Wild New Jersey: Don's Jersey Birding: "What exactly is birding?"
• Coffee & Conservation: The (de)evolution of Rainforest Alliance shade criteria
• Charismatic Minifauna: What Do You Do With Crystallized Honey?

Environment and biodiversity

• The endangered Delta Smelt won a round in federal court, but the case is far from resolved.
• The European Union voted to create an Arctic sanctuary, but it may still not happen.
• Many US cities had a top-five snowiest winter on record this winter. Meanwhile, the Great Lakes had the second-highest ice extent on record this winter.
• Thanks to this winter's heat wave, Arctic sea ice is already on pace for a record low during the melting season.
• A Supreme Court ruling that blocked a rail trail across a Wyoming resident's property should only affect a small proportion of existing or future rail trails.
• New research show that how apex predators affect ecosystem health is more complex than it is usually presented.
• More wolves have moved into Oregon's Cascades, which means that more may follow the trail blazed by OR-7 into California. Meanwhile, wolf numbers increased in Washington.
• Two new species of desert poppy were documented in California and Arizona.
• Overabundant deer hurt native plant diversity.
• The DC City Council called on the US Forest Service not to allow fracking in George Washington National Forest to protect the city's drinking water.
• Earlier this week, Democratic senators held an all-night session to call attention to the need for climate change action.
• New Jersey used a massive amount of road salt this winter, which will probably be deadly for freshwater aquatic life.