Loose Feathers #446

American Bittern / Photo by Ken Sturm; USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Long-lived Red Knot B95 has been sighted again along the Delaware Bay.
• The earliest known bird pollinator has been found in Germany. The fossil is about 47 million years old, which makes it older than the oldest known hummingbird.
• Superb Fairy-wrens use distinctive calls to make sure that their nestlings are really theirs and are not the offspring of nest parasites. In this sense, the call acts almost like a name.
• April was a bad month for bird deaths at the Ivanpah solar installation.
• An expedition to study the rare Ecuador Amazon returned with more questions than answers about the parrots' breeding behaviors.
• Eradication projects for invasive species should take into account how other species on the site are using the invasive one, as a study of endangered California Clapper Rails showed.
• Here are examples of misplaced bird songs in film.
• The Bird and Moon site has a comic on the difficulty of Empidonax flycatchers.

Science and nature blogging

• Not Exactly Rocket Science: The Silence of the Crickets, The Silence of the Crickets
• Nemesis Bird: California Gulls vs Cliff Swallows by Cory DeStein
• Anything Larus: Banded Great Black-backed Gull on the Indiana Lakefront
• Extinction Countdown: Found: A Snake Species No One Believed Existed
• Outside My Window: Jack Explains Himself
• The Digiscoper: Baxter's Hollow & Green Heron Study
• Somewhere in NJ: A field guide to PIPLs
• Tetrapod Zoology: Ratites in trees: the evolution of ostriches and kin, and the repeated evolution of flightlessness
• Mosquito Research and Management: Could a “skeeternado” really happen?

Environment and biodiversity

• Many native North American bee and butterfly species are in decline, but aside from a few iconic species, most are not closely monitored.
• The Army Corps of Engineers approved a proposal to restore riparian habitat along the currently concretized Los Angeles River.
• The Obama administration plans to propose a new regulation that would set a national cap on greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants and encourage states to adopt plans to reduce their own emissions from burning coal.
• Light-colored insects are gaining an advantage in northern Europe thanks to climate change.
• The public seems to understand the term "global warming" better than the term "climate change" according to some polls.
• A contaminated site is leaking pollution into groundwater around the Bound Brook. The leak makes cleaning up the brook more difficult and expensive.
• Lack of plant diversity increases cankerworm destruction in urban environments, and it is usually native plants that bear the brunt of the infestation.
• Here is a case study in how misinformation about natural history turns up on Wikipedia (and why it is so hard to remove).
• MonarchWatch has large flats of milkweed plugs available for restoring pollinator habitat.

Loose Feathers #445

Swainson's Warbler / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding

• Some California Brown Pelicans have been recorded breeding in the Pacific Northwest.
• Two new hummingbird species were discovered in South America.
• Painters were charged with scaring nesting Peregrine Falcons off the Girard Point Bridge in Philadelphia.
• A study found that the Kakapo relies on plants native to New Zealand.
• A recording captures the sounds of spring migration in Alaska, with a focus on the sounds made by feathers.
• Here is a list of birds that American birders most want to see. I am sure everyone has a different list.

Science and nature blogging

• Not Exactly Rocket Science: The Surprising Closest Relative of the Huge Elephant Birds
• Deep Sea News: The sea is full of life, but not quite that full
• Anything Larus: Reconsidering Tertial Replacement in 1st Cycle Ring-billeds 
• Bug Eric: Long-legged Flies

Environment and biodiversity

• The is evidence of accelerated ice sheet melting at both poles, and the future stability of ice sheets may be further undermined by channels of water running underneath the ice sheets.
• Fender's Blue butterflies, an endangered species, are being released at Finley NWR in Oregon.
• Lake Powell is half empty due to dry conditions.
• Chris Christie is replacing two members of the Pinelands Commission that voted against the proposed pipeline.

World Series of Birding 2014

On Saturday a week ago (May 10), the Middlesex Merlins competed in the World Series of Birding for the third consecutive year. My teammates were again Patrick Belardo, Tom Ostrand, and Anthony Laquidara, and once again we limited our big day to Middlesex County and competed in the LGA category for the WSB. This year we rebuilt the predawn and early morning portions of our route to take advantage of sites we learned about in the past year. Our songbird numbers in past years were respectable but suboptimal, and adding better habitats in the morning could improve those totals. We also wanted to ensure that we could reach coastal areas during low tide for shorebirds and gulls. For the second year in a row, we also faced a forecast of scattered showers throughout the day.

Our predawn birding was somewhat disappointing. This year our route included a marsh edge at the end of Mill Road, Raritan Center, and Oros Preserve. We heard American Woodcock at two sites but none of the rails or other wetland specialties that we have heard in past years. It drizzled on and off during these stops; I am not sure if that had any effect on our results.

Things started to improve during our early morning route. Although we included an evening stop at Warren Park on the border of Perth Amboy and Woodbridge last year, it was not really on our radar as a migration hotspot until more recently. This year we started there at dawn, and it turned out to be extremely productive for us. We recorded 16 species of warblers at that stop alone — more than our total for the day in any previous year. These included great looks at some singing Canada Warblers, a Blackburnian Warbler, and a Hooded Warbler. The latter is an oddly difficult bird to find in Middlesex County and was our first for the WSB.

From Warren Park, we moved on to Rutgers Gardens and found our Peregrine Falcon for the day along the way. In the woods we found a lingering Hermit Thrush, and I got a look at a Swainson's Thrush, which I had missed at Warren Park. Patrick spotted a Blue-headed Vireo, which, like the Hermit Thrush, was lingering past its usual departure date.

A few stops along Riva Avenue in East Brunswick yielded a Wood Duck and a singing Orchard Oriole. Davidson's Mill Pond Park had Purple Martins, a Bobolink, and a Least Flycatcher. A farm pond had a Mute Swan, and we rounded out the southern portion of our route with a Yellow-crowned Night-Heron in South River.

To this point, things had gone fairly well. We missed some birds, but we found many that we had missed in previous years. The weather was also mostly cooperative. Things would become more difficult in the afternoon. When we arrived at South Amboy, people were walking around on the mudflats to collect shells, so most of the gulls were scared off. We still saw the five expected gulls but lost any shot at rarer ones like Little or Black-headed. Shorebirds were also scarce, and we missed Bank Swallows at the boat ramp. In the pond behind the marsh we had our best bird of the day: a Short-billed Dowitcher (shown below). This bird is pretty common in coastal areas during migration but, like the Hooded Warbler, is oddly hard to find in this county. A stop at a marina in Sayreville produced a Least Tern but the not the Seaside Sparrows we had seen in past years.

We had permission to seek grassland birds at the former Kin-Buc landfill, so from the coast we headed back to Edison. Unfortunately the Grasshopper Sparrows we hoped to find there did not sing or perch in the open. We did have a flyover Common Raven as a consolation prize. A quick stop at Edison Boat Basin produced Least Sandpipers. We had to call off a search for meadowlarks along Mill Road because a bolt of lightning ran across the sky and made standing in the open field and empty parking lot inadvisable. From there we went to see the Cliff Swallows that nest at the Route 18 bridge and a Cooper's Hawk nest that Patrick had found.

We returned to Raritan Center for some daylight birding. Our first stop produced a White-crowned Sparrow, a lingering Palm Warbler, a Bank Swallow, and a Belted Kingfisher. Our stops along the riverfront were less successful since we were suddenly hit with a strong gusting wind that made it difficult to keep optics steady or in some cases to get out of the car or stand. We also missed the Willow Flycatchers, Field Sparrows, and Brown Thrasher that I have come to expect from that location.

Our evening run was about as successful as we can expect evening birding to be. We spotted our Brant for the day at the Sewaren waterfront and visited the Monk Parakeets in Carteret. We added an American Kestrel on our return visit to Oros but missed the Red-headed Woodpeckers that had lingered there until recent weeks. A return to Warren Park did not add any species to our total. A final stop at the Triple C ranch end of the Dismal Swamp produced a Wild Turkey but not any of the owls that had been found there recently. The non-avian highlight of that stop was seeing a Spring Peeper that Patrick located. As far as I know, it was my first look at that frog species.

The turkey was our 125th species for the day. While that total includes a lot of birds, it felt a little disappointing since we backtracked from the 127 species we had recorded in each of the two previous years. Still, we saw and heard a lot of birds, the rain was not as bad as it could have been, we had a lot of fun, and I think we each saw at least one new bird for the county. So in the end it was a successful run.

Loose Feathers #444

Red Knot / Photo Credit: Gregory Breese/USFWS

Birds and birding

• Spring migration brings warblers, but it also brings more difficult birds like Empidonax flycatchers. Here is a guide to distinguishing Willow and Alder Flycatchers by voice.
• Window strikes kill millions of birds a year, so conservationists are looking for ways to make windows more visible to birds.
• Results are in from last weekend's World Series of Birding in New Jersey. Here are the award winners (pdf) and team standings (pdf). I hope to have a post on my team's run soon.
• A study linked differences in plumage and behavior among different morphs of male Ruff to genetics rather than environmental factors.
• British conservationists are concerned about nonnative waterfowl like Egyptian Geese and Ruddy Ducks becoming establishing in wetlands reserves and crowding out native waterfowl.
• A study found that 94% of Cory's Shearwaters on the Catalan coast have ingested plastics.
• A very interesting bird found in Ontario looks like either a hybrid or an aberrant Dickcissel.
• Bridge construction in California may lead to long term decline in local Cliff Swallow populations.

Science and nature blogging

• PhotoNaturalist: Take Only Pictures, Leave Only Footprints
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Why Octopus Arms Don’t Get Tangled
• View from the Cape: World Series Ups and Downs
• 10,000 Birds: Mountain Swainson’s are the Best Swainson’s
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Whimbrels Bathing and Preening

Environment and biodiversity

• Part of the West Antarctic ice sheet is collapsing, and its collapse appears to be unstoppable. Here is an image showing where the movement is happening.
• Loss of saltmarsh cordgrass may be linked to a decline in predators from overfishing.
• Birders should consider studying moths.
• Spring is wildflower season in New Jersey.
• Some environmentalists try to control invasive species by eating them.
• It looks like the wolf known as OR-7 may be breeding (in Oregon rather than California).

Loose Feathers #443

Spotted Sandpiper / Credit: Amanda Boyd/USFWS

Birds and birding

• The boreal forest in North America provides necessary breeding habitat for over 300 species of birds, but remains under threat from industrial development. A new report proposes preserving half of the boreal forest to keep bird populations from crashing.
• This week was bird week at the New York Times. Here were a few particularly interesting articles: Why Do You Watch Birds? (on watching birds from the Empire State Building); In Prospect Park, Dog Owners and Bird Watchers Fight for Space; and Complaints About Pigeons, Mapped.
• A tree-cutting crew in Oakland started tearing limbs off a tree and feeding them into a wood chipper because the Black-crowned Night Herons nesting in the trees were defecating on mail trucks. Fortunately neighbors intervened to stop the destruction and at least some chicks were rescued. The workers claimed not to know the nests were in the tree, but that seems implausible.
• Using eBird data, scientists found that more species of small birds than thought use different routes in fall and spring to take advantage of prevailing winds for migration.
• Scientists are still trying to estimate how many birds died as a result of BP's Deepwater Horizon disaster. A new study that takes currents and likelihood of detection into account puts the number at 800,000.
• Woodpeckers have shock-absorbing layers within their beaks.
• Here is an explanation for how birds survive rough weather.
• Fledglings are especially vulnerable to environmental dangers.
• Here is an account of the courtship performances of Common Snipe.

Science and nature blogging

• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Man-Made Electromagnetic Noise Disrupts a Bird’s Compass
• Anything Larus: 2nd Cycle Type Ring-billed Paired with Adult Female
• ABA Blog: On Spring and the Warbler Obsession
• The City Birder: In Search of Chuck (will's-widow)
• The Birdist: Grading Bird-themed Minor League Baseball Teams
• Extinction Countdown: Solar-Powered Transmitters Reveal Secrets of Endangered ‘Little Devil’ Seabirds

Environment and biodiversity

• A federal climate report finds that the U.S. is already being affected by climate change.
• When dams are no longer used for hydroelectric generation or other tasks, they ought to be torn down to mitigate their environmental harm.
• Emerald Ash Borers were probably in North America about 10 years before they were detected.
• A research team at Jockey Hollow in Morristown is monitoring bee colonies to determine if the relationship between bees and the plants they pollinate might be disrupted by climate change.
• Newly invasive vines (black swallow-wort & pale swallow-wort) are spreading in New York's natural areas, especially in areas with limestone bedrock.

Loose Feathers #442

Prothonotary Warbler / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding

• Federal officials are recommending that the Ivanpah solar installation be shut down during peak migratory periods to reduce the number of birds killed at the plant.
• Here is another article on why the Passenger Pigeon went extinct and what its extinction means today.
• In locations with more diverse predators, birds tend to have shorter lifespans.
• River pollutants like PCBs affect the development of European Dippers.
• Here are some suggestions for feeding hummingbirds and making sure they don't get sick from the feeders.
• Boreal birds like the Gray Jay and Rusty Blackbird are declining in the Adirondacks.
• Flocks of starlings change directions like a fluid, but when they run into an obstacle they break up like a solid.

Science and nature blogging

• Not Exactly Rocket Science: The Bird That Cries Wolf Changes Its Lies
• The Corvid Blog: Australian Crows - Guest Post by Matthew Brown! 
• ABA Blog: 2014 AOU Check-list Proposals, Part 2
• Bug Eric: Fossorial Mason Wasps, genus Pterocheilus
• All About Birds: Not just starlings and pigeons: cities harbor 20% of world's bird species
• Wild New Jersey: Don's Jersey Birding: Milkweed in Every Yard
• The Green Miles: Even in MA, Coastal Towns Completely Unprepared for Sea Level Rise
• South Jersey Butterfly B/Log: April is the coolest month!
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Hodgson’s Frogmouth - appearance and parenting
• 10,000 Birds: We Can’t All Be Whiskey Jacks - Meditations on a Bad Bird Name

Environment and biodiversity

• In toxic spills news, this week featured CSX derailments in Lynchburg, Virginia, which featured an explosion and oil spilling into the James River, and in Bowie, Maryland, which spilled coal.
• The stranding of a dead and bloating Blue Whale on a beach in Newfoundland prompted speculation about whether it would explode. See one article on exploding whales of the past, one on why a whale might explode, and this site for updates.
• Researchers have developed a way to produce 3d insect images and then print them.
• The Supreme Court upheld the EPA's new rules on smog from coal plants.
• Reducing energy use means asking the right questions.
• Lyme-infected ticks are becoming more common in Canada.