Loose Feathers #450

Brewer's Sparrow / Tom Koerner (USFWS)

Birds and birding news

• A new report assesses how climate change will affect birds.
• Great Spotted Cuckoos force their hosts out of the way in order to lay eggs in their nests.
• The most recently discovered fossil of Archaeopteryx shows better feather preservation than most others and contains hints of how feathers and flight evolved.
• Plants in the genus Axinaea spray pollen on birds as they forage for nectar.
• Lark Sparrows follow individualized migration routes to their winter territories.
• Band-tailed Pigeons are dying from infection with the Trichomonas pathogen.
• Two more endangered Whooping Cranes were shot.

Science and nature blogging

• Laelaps: Tracing the Roots of Beautiful Bird Hues
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: The Bird That Paints Its Eggs With Bacteria - Not Exactly Rocket Science
• South Jersey Butterfly B/Log: How frequent are second-brood Hessel’s in NJ?
• Baldhiker: Where the Wild Orchids grow
• Outside My Window: Green Flowers
• The Birder's Conundrum: Graph - A Year in the Life of a Birder 
• NC Museum of Natural Sciences Research Blog: Fisher photographed in the Bronx – First ever NYC record of this squirrel and rat predator

Environment and biodiversity

• In the wake of numerous cases of animal cruelty, one county in California is reconsidering its contract with USDA Wildlife Services.
• The drought in California continues, with 80% of the state now in extreme drought.
• A federal judge in Colorado blocked the expansion of a coal mine on public land on the grounds that the mining company failed to consider climate change in its Environmental Impact Statement.
• After years of receding water levels, the Great Lakes have risen as much as a foot thanks to the severe winter.
• One species of lichen in South America turned out to be 126 species on the basis of genetic analysis.
• New Jersey has some advice for what to do if you see a bear in an urban setting.
• A Humpback Whale was spotted in Raritan Bay.
• Here is a profile of one source for native plants in New Jersey.
• Garter snakes are frequently encountered even in urban settings.