Loose Feathers #454

Greater Sage-Grouse / Photo by Tom Koerner (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• DDT is still killing birds in Michigan because of toxins remaining in and around a Superfund site that was formerly a pesticide company.
• Immigrant women in Baltimore have volunteered their time planting native plants in Patterson Park to make the park more hospitable to migrating birds.
• Researchers studying African Penguins found four distinct vocalizations used by adults and two used by chicks.
• The latest taxonomic revision added 361 bird species to the IUCN Red List; of those, 87 are threatened with extinction. 
• Artificial lighting in cities affects the circadian rhythms and mating patterns of songbirds.
• Eggshells allow just enough UV exposure for chicks to develop, but not enough to cause injury.
• The turns of starling flocks are started by just a few birds, and other birds follow their neighbors to stay with the flock.
• A post on eBird's 422 missing bird species was updated with a link to a downloadable spreadsheet of the missing species.
• Conservation organizations are petitioning the New York state legislature to ban some types of rodenticides that are killing urban wildlife.
• Wired examines legends of an eagle large enough to carry off elephants and what may lie behind them.
• Most shorebirds have declined considerably in the estuaries of Northern Ireland.
• The Star-Ledger has a profile of Pete Dunne, who is stepping down as head of the Cape May Bird Observatory.

Science and nature blogging

• ABA Blog: 2014 AOU Check-list Supplement is Out!
• 10,000 Birds: Birding California: A Regional Primer
• Birdchick: Why The New Vikings Stadium Is A Problem 
• Tetrapod Zoology: 50 million years of incredible shrinking theropod dinosaurs
• Bug Eric: Thistle Grasshopper
• Extinction Countdown: All 8 Pangolin Species Being Eaten into Extinction
• The Bee Pasture: A good home for the Hackberry Emperor
• Outside My Window: Peppergrass

Environment and biodiversity

• El Niño may not bring California as much drought relief as hoped.
• The Colorado River Basin has lost 53 million acre-feet of freshwater in the last decade, with most of that loss coming from groundwater.
• A piece of amber contains the oldest rove beetle from the tribe Omaliini.
• The Philippines have tremendous biodiversity, but much of that diversity is threatened by ongoing deforestation.
• Ecologists may underestimate the effect logging has on biodiversity.
• The world's largest flea lives on beavers in the Pacific Northwest.
• Last week Science Friday interviewed one of the founders of National Moth Week.