Loose Feathers #461

Cinnamon Teal / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding

• Monk Parakeets most likely arrived in New York City via the pet trade but have thrived in the urban outdoors.
• A recent study found that captive Monk Parakeets usually group in pairs but also have complex interactions with other members of the larger flock.
• One problem revealed in the State of the Birds report is that many birds of arid lands are in decline while birds that use wetlands have largely improved thanks to conservation.
• Scientists are looking for members of the public to help document penguin behaviors by looking at images online at Penguin Watch.

Science and nature blogging

• Anything Larus: Fault Bars in a Hatch-Year Ring-billed Gull 
• mocosocoBirds: State Record Butterfly; Sunday Field Notes; Sep. 14, 2014 
• View from the Cape: Whiskered Tern!
• Birding New Jersey and the World: Did Anybody Ever Really Think That?
• 10,000 Birds: Where Have You Gone, Rhodonessa caryophyllacea?
• The Prairie Ecologist: Konza Prairie Trip Part 3 - Questions About Frequent Prairie Burning
• Bug Eric: Blue-winged Grasshopper
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Asian Glossy Starling - hackle feathers
• BugBlog: Elephant hawkmoth and caterpillar eyespots
• Birding Is Fun!: The Elegant American Avocet 
• Beetles In The Bush: A striking mallow caterpillar
• At the Edge of the Ordinary: International Rock Flipping Day 2014

Environment and biodiversity

• Last month was the warmest August on record worldwide.
• Meanwhile NJ governor Chris Christie continues to insist on keeping the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
• A scientist from the British Antarctic Survey explains the significance of the declining sea ice minimum in the Arctic.
• Collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf is looking likely.
• Creeks are important for biodiversity, especially when given a suitable riparian buffer.
• Protections will remain in place for the Valley Elderberry Longhorn Beetle in California.
• Here is a good explanation of fracking and its dangers. One problem it leaves out is the potential for seismic activity.
• Some NJ legislators have introduced bills to increase milkweed plantings in the state.
• The Deepwater Horizon spill dumped 22,000 tons of oil on the Gulf coast, mainly in Louisiana.