Loose Feathers #479

Sharp-tailed Grouse / Photo by Rick Bohn (USFWS)

Birds and birding news

• An examination of specimens and DNA showed that Hume's Owl (Strix butleri) and Desert Tawny Owl (Strix hadorami) should be separate species.
• Myanmar's bird list is up to 1,114 species thanks to a comprehensive five-year survey that found 20 previously-undocumented birds.
• On Wednesday, International Bird Rescue released 24 birds it had cleaned from the mysterious goo in San Francisco Bay. 
• Researchers studying endangered Spoon-billed Sandpipers on their wintering grounds in Myanmar estimated that there are 155 on the mudflats around the Bay of Martaban.
• Atlantic Brant populations are in decline, possibly due to problems on their Arctic breeding grounds.
• Chaffinches from islands in the Atlantic may be distinctive enough to warrant their own species.
• Small birds have a variety of means to survive cold winters.
• Smew are doing well in protected areas.
• Corvids often have an undeservedly poor reputation.
• The Twitter account @biotweeps this week features a seabird researcher, Viola Ross-Smith.

Science and nature blogging

• 10,000 Birds: The origins of tanagers, warblers, and sparrows are coming into focus
• Outside My Window: Incredible Site Fidelity
• Out walking the dog: Coyote Caught in Manhattan’s Stuy Town
• Laelaps: Science Word of the Day: Mastodon

Environment and biodiversity

• Here is an explanation for why different meteorological agencies show small differences in the temperature record.
• Scientists have connected earthquakes to fracking in Oklahoma, but it is not clear what can be done about it.
• Totten Glacier in eastern Antarctica is melting from below because warm seawater is washing up underneath it. The glacier holds enough ice to raise sea levels by six meters and was previously thought to be stable.
• While this week's blizzard visited Boston instead of New York City, big blizzards have become more common in New York in recent years.
• The US Senate passed legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline despite Obama's veto threat.
• Obama proposed new wilderness protections for parts of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
• The first large wind turbine built in New York City will help power a recycling plant.
• New Jersey is revising its plan for conserving endangered species.
• Cleanup of an oil spill on the Yellowstone River continued to be hampered by icy conditions.

Loose Feathers #478

Rock Pigeon (my photo)

Birds and birding news

• A mysterious substance is coating seabirds in San Francisco Bay. Rescued birds are being cleaned and treated by International Bird Rescue.
• Last year, Virginia's Peregrine Falcons produced 44 chicks from 27 breeding pairs. This continues a growing population trend since the population crashed in the 1960s. (via)
• A study found that age matters more than experience in determining Peregrine Falcons' breeding success.
• Last year, 200 Bald Eagles hatched in New Jersey.
• For the first time, a gamekeeper in Britain is serving a prison sentence for killing raptors.
• Scientists are learning more about the movements of Bearded Vultures with satellite telemetry.
• Pigeons bob their heads as they walk to see a clearer picture of their surroundings.
• A Black-backed Woodpecker is a rare visitor to Massachusetts.

Science and nature blogging

• 10,000 Birds: On the threshold of flight
• ABA Blog: An Interview with Dorian Anderson, pedal-powered Big Year champ
• The Speckled Hatchback: Post #2 - Kelp gull and some psychology of bird chasing/listing
• Extinction Countdown: Venus Flytraps Risk Extinction in the Wild at the Hands of Poachers
• Birding the day away !!: Grey-Headed Gull ~ Bisceglie, Italy - 18.01.15
• Lyman Entomological Museum: Who’s that fly and WHAT is it eating? A new paper from the lab
• Charismatic Minifauna: How Flies Fly
• Laelaps: Science Word of the Day: Ornithogenic
• Lawyers, Guns & Money: Environmental Policy History Reading List

Environment and biodiversity

• Last year was the hottest year on record.
• NOAA keeps having to rescale its ocean temperature charts to account for rising temperatures.
• Stingless bees in Australia wage wars to capture hives rather than building their own.
• Compared to introduced species, native plants are limited less by climate than by dispersal patterns.
• A question of increasing importance is whether climate change should trump wildlife and ecosystem conservation.
• A pipeline spilled 50,000 gallons of crude oil into the Yellowstone River in Montana.
• New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled that towns can rezone land for conservation purposes.

2014 Birding Year in Review

Black-billed Cuckoo at Highland Park Meadows

This comes a little late, but as Nick wrote, bird bloggers are obligated to write a year-in-review post. So here it goes. As far as I can tell, 2014 was the first year since I started birding that I did not record any life birds. However, I did have some success locally and found eight new birds in Middlesex County.

Species	Place	Date
Red-necked Grebe	Edison Boat Launch	15 Feb 2014
Hooded Warbler	Donaldson Park	07 May 2014
Short-billed Dowitcher	South Amboy Waterworks Park	10 May 2014
Black-billed Cuckoo	Highland Park Meadows	22 May 2014
Alder Flycatcher	Highland Park Meadows	22 May 2014
Philadelphia Vireo	Ayres Beach	19 Sep 2014
Sedge Wren	Donaldson Park	20 Oct 2014
Orange-crowned Warbler	Ayres Beach	24 Oct 2014

I ended 2014 with 243 species in Middlesex County, which is more than I thought was possible when I started to focus more on county birding a few years ago and 200 seemed like a distant goal. I also saw some new birds in neighboring counties, including nine in Somerset County and six in Union County.

According to eBird's new Target Species feature, my next ten birds in Middlesex are likely to be:

1. Barnacle Goose
2. Northern Shoveler
3. Pectoral Sandpiper
4. Eastern Meadowlark
5. Mourning Warbler
6. Cattle Egret
7. Snow Bunting
8. Ring-necked Pheasant
9. Black Tern
10. Yellow-throated Warbler

I am not sure that I agree with that list, but those birds seem as likely as any others that I have not yet seen in this county.

Red-necked Grebe in a snowstorm at Edison Boat Basin

For the most part, chasing rare birds took a back seat to another project: the 100 Bird Challenge. I wanted to improve my bird photography skills, for my own satisfaction and also so that I would have an easier time documenting rare birds. So early last year I decided to try a photo big year, but with a set species goal of 100 bird species. I did not know at the time whether that was a reasonable goal, but it meant that there would be two measures of success: reaching the species goal and improving the quality of my bird photos.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird at Fairview Farm Wildlife Preserve

With regard to the first goal, I easily surpassed 100 species and ended the year with 140 species photographed. My 100 species was the Ruby-throated Hummingbird shown above, which I photographed on July 12th.

American Coot at Donaldson Park

In terms of improving quality, the results were mixed. Towards the end of last year, I took some pretty good photos, like the American Coot shown above. But even then, I was still producing bad photos of species that were too distant, out of focus, or simply uncooperative.

Orange-crowned Warbler at Ayres Beach

However, attempting the challenge did push me to try photographing birds that I would not have attempted to photograph before, such as small, fast-moving warblers. As a result, I was able to document two of my three Orange-crowned Warbler sightings when an unusually numerous wave pushed through the region last fall.

Eastern Bluebird gathering nest material at Glenhurst Meadows

I enjoyed the 100 Bird Challenge enough that I am going to try it again this year, but this time with a higher goal of 150 birds.

Loose Feathers #477

Eurasian Wigeon (my photo)

Birds and birding news

• Bar-headed Geese are able to conserve energy while migrating over the Himalayas by keeping close to the terrain and flying at night when the air is colder and denser.
• Migratory shorebird levels have declined in Asia largely thanks to coastal development. 
• Hoopoes paint their eggs with bacteria from their uropygial glands to protect the embryos from infection.
• Here are some suggestions for standardizing point counts.
• "Green" big years offer an alternative to traditional ones and reduce the environmental impacts of birding.
• There are elevated numbers of seabirds dying along the Pacific coast.
• There is ongoing controversy over whether Liberty State Park in New Jersey will be opened to further commercial development. The management of the site is of some significance to birders since it is one of the better birding hotspots in the northeast corner of the state.

Science and nature blogging

• 10,000 Birds: Four groups of Neotropical birds that may challenge your ID Skills
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: How Big Are The Biggest Squid, Whales, Sharks, Jellyfish? 
• Deep Sea News: Sleuthing the Largest Snail
• Laelaps: How Extinction Changed the Coyote 
• Extinction Countdown: Mexican Wolves Finally Get Endangered Species Status
• Backyard and Beyond: Creeper
• The City Birder: The 2014 Shorebirds of Plum Beach
• Golden Gate Birder: Rare sparrows visit the Bay Area
• The Science of Birds: A Return To Discovery

Environment and biodiversity

• A new study found that cattle testing is a more effective measure for controlling bovine TB than culling badgers.
• There is further evidence that emerald ash borers are attacking white fringetrees in addition to ash trees.
• Planting native rather than exotic milkweeds is better for helping Monarch butterflies. Here are some suggestions for milkweeds native to California.
• Bills moving through the New Jersey legislature would expand beaver hunting and allow more hunting on Sundays.
• A survey conducted in the first few days of January found hundreds of flower species blooming in Great Britain.

Loose Feathers #476

Golden Eagle / Photo by Tom Koerner (USFWS)

Birds and birding news

• Lake Erie is one of the best spots in North America to look for rare gulls, but even there the search for rare gulls takes a different mindset. 
• Sea ice is crucial to the migration and wintering range of Ivory Gulls. (See also.)
• It looks like this will be another good year for seeing Snowy Owls. Research continues on owls that do make it south.
• Dorian Anderson finished his cycling big year with 617 (+1) species, a respectable total in any big year but outstanding in one that avoids the use of fossil fuels for transportation.
• Plumage color is linked not just to diet but also to weather conditions.
• Birds are as affected by artificial light and noise as they are by habitat destruction.
• Like humans, Swamp Sparrows interpret sounds according to their context.
• Here is a list of some new birds discovered in 2014.
• Here is a satellite view of the Pribilof Islands, a site known as a landing spot for rare avian visitors to this continent.
• Audubon California is celebrating the worst of bird photography.

Science and nature blogging

• Biodiversity Heritage Library: The Most Influential Birder Most of Us Have Never Heard Of
• All About Birds: How Do Tired Birds Choose Where to Stop During Migration?
• Birding Dude: Kings of New York
• Nemesis Bird: Winter Kingbirds of NYC

Environment and biodiversity

• The oil spill in Bangladesh threatens two rare dolphin species.
• Wolf OR-7 is now officially the leader of the Rogue Pack.
• There is now some evidence that white-nose syndrome kills bats by sapping their energy, and it does most of its work before the external signs of the infection are visible.
• Enbridge is skirting US law to increase capacity on one of its tar sands pipelines.
• The Poweshiek Skipperling and the Dakota Skipperling were listed under the Endangered Species Act.
• Urban wildlife, such as the coyotes in Chicago, are subjects worth studying.