Loose Feathers #491

Marbled Godwit / Photo by Alex Galt (USFWS)

Birds and birding news

• The Migratory Bird Treaty Act will likely see major changes in how it is enforced; the main point seems to be to carve out a way for energy companies to avoid fines for killing birds.
• The Ivanpah solar plant likely killed about 3,500 birds from 83 species in 1st year of operation.
• Birds primarily use two wing postures as fly around or through obstacles.
• A Cooper's Hawk in Vancouver was full of flame retardants when it died.
• A study found out how grebes run on the water during courtship displays.
• According to one study, Seattle residents spend $120 million per year on birds.
• Another study found that urban residents tend to underestimate the species diversity of birds in their neighborhoods. 
• Dead sea lions along the California coast are providing a feast for California Condors.
• While this year spring is running later than usual in the eastern US, the big question is how birds, insects, and plants will respond to earlier springs caused by climate change.
• The USFWS will not extend endangered protection to the Mono Basin population of Greater Sage-Grouse. A listing decision on the species as a whole is due later in the year.
• Hawk Rise Sanctuary in Linden, New Jersey, is an urban oasis with surprisingly good birding.

Science and nature blogging

• Biodiversity in Focus Blog: Who’s really pollen their weight: Bees, or Flies?
• ABA Blog: Birding is Hard
• Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.: The Fall of the Bird Police: Death by EBird?
• Arthropod Ecology: Beetles from the North 
• Extinction Countdown: Should Humpback Whales Be Removed from the Endangered Species List?
• Living Alongside Wildlife: Two Species of Cottonmouths? This Scientist Says Yes!
• Tails of Birding: Nectar Feedering Warbler
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Baya Weaver – more nectar feeding
• American Scientist: From the Archives: Scientists’ Conversations About Rachel Carson and DDT, 1944 to Today

Environment and biodiversity

• The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded five years ago this week; the well would remain open for 87 days, spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico all the while. A key element of the story was the mendaciousness and ineptitude of BP and the government. The Smithsonian Ocean Portal will retrace the progress of the spill this summer at its blog and Twitter account.
• Here is a photo essay of flying foxes emerging from their nocturnal roost.
• There will be a bioblitz at Watchung Reservation on June 12-13. Observers of all specialties and skill levels are needed.
• Here is an interactive map of street trees in New York City.
• Trout lilies flower and disappear soon after.

Loose Feathers #490

Yellow-headed Blackbirds / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Resident bird populations around Fukushima have declined since the nuclear disaster.
• A three-year project is reintroducing Northern Bobwhite to the New Jersey Pinelands.
• A study of African birds shows that they are full of malaria parasite diversity.
• Spring hunting will remain legal in Malta after its supporters won a referendum with a slim majority. See also BirdLife's statement via Mark Avery's blog.
• Birders in Taiwan are preparing for a big day competition.
• A rare melanistic Greater Flamingo has been observed on the island of Cyprus.

Science and nature blogging

• Sibley Guides: The mysterious sounds of the American Woodcock
• ABA Blog: 2015 AOU Check-list Proposals, Part 3
• Coyote Crossing: Orthodoxy in the Climate Movement: Franzen and His Deniers
• Morningside Hawks: Manhattan Hawk Nest Checklist, 2015
• 10,000 Birds: Ghana – Rainforest Birding on the Brink by Adam Riley
• Laelaps: The Call of the Terror Bird
• North Coast Diaries: The phenological margins
• Ben Cruachan: An Avian Alphabet, A – H.
• A More Human Nature: The Anthropocene as Neoliberal Environmentalism

Environment and biodiversity

• Wildfires emit more greenhouse gases than assumed in California climate targets.
• Insecticide contamination of waterways is worse than previously reported.
• Mendocino County in California has suspended its contract with USDA Wildlife Services in the wake of a lawsuit charging that the contract violates state law.
• Much attention has been given to California's water problems, but the Rio Grande watershed is also severely strained by the drought.
• The Northern Long-eared Bat has been listed as a threatened species.
• Climate change will affect inland areas like Morris County as well as coastal ones.
• A previous mass extinction event seems to have been linked to rapid ocean acidification.

Loose Feathers #489

Northern Pintails / Photo by Tom Koerner (USFWS)

Birds and birding news

• A Golden-winged Warbler was banded and fitted with a geolocator in Illinois and then recaptured in Nicaragua.
• Feral chickens on Kauai have a complex genetic history.
• A study suggests the presence of urban birds has economic value.
• Darwin's finches remain a prime example of how diverse species can arise from a common ancestor.
• Black Vultures (the Eurasian kind) have returned to southern Portugal.
• A new study gathered information on the life history of the Black Tinamou, one of the least-studied tinamous. 
• A study of shorebirds that winter in South Africa found that some long-distance migrants had declined but that the declines were probably not due to local conditions.
• Collisions between birds and aircraft may be reduced by adjusting lights to meet birds' visual systems.
• A new terror bird fossil suggests that they had the ability to hear low-frequency sounds.

Science and nature blogging

• Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.: A Shrike of Two Tails (***MEGA***)
• Extinction Countdown: Amazing Discovery: Nearly Extinct Bird Found Breeding in Japan
• 10,000 Birds: Pine Warbler in Forest Park, Queens, New York
• Anything Larus: Adult Kumlien's: Hammond
• Bug Eric: Springtime Tiger Beetles
• The Artful Amoeba: Wonderful Things: The Amazing Mimicry of the Mummy Berry Fungus
• Arthropod Ecology: What to do with a spider in your fruit
• Greg Laden: Bully for Brontosaurus

Environment and biodiversity

• A study found that US protected land does less than it should to protect biodiversity. Most protected land is in the West while numerous biodiversity hotspots go unprotected in the East.
• California's farmers have been pumping out groundwater at such a rate that the aquifers may never recover.
• Water scarcity in California is not caused by s specific crop (like almonds) but by the system in which water is allocated.
• This is the best time of year to hear Spring Peepers and other vocalizing amphibians.
• Bighorn Sheep are being reintroduced to Yosemite.

Loose Feathers #488

Green-winged Teal / Photo: Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A study using geolocators confirmed that Blackpoll Warblers fly directly over the Atlantic from New England to the Greater Antilles.
• A genetic study found that Common Redpoll, Hoary Redpoll, and Lesser Redpoll are probably all a single species. Their differences in appearance are likely a result of gene expression rather than the underlying DNA.
• A topic of discussion on social media this week was an article claiming that climate change activism is distracting from bird conservation. Here is one of the better responses.
• A recent study reporting two Golden Eagle deaths in 20 years at a California wind farm shows the limited nature of the data on wind energy and bird mortality.
• Cassowaries are endangered but continue to be killed by cars and dogs because protections have been lax.
• Western governors published a report praising their own voluntary sage grouse conservation efforts (with the hope of keeping the bird from getting endangered status).
• This is the best time of year to hear displaying American Woodcocks.
• Northern Bobwhites, whose population had crashed in New Jersey, are being reintroduced to a cranberry farm in Chatsworth.
• The melting of Arctic sea ice means that polar bears are increasingly raiding the nests of seabirds for eggs.
• One of the Snowy Owls being tracked by Project SNOWstorm spent time on top of One Penn Plaza in Manhattan before flying north.

Science and nature blogging

• Sibley Guides: Why are they called goatsuckers?
• LepScience: Meet Cogia buena, the Good Cogia
• As Many Exceptions As Rules: The Bird Jaws of Life
• Extinction Countdown: Sunday Species Snapshot: Swift Parrot 
• Dan Tallman's Bird Blog: Blue-winged Warbler
• Birding Dude: Yellow-throated Warbler at Valley Stream State Park
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Shrub Attracts Pollinators By Glittering Under the Full Moon 
• The Birders Conundrum: Pie Chart: How Birders Spend Their Time.
• Simon Barnes: England’s vultures
• Behind the Stone Walls: Photo Sequence of the First Hatch

Environment and biodiversity

• California has finally imposed mandatory water restrictions to address its ongoing drought. Unfortunately they appear to disadvantage people and communities that had already taken conservation measures.
• A report by the New England Wild Flower Society found that 22% of the region's plants are rare, declining, or extinct, and 30% are not native to the region.
• Suburban sprawl results in steep economic and environmental costs. 
• A chemical used to disperse oil slicks during the Deepwater Horizon spill has been shown to damage human lungs and gills of marine animals. This confirms the source of some symptoms shown by cleanup workers. The study also identified an enzyme that may protect against the damage.
• New Jersey is doing controlled burns to reduce risk of wildfires and improve habitat.
• Wetland restoration projects need to consider not just wetland area but also wetland types.
• As climate changes the ideal temperature for seed set comes earlier in the year, so flowers bloom earlier to match.
• Mild winters are not the sole cause of all pine beetle outbreaks in western United States.
• An oyster reef is being restored offshore from Reed's Beach in Cape May.
• A bill seeks to name the Io Moth as New Jersey's official state moth.