Loose Feathers #508

Roseate Tern / Photo by Kirk Rogers/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Studies using a spectrophotometer have shown that bird plumages include subtle gradations of color and ultraviolet that are invisible to the human eye. Among other findings, 92% of birds that appear to have the same plumage for both sexes are actually dimorphic, and Yellow-breasted Chats have a mix of yellow and ultraviolet on their breasts.
• A study found that hummingbirds drink nectar by pumping with their tongues rather than by capillary action.
• A tracking study of Shags found that females had a harder time than males foraging in windy conditions.
• The National Zoo has tagged three more adult Black-crowned Night-Herons with satellite transmitters as part of its ongoing migration study.
• An endangered Philippine Eagle that had been rescued was shot dead two months after release. 
• Aroclor 1268, a toxic chemical, has been discovered in Least Terns outside of a Superfund site in Georgia.
• The Farne Islands are celebrating their 90% anniversary as a sanctuary for seabirds.
• Here are ten bird species that have survived thanks to zoos.
• The USFWS is asking for volunteers to identify whether photographs have seabirds in them.

Science and nature blogging

• The City Birder: An Old Shorebird in Brooklyn 
• Anything Larus: Crème de la Crème - My Favorite 20 Gulls
• Great Lakes Piping Plover Recovery Effort: Update on 2015 Rescued Captive-Reared & Released
• The Prairie Ecologist: Killer Thistles
• Greg Gard: Bathing Plover - New Jersey  
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Fri-D: Thoughts on Silent Empids

 Environment and biodiversity

• Hillary Clinton has come out against oil drilling in the Arctic.
• Trail cameras recorded wolf pups in northern California. Prior to wolf OR7's visit to the state in 2011, no wolf had been recorded in California since 1924.
• Some scientists may have found a way to immunize bats against white-nose syndrome.
• A worldwide survey of non-native plants found that there are 13,168 species that are not native to places where they currently grow and that North America has the highest number of non-native species.
• Activists call for increasing the share of wind and solar power in New Jersey's next Energy Master Plan. 
• Progress has been slow on improving management of the newly-created San Gabriel Mountains National Monument.
• So many coastal towns have been building sea walls that now 14% of the U.S. coastline is covered in concrete.