Loose Feathers #530

Common Goldeneye with Northern Crayfish / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The armed occupation of Malheur NWR appears to be drawing to a close. While a few militants are left in the refuge, at least eleven have been arrested and others have gone home. The refuge will be treated like a crime scene so it will be a while before it reopens. Much of the coverage of the occupation has centered on political disputes about public land. Somewhat lost is what the refuge means for wildlife and for birders.
• The USFWS gave up trying to give energy companies 30-year take permits for Bald and Golden Eagles.
• Urban green spaces can support a great diversity of resident and migratory birds.
• The extinct Pink-headed Duck derived its pink plumage from carotenoids.
• A federal appeals court decided that the Port Authority could kill Snowy Owls at airports around New York City.
• The genome for the 'Alalā (Hawaiian Crow) was sequenced as its conservation team prepares to reintroduce it to the wild.
• The USFWS will end the use of ultralight aircraft to guide Whooping Crane migration over concerns about the Wisconsin population's lack of breeding success.
• Birds with diverse migration strategies might adapt more easily to environmental change.
• Many White Storks overwinter at landfills or fish farms rather than migrating to their normal wintering grounds.
• Secretary Birds use the force of five times their body weight to stamp on and kill their prey.
• Five extinct rail species were discovered on Madeira and the Azores.
• Mill Creek Marsh in the New Jersey Meadowlands continues to be a good birding spot now that its trails have been restored from storm damage.
• The Northern Bobwhites that were reintroduced into the Pine Barrens appear to be doing well so far.

Science and nature blogging

• ABA Blog: 2016 AOU Check-list Proposals, Part 1
• Anything Larus: The Smell of Progress - Lesser Black-backed Resight
• Cool Green Science: A Long Journey to 5,000 Birds: 34 Years, 6 Continents, & 47 Countries
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Little Grebe – behaviour 
• Birding New Jersey!: Overreacting 
• robertscribbler: Warm Arctic Storms Aim to Unfreeze the North Pole Again — That’s 55 Degrees (F) Above Normal For January

Environment and biodiversity

• A genetically unique pod of orcas will probably die out soon since they have been unable to reproduce since the Exxon Valdez spill.
• A new energy bill is being debated in the Senate; a lot of it is about fossil fuels, but it also will help to modernize the energy grid for wind and solar energy. Here is a profile of Lisa Murkowski, who pt the bill together.
• The ecology of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in California is so compromised that restoration requires much historical research with old maps and journals to learn how the ecosystems originally functioned.
• New Jersey cut short its diamondback terrapin hunting season over concerns that the species is declining.
• The beach between Cape May and Cape May Point was carved up by last week's nor'easter.

Loose Feathers #529

Short-eared Owl with a meadow vole / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• This week the continuing armed occupation of Malheur NWR brought counterprotests from birders and conservationists despite intimidation from the occupiers. Meanwhile, militia continue to dig in and damage the refuge, and employees fear their management work combating invasive species could be undone. The ranchers at the center of the dispute have a history of harassing federal employees. In addition, there is concern about theft or destruction of cultural artifacts.
• Thousands of seabirds have been found dead in Alaska, mostly likely from starvation.
• A new thrush species, the Himalayan Forest Thrush, was identified in India as the similar Plain-backed Thrush is split into multiple species.
• EBird data is now being used to track migration across continents.
• Results are available from a study on bird collisions with windows.
• Egg color in cuckoos is influenced by genetic material passed through the maternal line.
• Great Tits that lay eggs with spotted shells may not be healthy.
• Conservation groups in Ireland are fighting regulatory changes that would allow more burning and hedge-cutting at times when rare birds are nesting.
• A report shows continuing declines for many British breeding birds.
• A study is tracking how Sandhill Cranes use migratory stopover habitat with satellite transmitters.

Science and nature blogging

• Bug Eric: "New" Insight Into Behavior of Some Cuckoo Wasps (Chrysididae)
• Backyard and Beyond: Free Malheur NWR
• Extinction Countdown: Invasive Goldenrod Is Killing Europe's Ants and Butterflies
• Inkfish: What Is Citizen Science Good For? Birds, Butterflies, Big Data
• 10,000 Birds: Solar Plant Stopped Killing Birds: One Weird Trick!  
• Birding Dude: Banded Ring-billed Gulls in Queens NY
• Seabirder Shearer: Stormy seas 
• Anything Larus: Red-legged Kittiwake - Inland Washington

Environment and biodiversity

• Last year was the hottest year on record, partly due to El Niño but mostly due to climate change.
• According to a new study, selective logging of California forests will not add to the state's water supply.
• A survey of 50 homes in North Carolina retrieved over 10,000 arthropod specimens, with an average of 93 species found in each home, the vast majority of which are harmless or even beneficial. See coverage in Wired and The Atlantic for more on the study.
• Twenty-four new weevil species in the genus Trigonopterus were identified from Australian rainforests.
• At least 1,542 snout moth species have been identified and named in the US and Canada according to a new annotated checklist of the Pyraloidea.
• The Obama administration will impose new rules for residential air conditioner efficiency. In addition to saving energy, efficiency rules reduce the amount of greenhouse gases and other pollutants that are emitted into the atmosphere.
• Chris Christie pocket-vetoed all but one of the environmental bills passed by the legislature in the last session.

Loose Feathers #528

Bald Eagle carrying prey / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The armed occupation at Malheur NWR continued for a second week, with escalations including tearing down a fence and rifling through (and mocking) the belongings of Malheur employees. The ABA explains why the issue is important for birders and suggests ways birders can help. Giving in to the occupiers' demands would have bad results for rare birds and other wildlife and lead to exclusion of most of the public from public lands. While Malheur had a reputation for working collaboratively with ranchers that used or bordered its property, the occupation is part of a trend of threats against federal employees through the west.
• The Bald Eagle population in New Jersey grew to 161 pairs in 2015, a small increase from 156 in 2014, and raised at least 200 chicks. See the full report here.
• In other eagle news, a development in Bergen County will set aside land as a conservation easement to avoid disturbing a Bald Eagle nest.
• A writer argues for the Black-crowned Night-Heron as the animal most symbolic of Chicago.
• Emus and cassowaries from Australia would not fill the ecological niche left by extinct moas in New Zealand.
• Female birds may stop singing to prevent nest predation according to a study of Superb Fairywrens.
• The breeding population of Mediterranean Gulls at a site in northeast Spain is not made up of the same individuals that winter nearby.
• The Ivory Gull in Duluth shows a liking for fresh salmon provided by local birders.
• The centenary of the Migratory Bird Treaty represents progress for bird conservation, but birds still face threats from humans.
• Killing gulls is illegal under the Migratory Bird Treaty, as Dave Winfield once found out.
• An unusual mass stranding of seabirds is flooding Alaskan rescue centers with Common Murres.
• Immature Savannah Sparrows are more likely than adults to migrate in unfavorable weather conditions.

Science and nature blogging

• Birding New Jersey!: Malheur and the Plumers
• The Rattling Crow: Ten cool Northern Fulmar facts
• Ask an Entomologist: What Is That Bug? Thank a Taxonomist!
• The Prairie Ecologist: Hubbard Fellowship Blog – LeConte’s Bonanza
• Outside My Window: What El Niño means for the Galápagos
• Bird Treatment and Learning Center: More Common Murres than we've ever seen 
• Ohio Birds and Biodiversity: Downy woodpecker just keeps going and going
• Avian Images: Red-winged Blackbird
• Bird Canada: Finches, Owls and Ptarmigans - birding Alberta in Winter
• birdworthy: Entering the Bird Void 

Environment and biodiversity

• The US began restricting the importation of salamanders to prevent the spread of a fungal disease through the pet trade.
• Old Bridge Waterfront Park along Raritan Bay in New Jersey was contaminated by lead slag left over from National Lead's Dutch Boy paints.
• The US issued rules to protect Northern Long-eared Bats that are threatened by white-nose syndrome, but the final version is weaker than the rules originally proposed.
• Here is some advice on how to photograph a plant if you want other people to identify it.
• New Jersey's DEP refuses to release the autopsy results of a dolphin that was stranded in South River on the grounds that it would violate its medical privacy.
• US wildlife officials rejected protections for the Alexander Archipelago Wolf and its habitat in Alaska.

Loose Feathers #527

Townsend's Solitaire / Photo by Steve Shunk, USFWS Volunteer

Birds and birding news

• Last weekend gunmen began an occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, known among birders for its annual spring birding festival. Some of the people involved have a long history of harassing refuge employees (a serious problems throughout the West). Many birders are incensed, as refuges like Malheur are a shared resource for all Americans.
• The conservation plan for Greater Sage-Grouse only partially protects the birds' wintering grounds.
• A Snowy Owl was recorded flying past a traffic camera in Montreal.
• Also in Canada, a Gyrfalcon has been hunting in a rail yard in Edmonton.
• Unusual numbers of Little Auks (a.k.a. Dovekies) have been seen close to shore in Great Britain.
• A study found that Adélie and Gentoo Penguins generally do not compete directly while foraging since they usually forage at different depths.
• Trash is changing the ecological balance in many places, especially by increasing the numbers of scavengers like gulls.
• Black-capped Chickadees can differentiate songs from other regions and according to the sex of the singer. 
• This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treaty between the United States and Canada, which forms the basis for protecting bird populations in both countries.
• A leucistic Anna's Hummingbird has been visiting a birder's backyard.
• There are many reasons to be skeptical of the pet bird trade, from the collapse of wild populations to the mistreatment of captive birds, especially in aviaries.

Science and nature blogging

• Laura's Birding Blog: The Ivory Gull is dead. Long live the Ivory Gull!
• Anything Larus: Duos of Ivory Gulls
• Warblers and rumors of warblers: New Year birding, and the last of the Painted Bunting
• The City Birder: Early Brooklyn Hawk "Problem"
• Laelaps: A Crushing Bite Gives Sea Otters Their Cute Mugs
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Pin-tailed Parrotfinch – age variation  
• Arthropod Ecology: Frozen spiders
• Bruce Mactavish Newfoundland Birding Blog: A 10.5 year old Glaucous Gull
• The Rattling Crow: The variable Redpoll
• Southern Fried Science: Remote Protests are visually impressive, but not as effective as public comments

Environment and biodiversity

• In order to reduce trail congestion and habitat damage, visitors to Muir Woods National Monument will need to make advance reservations starting in 2017.
• A pesticide risk assessment by the EPA reported on risks to honeybees but barely mentioned native wild bees.
• Most chemicals are unregulated, so a toxin like perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) can cause health and environmental damage for decades before anything is done about it.
• Aerial photography recorded a Narwhal nursery off Baffin Island.

Loose Feathers #526

Fox Sparrow / Photo by Jessica Bolser/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• In most winters, American Kestrels that stay on territory through the winter nest earlier than ones that migrate.
• Several Laysan Albatrosses were killed and their nests destroyed on Hawaii in what appears to be a case of vandalism.
• Noah Strycker, the birder who did a global big year in 2015, reached 6,000 species this week and finished with a total of 6,042 bird species.
• NYC Audubon and other activists are trying (with some success) to reduce the number of unnecessary bird deaths in New York City.

Science and nature blogging

• LepScience: Sometimes it takes 22 years to identify and classify a skipper butterfly!
• Laelaps: Flexible Necks Made the Classic “Dinosaur Death Pose”
• The Artful Amoeba: 134 New Beetles and Dragonflies, Hiding in Plain Sight

Environment and biodiversity

• The NJ legislature has voted to name the Black Swallowtail as the state butterfly.
• Temperatures in the Arctic reached above freezing this week due to an unusual storm.
• In my area, flowers were in bloom during the weeks before and after Christmas because of an unusual warm spell.
• The Christmas Fern gets its name from staying green through the winter and possibly from its use in Christmas wreaths.