Posts
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| Horned Lark / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS |
- Malheur NWR will be closed for at least a month as the armed occupiers left quite a lot of damage. Some participants in the Malheur occupation are also being charged for the armed standoff over public lands in Nevada. Refuge employees hope that Great Horned Owls will return to nest in the fire tower once things settle down. While the occupiers clamored for federal land to be transferred to states or sold to private owners, it is unlikely that small ranchers would benefit.
- News reports this week declared that 150,000 Adélie Penguins perished at a single colony in Antarctica, but the missing penguins may have dispersed to other colonies.
- Parrots are among the most threatened bird orders; 28% of extant parrot species are classified as threatened.
- A toe bone found on Ellesmere Island shows that large flightless birds from the genus Gastornis once roamed the Arctic.
- Geolocation data has revealed that the Atlantic Puffins that nest in Maine spend the winter at sea, particularly in waters near deep sea canyons.
- The true relationship between humans and honeyguides may not be what is presented in nature documentaries.
- Migrating songbirds drift with crosswinds except near the Atlantic coast, where they expend more energy to stay close to shore.
- The Black Hills population of Virginia's Warblers is not genetically isolated from other Virginia's Warblers.
- Plastics are a problem, but Northern Fulmars absorb more toxins from their prey than from microplastics.
- Large oil palm plantations have more habitat fragmentation and less avian biodiversity, but birds do well at some small plantations.
- Cockatoos and galahs prefer areas with a lot of kangaroos, but some smaller birds like swallows lose out when kangaroos are common.
- A trained Bald Eagle is being used to test systems for stopping or slowing wind turbines when birds are in danger.
- A specialized white blood cell found in birds can prevent a fungal infection that kills humans.
- There is a webcam for the Bald Eagles that nest in the National Arboretum.
- 10,000 Birds: Did humans kill off one of the last dinosaurs, er, giant birds?
- Pine Barrens Blog: State of the Pinelands: The Year in Review
- Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey: Track the Bald Eagle’s Triumphant Return to New Jersey
- Bird Ecology Study Group: Little Spiderhunter hovering
- Mercenary Ornithology: California Condor vs. Common Raven
- Bug Eric: To Collect or Not to Collect
- Extinction Countdown: Rarest Crocs in the Americas Get a Radio Boost
- Vitrified Headers: Moths of Plainsboro, Fourth Edition
- Death Valley is expected to be unusually colorful this spring as excessive rain from El Niño set the conditions for a massive wildflower bloom.
- New research has mapped the climate sensitivity of habitats in all the world's regions. As one might expect, polar and mountainous areas are particularly sensitive.
- Yellowstone National Park plans a large cull of its bison herd. The ostensible reason is to avoid conflicts with nearby ranchers; there may also be an ecological justification for the cull.
- The US will have trouble meeting its greenhouse gas reduction commitments without cuts that go beyond the Clean Power Plan and related policies.
- A model predicts that there would be far greater mammalian diversity, especially in the Americas, if humans had not killed off so many animals.
- Wildlife advocates have proposed a series of reforms to reduce the brutality of leg-hold traps.
- A website chronicles changes in the Elwha River watershed since its dams were removed.
- The border wall has significant environmental impacts, because of habitat fragmentation and the genetic isolation that results from blocking migration and dispersal routes.
- Warm-water algae-related toxins have been found in Arctic sea mammals for the first time.
- The recent declaration of new national monuments had its seeds in the energy land rush at the start of the Obama administration and will fill gaps between areas that were already protected.
