Loose Feathers #541

Mountain Bluebird / Photo: Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• This week the Washington Post reported that birders are creepy. Here is one birder's response.
• The Yellow-eyed Penguin is the only penguin that breeds in a forest habitat, and its population is in decline.
• The Southwestern Willow Flycatcher could have its Endangered Species Act protections removed because of a challenge to its status as a subspecies.  
• Construction of a wind farm in Scotland led to an 80% drop in the region's European Golden-Plover population.  
• The experimental population of Whooping Cranes in Louisiana hatched a wild chick in the state for the first time in decades.
• A designated ORV corridor will be used at Cape Hatteras for the first time this spring. The idea is to allow vehicle access to the point while protecting shorebird breeding areas.
• Red-capped and Golden-crowned Manakins developed 'superfast' wing muscles for courtship displays.
• The US Army Corps of Engineers began killing Double-crested Cormorants at the mouth of the Columbia River in Oregon despite the legal setback for a similar program in South Carolina last week.
• Interest rose in the Harney County Migratory Bird Festival following the armed occupation at Malheur NWR. Many events associated with the festival sold out early.
• Here are the ten worst wind energy projects for killing birds.
• Falconers find the Eurasian Sparrowhawk among the hardest birds to train.

Science and nature blogging

• ABA Blog: 2016 AOU Check-list Proposals, Part 2
• Coffee & Conservation: Update on proposed new Rainforest Alliance standard
• South Jersey Butterfly B/Log: Photo Forum: A Duskywings Challenge
• Extinction Countdown: 6 Reasons We Should Still Worry About Tigers
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Birds on Islands Are Losing the Ability to Fly  
• The Naturalist's Notebook: Migrating Songbird Fallout On Machias Seal Island (Guest Post By Lighthouse Keeper Ralph Eldridge)
• Endangered New Jersey: The Great Falls Today 
• Behind the Stone Walls: Invasive and Native Plants on Duke Farms
• The Migratory Connectivity Project: A ghost of the eastern marshes  
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Camouflage of a Large-tailed Nightjar chick

Environment and biodiversity

• The USFWS denied protection under the Endangered Species Act for Pacific Fishers in the Pacific Northwest. 
• The Chesapeake Bay's blue crab population grew by 35% last year due to favorable weather conditions. 
• If the recent study about a faster sea level rise is correct, it could make current infrastructure projects like the California Water Fix obsolete very quickly.
• Snowpack in the Sierra Nevada is higher than last year (87% vs. 5% of normal), but it will not be enough to end California's drought.
• Recent coral bleaching events may signal a climate tipping point for marine life.
• A new tree of life shows that bacterial diversity outpaces all other life forms.
• Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth came out 10 years ago this year. Here is an analysis of how well its predictions hold up.
• Ortho announced that it would phase out neonicotinoids.
• During beach cleanups last year, 71% of the 332,000 trash items collected were made of plastic. See the full report here (pdf).
• Grid-based schemes could improve butterfly monitoring as part of citizen science projects.