Loose Feathers #544

Cooper's Hawk / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Since the restoration of diplomatic ties with Cuba, a team of scientists has gone to Cuba to search for Ivory-billed Woodpeckers.
• Wading birds forage based on tides and moon phases, and how they respond to shifting patterns of high and low water varies by species.
• A Welsh biologist received a conservation prize for his work captive breeding rare bird species.
• Uruguay has created a plan to reduce seabird bycatch in the fishing industry. 
• A California Condor showed up in New Mexico for the first time in recorded history. 
• Australia shifted the Swift Parrot's status from endangered to critically endangered, which should provide more protection.
• The Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey has some guidelines for living with Ospreys.
• Here is a listicle on Bald Eagles.

Science and nature blogging

• 10,000 Birds: Belding’s Yellowthroat, Endemic and Endangered!
• Anything Larus: Birder Beware - Bleached Pigments 
• ABA Blog: ABA Checklist Committee adds three species to the ABA Checklist
• Laelaps: There's Something Fishy about This Fossil Bird
• Notes of Nature: Recording Wildlife with iRecord
• Extinction Countdown: Only Three Addax Antelopes Left in the Wild? 
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Owls and superstition
• Backyard and Beyond: What Good Are Birds, Anyway? 
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Mayapple, Wildflower of the Woods 
• Scientist Sees Squirrel: Spring, light, and strategy on the forest floor
• The Artful Amoeba: Under Soil and above Caves, a Warren of Hidden Life
• The Rattling Crow: The summer Blackcaps 

Environment and biodiversity

• A massive wildfire caused the evacuation of Fort McMurray in Alberta this week. Unusually hot and dry conditions were worsened by a combination of El Niño and climate change. See also this post on the ScienceBorealis blog.
• Once again a judge rejected the federal plan for protecting salmon along the Columbia River.
• It increasingly appears that ice sheets such as Greenland's will melt faster than predicted.
• There are a significant generational gap regarding acceptance of climate science and willingness to implement policies to address climate change. 
• Big cats (like cougars) affect plant life both by reducing herbivore numbers and by dispersing seeds in their scat.
• The restoration of Australia's saltwater crocodile population has been accompanied by economic projects to make their presence more palatable to local residents.
• There is a push to encourage native plants in urban areas and reduce the spread of invasive ones.
• Muskrats are present in at least four of New York City's boroughs.
• An ice core revealed how Antarctica transitioned from a subtropical forest to an icy desert over the last 50 million years.