Loose Feathers #574

Wisdom, the Laysan Albatross / Photo credit: Kristina McOmber/Kupu Conservation Leadership Program & USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A new study nearly doubled the estimate for the number of bird species in the world from 10,000 to 18,000, based on changes in species concepts.
• Many Snow Geese died in Montana’s Berkeley Pit, but the fate of the rest of the flock is unknown.
• The Obama administration finalized a rule allowing wind farms 30-year permits to kill thousands of Bald and Golden Eagles as long as they take some precautions to reduce incidental deaths.
• Estimates of bird mortality caused by windows (and probably other types of collisions) may be too low because many carcasses are removed by scavengers.
• A study of corvoids (crows and allies) showed that the shape of a bird's wings is influenced by where it lives. Birds from the tropics tend to have short, rounded wings for navigating forest interiors, while birds from higher latitudes tend to have long, pointed wings for flying longer distances.
• Winter is a time to appreciate small birds like wrens that are present year-round.
• A seabird research program in the 1960s may have been cover for a biological weapons testing program.
• A leucistic Anna's Hummingbird has maintained its territory in a California garden, to the delight of thousands of birders.
• Climate change has produced unexpected shifts in bird populations.
• The world's oldest known seabird, a Laysan Albatross, laid an egg at age 66.

Science and nature blogging

• Artful Amoeba: Jaw on the Floor: Entire Chunk of Feathered Dinosaur Discovered in Amber
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: The Mysterious Brown Creeper
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: American Coot Being Chased For Its Food
• Extinction Countdown: Giraffe's "Silent Extinction" Finally Earns Some Noise
• Wild About Ants: Ant Mimics: Nymphs of Texas Bow-legged Bug 
• Pioneer Birding: Trinidad - Audouin's Gull!
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Grey Heron – feeding juveniles 
• Bug Eric: ID Tip: Seven-spotted or Nine-spotted Lady Beetle?

Environment and biodiversity

• Fishery managers are looking for technological solutions to fight against invasive lionfish in the southeastern U.S.
• The federal government is creating a 40,000-square-mile protected area, the Frank R. Lautenberg Deep Sea Coral Protection Area, to protect marine life off the New Jersey coast.
• The EPA finally admitted that fracking contaminates drinking water, a reversal of the position it took last year under political duress.
• Interior Secretary Sally Jewell urged scientists to fight against scientific misinformation during the Trump administration.
• The first offshore wind farm in the U.S., the Block Island wind farm off Rhode Island, started operation this week. While concerns remain about wind energy's effects on wildlife, significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions will depend on a greater reliance on wind energy.
• Climate change is already causing local extinctions as organisms are forced to shift their ranges.
• The Pinelands Commission in New Jersey is now considering two pipelines that would affect the Pinelands area.