Loose Feathers #606

Cedar Waxwing / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• EBird has an animation of the Indigo Bunting's range and migration. The species winters in Central America and breeds mostly in the southern and eastern U.S., reaching as far north as southern Canada (but avoiding northern forests).
• The Dark Ecology Project is developing tools to estimate bird density during migration from radar imagery. 
• Fifty years since its founding, the Breeding Bird Survey continues to document the shifting status of North American bird populations. 
• Piping Plovers nested in Pennsylvania for the first time in 60 years, with two pairs at Presque Isle State Park on Lake Erie. It is also the first confirmed nest on Lake Erie since 1977.
• Kelp Gulls and Dolphin Gulls are attacking seal pups and flaying whales. Gull populations boomed in Chile due to scavenging opportunities at landfills near the coast.
• The plan to build the first portion of the new border wall through Santa Ana NWR continues to spark outrage. The American Bird Conservancy, like the American Birding Association, opposes building a wall through the refuge.
• The Táchira Antpitta, which was long though extinct, was recently rediscovered, recorded, and photographed in Venezuela's El Tamá National Park.
• Eastern North American forest birds are most threatened on their wintering grounds.
• The remains of an extinct bullfinch species have been found in the Azores.
• Scotland's Capercaillie population is in decline, partly from wetter summers caused by climate change.
• Lake Erie's Icebreaker Wind project, which is opposed by the American Bird Conservancy because of threats to migratory birds, is closer to state certification.

Science and nature blogging

• ABA Blog: #MySantaAna: What Birders Can Do RIGHT NOW
• View from the Cape: Field Notes from National Moth Week: The secret life of the Ailanthus webworm moth
• World Shorebirds Day: World Shorebirds Day 2017 is approaching
• Laura's Birding Blog: Divided We Fall 
• Outside My Window: Woodpeckers Are Doing Really Well 
• earthstar: Spots before my eyes
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Water Dance of Leucistic Eared Grebes on the Great Salt Lake
• The Speckled Hatchback: Post #112: Boating for Birds - Inflatable Kayaks and Clark's/Western Grebes

Environment and biodiversity

• This week was National Moth Week, which continues through Sunday, July 30. Like many insects, moth populations are declining, with negative effects on the animals and plants that depend on them. Some ways to protect them include protecting habitat, restoring native plants, reducing pesticide use, and reducing light pollution from outdoor lighting. Here are five facts about moths from the Nature Conservancy.
• In other lepidopteran news, DNA evidence recently linked the male and female forms of a butterfly that were previously classified as different species in separate genera. 
• The citizen science website iNaturalist has developed an app that can identify organisms from photos (within limitations).
• The discovery that orangutans find a home in degraded forests shows that even degraded forests can be worth protecting and restoring.
• A new giant sunfish species has been discovered in the Pacific.

Loose Feathers #605

Osprey / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A new section of border wall is set to be built in Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. The site was selected because the federal government already owned the land. Building the wall and its associated infrastructure would basically destroy the refuge, which is a major birding destination and home to over 400 bird species. At this point, it is not clear what birders can do to stop this, but contacting your representatives may help.
• A new study shows that even a small amount of oil can make it harder for birds to fly.
• When glue-based insect traps like TrapStik are left outside, they can also catch birds.
• Feral cat advocates want to use feral cats for urban rat control, even though rats are not a preferred prey item and feral cats eat many wild birds each year.
• Prairie songbirds in areas with oil and natural gas development face an increased amount of nest parasitism by cowbirds.
• Forest-dwelling birds avoid crossing roads to avoid predation.

Science and nature blogging

• International Dark-Sky Association: Like moths to a flame: National Moth Week, and how you can help our nighttime wildlife
• Bird Ecology Study Group: © Black Bulbul Romancing Chinaberries in Taiwan 
• The Urban Birder World: A Seabird Colony in a City. Preston’s tern colony, Lancashire, England 
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Thousands & Thousands of Wilson’s Phalaropes over the Great Salt Lake
• earthstar: A tale of three bindweeds
• Backyard and Beyond: Agelaius phoeniceus
• Earbirding: Eastern vs. Western Purple Martins 
• Snapshots of Nature: Great Gull Island: Part Three, The Research 
• Ornithologi.com: White-collared Swift Nest in Belize, Central America 
• Ontario Birds and Herps: Dickcissel invasion!
• The Rattling Crow: Individual human recognition in crows 
• Beetles In The Bush: Cicindela scutellaris flavoviridis (chartreuse tiger beetle)
• Gulls to the Horizon: 1CY Lesser black-backed Gull Green YCKN – plumage development 2017 

Environment and biodiversity

• National Moth Week begins tomorrow, July 22, and runs through Sunday, July 30. To participate, either leave on a light to attract moths on your own or find a local event. Then submit the results to one of the participating websites like iNaturalist. To identify moths in the U.S., the most useful online resource is the Moth Photographers Group plate series.
• Speaking of iNaturalist, the citizen science website updated its app to identify photos using artificial intelligence, much like the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Merlin app.
• North America has the most diversity of freshwater mussels in the world, but most are endangered and require extensive conservation efforts to repopulate our waterways.
• Humans have produced 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic, and most plastic waste is in landfills or floating in the ocean. Only 9% has been recycled.
• Hunting or "managing" wolves outside of refuge can harm the ones living inside the protected areas.
• Stay away from the invasive Giant Hogweed, which is incredibly toxic despite its resemblance to more benign plants. Here is more on the plant and how to identify it.
• A subsidiary of TransCanada wants to build a natural gas pipeline through Washington County in western Maryland despite local opposition.

Loose Feathers #604

Sagebrush Sparrow / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The newly-named Cassia Crossbill has a sedentary population that specializes in eating the seeds of lodgepole pines, and its lifestyle is enabled by the absence of squirrels from the ridges where it lives. Unfortunately the crossbills may be threatened by climate change.
• Camera traps revealed that some Ferruginous Hawk chicks fall prey to raccoons and owls.
• Elsewhere, a Great Horned Owl snatched a chick from an Osprey nest. 
• A 62-million-year-old fossil of a mousebird, Tsidiiyazhi abini, from New Mexico is evidence for the rapid diversification of birds after the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs.
• Studying crow funerals leads to insights about their behavior and social life. 
• Most North American grassland birds are declining, but among the most endangered is the Florida Grasshopper Sparrow, with only 50 or 60 individuals left in the wild. 
• With the end of Colombia's decades-long civil war, the country with the most bird species on earth is trying to attract more visits from birders. 
• Experiments suggest that ravens can plan for future needs by storing objects that may be useful.
• Seaside Sparrow nests are at risk of flooding from rising seas, but if they place their nests higher in the marsh, they are more likely to fall prey to predators.
• A study of Marsh Tits in Poland's Białowieża forest shows that nest cavities protect against some predators but not against ones that can fit through the nest entrance. 
• The secretive Banded Rail was discovered in a marsh outside Auckland for the first time. 
• Hormones in native plants may boost the breeding success of New Zealand's endangered birds. 
• A lack of sufficient caterpillars seems to be key to urban Blue Tits' low breeding success.

Science and nature blogging

• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Dabbling Duck Shuffle – Plus White Geese Become Gray Geese
• 10,000 Birds: Tri-colored Herons on the water front of La Paz.
• Gulls to the Horizon: Lesser Black-backed Gull Green YBDL with young YCMR and YCMS – 2017
• Feathered Photography: My First Look At The Red-naped Sapsucker Chick  
• Backyard and Beyond: HDT200
• Laura's Birding Blog: The Ancient Mariner Meets the Lord of the Flies
• Snapshots of Nature: Great Gull Island: Part 2, TERNS! 
• The Prairie Ecologist: Spider Watching 
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Cattle Egret – breeding plumage

Environment and biodiversity

• A new report argues that extirpations (the loss of a species from a particular area) are just as important as extinctions in the biodiversity crisis. 
• This week marked the 200th anniversary of Henry David Thoreau's birth. This essay discusses his love for old trees and intact forests, and another quotes his wildlife obsevations. He was an early observer of dams blocking fish migration.
• Susan Combs, who helped block implementing endangered species protections in Texas, is nominated for a key position in Trump's Interior Department. 
• A secretive group of staff members is working with industry lobbyists to undo regulations, especially environmental and health regulations.
• The world is getting more dangerous for environmental activists; 200 were killed last year and at least 98 so far this year. These are rates much higher than in the past. Mining, oil, logging, and agribusiness account for the greatest number of murders and disappearances.
• This week a large chunk of the Larsen C ice shelf finally broke free. You can help document how Weddell Seals react to the new iceberg by analyzing satellite imagery. 
• Climate reporting needs to tread a fine line between too alarmist and not alarmist enough.
• The EU wants Poland to stop logging in the Białowieża forest.
• A coalition is trying to raise the sediment levels in South Jersey salt marshes to keep the marshes from disappearing as sea levels rise.
• As the century progresses, dozens of New Jersey communities will face chronic flooding from sea level rise if climate change remains unchecked.
• Bobcats are expanding their range south in New Jersey, including parts of the proposed route for the PennEast pipeline. 

Loose Feathers #603

Nelson's Sparrow / Photo by Rick Bohn / USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The AOS (formerly AOU) released the annual supplement to its North American checklist with taxonomic changes. Among other changes, the genus Anas is split into multiple genera (with no species-level splits), Northern Harrier and Northern Shrike are split from the European counterparts (and become Circus hudsonius and Lanius borealis, respectively), Thayer's Gull is merged with Iceland Gull, Cassia Crossbill (the long-rumored "South Hills Crossbill") is split from Red Crossbill, New World sparrows are now in their own family, Passerellidae, and several other new families are created, including Icteriidae for the Yellow-breasted Chat. Several proposed changes, including splits of Willet, Brown Creeper, and Yellow-rumped Warbler, and the redpoll merger, were not adopted. See also the discussion at the ABA Blog.
• A Purple Gallinule was recorded via camera trap for first time on Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee. 
• Where different populations of a species migrate appears to be linked to genetic differences.
• Praying mantises have been photographed catching hummingbirds.

Science and nature blogging

• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Our Public Lands – Our Legacy
• 10,000 Birds: Seaside Sparrows Feeding Young at Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, Two Mile Unit
• Birding the Crane Creek - Magee Region of Northwest Ohio: Timing of fall shorebird migration in Ohio  
• The Digiscoper: July Begins
• Shorebird Science: Arctic Spring!

Environment and biodiversity

• The Trump administration wants to bring back seismic testing as part of its goal of restarting offshore drilling along the Atlantic coast despite bipartisan opposition. Seismic testing is a threat to whales and other marine life.
• Alberta's tar sands mining operations have produced over 250 billion gallons of toxic waste stored in tailings ponds around the province. 
• In better news, it appears that tar sands operations have stopped growing. 
• The new Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History has an interesting article on forests, logging, and environmentalism.
• A former cranberry bog in Massachusetts is being restored to a natural wetland that includes a new stream open to migrating fish.
• New Jersey's Pinelands region was made into a national reserve to preserve its unique ecosystems and protect the aquifer underneath it, but it still faces threats from pollution, off-road vehicles, and development such as new proposed pipelines.
• Millions of New Jersey's ash trees are going to die in the very near future because of the Emerald Ash Borer. The impending loss of ash trees (along with earlier devastation of the elm and chestnut populations) shows the importance of diverse plantings for street trees.
• The endangered status for the Florida Panther is under review, including the question of whether it is still a genetically distinct population.
• Horseshoe crabs are a vital part of coastal food webs but are threatened by overfishing, climate change, and coastal development. It is still unclear how harvesting their blood for medical research affects them. Climate change and coastal development interact to reduce their breeding habitat.
• Controlled burns could be used to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease.
• Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11) used to have a decent environmental record but has had an increasingly poor voting record on environmental issues as he has risen in power.