Posts
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| Killdeer protecting its nest / Photo by Mara Koenig/USFWS |
- The most recent supplement to the AOS Check-list containing this year's taxonomic changes can be read here (pdf). Proposals with comments from the committee can be read here.
- A study found that crows were usually initiated confrontations with ravens, most likely to ward off nest predation.
- Two recent articles covered birding in New York City: one on its younger birders and another on how birding provides motivation to get off the internet and go outside.
- Human recreational activity has negative effects on Piping Plovers even outside the breeding season.
- Inbreeding is a potential problem for Northern Spotted Owls, especially in the Cascades.
- Scientists broke down the genetics of Painted Bunting populations to help trace where captive birds originated.
- California Condors still need significant human help to survive, such as chiseling chicks out of their eggshells.
- Webcams of nests are providing a new way to raise money for conservation and educate audiences on the threats birds face.
- An island in Lake Nicaragua hosts one of the last remaining populations of Yellow-naped Parrots.
- Beak size can indicate whether a Galápagos Penguin is male or female.
- Here is a conversation with the author of a book on urban raptors.
- Seabirding: Spring 2018 Wrap Up by Brian Patteson
- Avian Hybrids: Are hybrids between capuchino seedeaters fertile?
- Ontario Birds and Herps: Insects!
- Laelaps: Raptors of a Feather
- Elev. 401: Shadow fishing
- Bird Ecology Study Group: Avian Keratin Disorder (deformed bills) in Common Myna
- The Prairie Ecologist: Square Meter of Prairie Project – June 2018
- Backyard and Beyond: Go Forth This Fourth
- Kelly Krechmer: Fleetwood Hill Battlefield: Hot Spot for Birds and History
- James Hansen warned Congress about climate change thirty years ago this week, but not nearly enough has been done since then to address the problem.
- The National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service still do not have directors, and their absence discourages long-term planning.
- A Republican proposal would weaken the Endangered Species Act to give states more authority over protecting endangered species.
- Scott Pruitt resigned as head of the EPA and will be replaced (for now) by an energy lobbyist.
- The tick problem is getting worse in the U.S. for people who spend time outdoors, as Lyme disease continues to spread and new tick-borne diseases emerge.
- Seattle is banning plastic straws and utensils. Hopefully New Jersey will follow suit.
- Some of New Zealand's rare native plants are being planted in urban traffic islands as a way of keeping the species from going extinct.
- Introduction of non-native Lake Trout into Yellowstone has disrupted the ecosystem, with dire results for Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout and many bird species.
- Colombia’s Serranía de Chiribiquete became the world’s largest tropical rainforest national park when it recently expanded by 1.5 million hectares.
- The latest edition of the IUCN Red List finds that 26,000 species are threatened with extinction.
- Long tails and large wings help some moths evade bats.
- Whale strandings on the coasts of Washington and Oregon are the highest since 1999-2000.
- Sea level rise will erode California's coastal cliffs (and probably cliffs elsewhere as well).
- Burning wood pellets may be renewable energy, but it is not clean energy.
- The Trump administration wants to reduce protections for the Red Wolf.
- Urban trees can sequester a significant amount of carbon, making the planting and preservation of urban forests essential to fighting climate change.
- The Trump administration is arguing that the EPA relied too much on science in writing the Waters of the U.S. rule.
