Loose Feathers #669

White-throated Sparrow eating Poison Ivy berries / my photo

Birds and birding news

• Hawaiian Gallinules tend not to disperse between islands, which puts them at greater risk from natural disasters and genetic bottlenecks.
• Preserving habitat for Saltmarsh Sparrows would benefit a suite of other species that dwell in saltmarshes.
• Fat reserves and wind direction determine whether songbirds survive crossing the Gulf of Mexico. 
• Non-native plants in suburban backyards reduce the number of insects available for breeding birds. A study estimated that a yard needs to have 70% of its plants be native to support insectivorous birds like Carolina Chickadees.
• A study tracking migratory Black-headed Grosbeaks found that they spend the late summer and fall in northern Mexico and the winter in southern Mexico.
• New Caledonian Crows can create tools out of multiple parts.
• A new bird species, the Rote Leaf-Warbler, has been discovered on Rote Island in Indonesia.
• Jackdaws get spooked by moving sticks.
• Audubon contrasts the approaches to stadium construction taken by the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota United FC, with the latter's being much more bird-friendly.
• A recently-found fossil owl probably hunted diurnally.
• Invasive forage grass like tall fescue is associated with nest failure in grassland birds like Dickcissels.
• A new species of Archaeopteryx from Bavaria could probably fly.
• Invasive mice on Gough Island are going to be eradicated to end their predation on nesting seabirds.

Science and nature blogging

• Feathered Photography: Fourteen Image Series Of A Great Blue Heron Taking Off And In Flight
• BugBlog: Painted Ladies, the world travellers
• Gulls to the Horizon: IJmuiden Forteiland gull season 2018  
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Immature White-crowned Sparrows Up In Box Elder County
• Backyard and Beyond: Purple Gallinule  
• Safe Cat Safe Wildlife: Helping The Little Guy: Creating A Safe Space For Small Native Birds

Conservation and biodiversity

• A new report finds that invertebrates at El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico have declined by 45% over the past 35 years, mirroring the steep reductions in flying insects in Germany over the same period.
• Nature reviews the current state of citizen science, including biodiversity records like iNaturalist.
• A new study creates a model for how native prairie plants recolonize abandoned farm fields. 
• This week is Bat Week to celebrate the diversity of bats.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Hydropower dams provide reliable and emission-free sources of electricity, but block fish migration and eliminate habitat for wildlife (and people).
• Environmental groups are calling for an overhaul of New Jersey's Pinelands Commission to remedy its politicization under Chris Christie's administration. 
• The European Parliament voted to ban single-use plastics within the European Union. 
• A bill proposed by the DC Council would shift Washington, DC, to use only renewable energy by 2032.
• New York filed a lawsuit against Exxon Mobil for defrauding shareholders by hiding evidence of climate change.
• New Jersey is considering legislation to improve its handling of stormwater runoff. 
• Reducing carbon emissions will require not just cleaner sources of energy but also less driving.

Loose Feathers #668

Savannah Sparrow / my photo

Birds and birding news

• The red tide affecting Florida's Gulf Coast is sickening migratory shorebirds like Red Knots as they pass through. 
• The US Fish and Wildlife Service will list the Eastern Black Rail as threatened due to its rapid decline.
• Despite improvements to some buildings, tens of thousands of migratory shorebirds still die in collisions with New York City's buildings.
• Two new studies looked at declines in Tree Swallow populations in eastern Canada. 
• Protecting rare birds from overhunting can help a declining population recover.
• Here is a guide to identifying Henslow's Sparrows. 
• The combination of habitat loss and capture for the wildlife trade is particularly threatening for some Asian bird species.
• In 2016, there were 81 attacks on protected raptors in the UK, but no one was prosecuted for them.

Science and nature blogging

• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Immature Female Northern Harrier Harassing A Ring-necked Pheasant Hen
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: Helping Your Backyard Birds Through the Coming Winter
• The Prairie Ecologist: Crab Spider Tent
• Bird Ecology Study Group: The Variable Brown Shrike
• Natural Newstead: In sunlight and shadow
• Corvid Research: You need to know more about jay spit 

Conservation and biodiversity

• Pando, the massive Quaking Aspen clone forest in Utah, is threatened by overgrazing from deer and livestock and may die out without careful management.
• Satyrine butterflies have swollen veins on their forewings that help them hear low-frequency sounds.
• Several major dam removals are underway to restore spawning habitat for fish.
• Conservation spending slows biodiversity loss, but not enough to keep pace with development. 
• A new study shows that bats save energy by flying close to the ground, and it is likely that applies to birds and insects as well.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Here is a short review of how we know that humans are the main cause of climate change.
• The destruction from Hurricane Michael shows how unprepared the US is for what climate change will bring.
• Vandalism, off-road vehicle use, and other types of damage have increased since the Trump administration cut pieces out of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. 
• Ryan Zinke has been the subject of 18 ethical investigations by the Interior Department's Inspector General, who was replaced this week.

Loose Feathers #667

Mariana Crow / Photo by Henry Fandel

Birds and birding news

• Here are some reminders about how climate change, as laid out in the recent IPCC update, is affecting birds and birding. Birds in piñon-juniper woodlands are already in decline because of climate change.
• A group of captive-bred Mariana Crows (including the one pictured above) were released last month on the island of Rota in the Northern Mariana Islands to boost the endangered wild population. 
• Birds produce their songs using the syrinx, a vocal structure unique to birds.
• Some cemeteries such as Mount Auburn Cemetery and Green-Wood Cemetery have become prime birding locations, especially during migration.
• Gentoo Penguin breeding colonies on Goudier Island have lost a quarter of their breeding pairs and half of their chicks over the past two decades.
• Recent news reports highlighted stories of "drunk birds" in a Minnesota city; in reality they were probably just tired migrants that crashed into windows.
• A private sanctuary in Colombia provides a home to birds rescued from wildlife trafficking. 
• While other boreal species irruptions have yet to materialize, Red-breasted Nuthatches are already appearing in large numbers in the Northeast and Midwest.

Science and nature blogging

• Feathered Photography: Foot Color Variations In Ruby-crowned Kinglets
• Edge Effects: The Hayman Fire and the Impermanence of Mountains
• Shorebird Science: Prioritizing Shorebirds in the Prairies: Conservation Action in Kansas 
• The Prairie Ecologist: Square Meter Photo Project – September
• Natural Newstead: Frequent flyers
• 10,000 Birds: Alaska Day: Birds and the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA)
• MYRMECOS: Winter Ants Testing the Boundaries 
• earthstar: Busy little Ivy bees 
• Arctic Sea Ice: Freezing season has started, or has it?
• Backyard and Beyond: The Quest for White Snakeroot
• Snapshots of Nature: Global Big Day!
• View from the Cape: Major Milestones at the Banding Station

Conservation and biodiversity

• A state government in Brazil stripped protections from 11 of its protected areas.
• If forest elephants disappear, their absence would affect many other species, possibly including people.
• Canada declared a tract of the Northwest Territories off-limits to mining because of its importance to indigenous people. The government had previously tried to open it to development.
• As western cougar populations continue to grow, some cougars are starting to recolonize their historical range in the Midwest.
• Here is a look at how indigenous people coexist with revived bear populations in the Pacific Northwest.
• Nature Conservancy of Canada is trying to get people to spend more time outdoors. 
• Writing about the world's environmental problems presents difficult challenges.

Climate change and environmental politics

• A new report from the IPCC says that major effects from climate change will come much sooner than expected, with potential for a crisis within the lifetimes of most people alive today.
• In addition, the 0.5 degree between 1.5°C and 2°C of warming would make a major difference in the severity of climate change's effects.
• Here are some notes on how climate change is affecting hurricanes.
• The EPA is getting rid of the scientific panel that advises it on the regulation of particulate matter in air pollution.
• While New Jersey's legislature considers a ban on certain types of single-use plastics, NorthJersey.com is reporting on the scope of the state's plastics problem. The second article in the series looks at the problem of microplastics.

Loose Feathers #666

American Coot / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Tomorrow (October 6) is eBird's October Big Day. The date was chosen to correspond with spring in the southern hemisphere and fall migration in the northern hemisphere.
• Veeries cut their breeding season short early in years that have intense hurricane seasons. Somehow the birds are able to predict the severity of the season months in advance.
• A new fossil from the Cretaceous shows a bird-like dinosaur that had a short tail but lacked some of the shoulder adaptations that modern birds have for powered flight.
• Here is a guide to Evening Grosbeak call types.
• Blue Tits living in cities lay larger eggs than one in natural areas, possibly because of their diet.
• House Sparrows evolved as a separate species around the same time as the beginnings of human agriculture, with genetic traits that allowed them to digest grains.
• Swift Parrots shift their breeding sites depending on where nectar from flowering trees is most abundant.
• Houston has thriving colonies of Monk Parakeets, which are native to South America.
• A study found that the personalities of Great Tits influence how they form pair bonds. 
• Two winters ago, 17 White-tailed Sea-Eagles were killed by avian influenza, which is the first documentation of that disease in that species. 
• The new Discovery Center in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park provides examples of how to make glass less deadly for birds. 
• Some moths drink the tears of sleeping birds. 
• Ridgway's Rails were released at a preserved marsh on Mission Bay to reintroduce the species to potential breeding habitat.

Science and nature blogging

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Fox Sparrows: A Boreal Bird on the Move
• Feathered Photography: Eight Of My Favorite Rough-legged Hawk Photos 
• Elev. 401: A weed by any other name…
• MaghrebOrnitho: Crossbills in North Africa and the Balearics are the most divergent of all Western Palearctic crossbills
• The Artful Amoeba: Florida Oaks Host Exciting Parasite-on-Parasite Action 
• Avian Hybrids: What selection pressure is acting on hybrids between Audubon’s and Myrtle Warbler?
• Kelly Krechmer: Observing and Identifying Pollinators with iNaturalist 
• Birding New Jersey: Not Just Ani Sugarbird

Conservation and biodiversity

• Observations of the Elwha River since two dams were removed two years ago will provide guidance for future dam removals. Salmon have started to return as expected, and there have been a host of other changes around the river's watershed.
• Secondary forests in the tropics are important for biodiversity and should be allowed to mature.
• Island Foxes have made a comeback on California's Channel Islands; new research is testing whether they have enough genetic diversity.
• A 442-acre former cranberry farm will be preserved and opened to the public in the New Jersey Pinelands.
• Surveys in the southern US have so far failed to find the habitat used by Blacklegged Tick nymphs.
• For the past few years, October has been celebrated as Arachtober as a way to demystify spiders and their relatives. To participate, see the Arachtober group on Flickr or follow the #Arachtober tag on Twitter.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Climate change will impose tremendous costs on the U.S., much higher than previous estimates.
• Environmentalists won some key legal rulings in the fight to save Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments. In particular, the Trump administration will need to inform them of any development plans, and the trial will stay in DC rather than Utah.
• This week the Trump administration announced that they would weaken regulations for both mercury emissions and radiation exposure, as well as safety rules designed to prevent another disaster like the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.
• The administration also argues that the world will warm 4°C by 2100 and make any greenhouse gas emissions cuts useless.
• In better news, the Obama administration's Waters of the U.S. rule finally went into force when a judge blocked the Trump administration's attempt to revoke it. The rule protects streams and wetlands from development.
• Climate change is likely to increase the severity of air pollution, especially in the eastern U.S.
• The New Jersey state legislature is working on a bill to ban plastic bags, plastic straws, and styrofoam containers. It would become the broadest plastics ban in the country if it passes.
• The EPA will finally begin cleaning up Berry's Creek in the New Jersey Meadowlands, which has one of highest concentrations of mercury and other contaminants in the world. Much of the waste came from an industrial site that was first designated as a Superfund site in 1984, but the cleanup has been plagued by delays.
• The Supreme Court's new term began with arguments over the critical habitat designation for the dusky gopher frog.
• Most of the eastern US experienced record-breaking overnight temperatures during the month of September.