Loose Feathers #674

Common Loon / Photo by Bill Thompson/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Populations of threatened birds in Australia halved in the past 30 years, and threatened shorebirds dropped by 70% over the same period.
• A study found that Darwin's finches choose mates that look like themselves.
• The non-breeding range of Bengal Floricans was difficult to find until a satellite monitoring program found that they move outside of protected areas to agricultural areas.
• Indian Peafowl crests vibrate at the same frequencies as their tails during courtship displays.
• A young Bald Eagle was rehabilitated and released after being poisoned with rat poison.

Science and nature blogging

• Raptormaniacs: Dazzle Like a Diamond in the Rough: The Evolution of Iridescent Plumage
• Feathered Photography: Bald Eagle Eating A Fish In Flight – The Entire 12 Image Series For The First Time
• Kent Dragonflies: 2018 Odonata Highlights (June - July)
• 10,000 Birds The American Coot - One of the Least Appreciated Birds in North America 
• Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.: The Best Birding of The Year: April in Sabine Woods  
• Avithera: Crakes
• ornithologi.com: High Numbers of Swamp Sparrow documented at Ted Trueblood WMA, Southwest Idaho  
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: The Vanishing Rusty Blackbird

Conservation and biodiversity

• After the Woolsey Fire in the Santa Monica Mountains, 12 of the 13 tracked cougars were found again, but the thirteenth, P-74, probably died.
• In recent years, a series of dam removals in the Northeast have allowed migratory fish to return to streams where they used to breed. 
• Brazil recorded its worst deforestation rate in a decade, and it may get worse under the new administration. 
• Over 140 pilot whales died in a mass stranding at New Zealand's Mason Bay.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The big climate news last week was the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released the day after Thanksgiving in the hope that people would ignore it. Here is coverage from the AP, Washington Post, and The Guardian. One of the authors suggests three takeaways from the report. Here is another short set of takeaways. One strength of the report is its attention to how the climate will affect each region of the US; here is a look at how it will affect the Northeast.
• In other news, carbon emissions have begun rising again after several years of stability. The Trump administration is doing its best to make sure emissions continue to increase.
• The EPA plans more water pollution regulatory rollbacks. The rollbacks would make it easier to pollute seasonal and intermittent waterways.
• The US Supreme Court struck down the critical habitat designation for the dusky gopher frog. 
• Oil drilling probably caused some earthquakes in California in the 1930s and 1940s.
• Seven men were convicted for murdering environmental activist Berta Cáceres.