Loose Feathers #729

Cedar Waxwing / Photo by Grayson Smith/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The Audubon project Survival By Degrees shows how bird ranges will change as the climate warms. Among other things, many state birds will no longer reside in the states that claimed them.
• A captive-breeding program for the endangered Florida Grasshopper Sparrow recently released 100 sparrows back into the wild. 
• A project in California is testing whether scrub jays can help reforest burned areas after recent wild fires.
• In Uganda, a conservation group is getting communities involved in protecting wetlands that Gray-crowned Cranes depend on for survival.
• Conservationists are tracking critically endangered Chinese Crested Terns by satellite to learn more about the species and prevent it from going extinct.
• New York City's new building code will save many of the birds that migrate through the city.
• A wild fire in Western Australia spared the main stronghold of the endangered Western Ground Parrot, though some habitat was burned.
• A recent survey of Great Abaco Island in the Bahamas found Bahama Parrots and other expected species had survived Hurricane Dorian. News on the Bahama Nuthatch will have to wait until surveys in the spring.

Science and nature blogging

• Feathered Photography: The Pied-billed Grebe And The Crayfish
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: The American Tree Sparrow – Long Distance Visitor to the Meadowlands 
• mocosocoBirds: The 84th Boonton Christmas Bird Count Report – 2019
• 10,000 Birds: We had a Christmas Bird Count
• Natural Newstead: Hanging basket 
• MaghrebOrnitho: First record of Moltoni's Warbler in Algeria

Biodiversity and conservation

• Florida boaters killed a record 129 manatees this year despite protection efforts.
• In addition to expanding into eastern North America, coyotes may soon expand their range into South America.
• The Delta smelt was already doing poorly because of overuse of water and recent droughts, and regulatory changes may make the problem worse.
• Removal of some obsolete dams has boosted the restoration of Ukraine's portion of the Danube River Delta.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Oil companies linked to oil spills during Hurricane Katrina have largely avoided accountability for cleaning up those spills.
• A bill in the New Jersey legislature would protect all of Liberty State Park from development, but a billionaire wants the bill amended so that he can expand his golf course into the park.
• A heat wave linked to climate change is hurting livestock and wildlife in Australia.

Loose Feathers #728

Common Loon / Photo by Grayson Smith/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A genetic study of the Long-whiskered Owlet confirmed that it is most closely related to the Elf Owl, and that those two species are also related to the Collared Owlet, which may deserve its own genus.
• Red-winged Blackbird nestlings stop calling when they hear the calls of potential predators. 
• CityLab has an article on what New York City's bird-safe building law might look like in practice.
• One of the more difficult ID issues on my local Christmas Bird Count will be how to separate Black-capped and Carolina Chickadees.
• Find a local Christmas Bird Count via Audubon's map.
• A community in Kerala is working to protect the hornbills that live there. 
• A man who killed an endangered Whooping Crane at a fish farm in Louisiana did not receive a fine or jail time. Louisiana has the highest number of Whooping Crane shootings, and that particular crane was part of the first successful breeding pair in the non-migratory flock.
• Satellite imagery shows the loss and fragmentation of old-growth forest habitat that the Spotted Owl requires.
• Oregon is reviewing its protections for Marbled Murrelets, a seabird that nests in old-growth forests.
• A family in Georgia found an Eastern Screech-Owl in their Christmas tree. (How the owl got there and why it stayed there are unclear.)
• Biologists have banded 1,700 Atlantic Brant with transmitters and colored leg markers to study their migration routes and behavior on breeding and wintering grounds. Birders who find marked Brant should report them to the Bird Banding Laboratory.

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Hybrids: The genomics of being a raptor 
• Corvid Research: What is “intelligence”?
• 10,000 Birds: The Final Days of the Danube backwaters in Belgrade: Chinese Belt and Road Initiative is coming to Serbia
• The Rattling Crow: Loafing gulls
• The Prairie Ecologist: Why Telling Prairie Stories Matters  
• MaghrebOrnitho: House Bunting nesting on the Mediterranean coast of Algeria
• Feathered Photography: A Bloody Barn Owl In Flight

Biodiversity and conservation

• The US Fish and Wildlife Service is considering protecting the Bethany Beach Firefly and Gulf Coast Solitary Bee under the Endangered Species Actin response to a petition. Both are threatened by habitat loss and pesticide use.
• Male golden rocket frogs advertise their parenting skills via their calls during the breeding season.
• Generally livestock can be protected from wolves without killing them, but 26 wolves have been killed at a single ranch in Washington. 
• This winter twice as many Monarchs are wintering in Pismo Beach as last year according to counts by the Xerces Society. This is good news, but their numbers will need to incease substantially to reach historical levels.
• White-tip sharks were reclassified as critically endangered, but nations around the Pacific still have not improved protections for them.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The climate talks in Madrid were mostly a failure, but one positive development was that participants finally started talking about phasing out fossil fuels. 
• Alaska, like many places, seems too dependent on oil production to give it up, even in places that climate change is destroying.
• Tongass National Forest contains the largest remaining temperate rainforest but is constantly under threat, mostly recently by regulatory changes proposed by the Trump administration.
• Eleven northeastern states and the District of Columbia have proposed a plan to reduce emissions from cars via a cap-and-trade program. Transportation has become the top source of carbon emissions for 10 of the 11 states as the use of coal for electricity generation has declined.
• The Dutch Supreme Court ordered the Netherlands to reduce carbon emissions by 25% from 1990 levels by the end of 2020. This upholds a court order from 2015 that set a 2020 deadline for emissions cuts.
• An accident at a fracking site in Ohio last year produced one of the largest recorded methane leaks in the U.S.
• A bill in the House Natural Resources Committee would reduce emissions from public lands by shifting to renewable energy generation instead of fossil fuel extraction.
• California's waters are acidifying rapidly, thanks to a combination of climate change and natural oscillations.
• Many places along the East Coast will see significant changes with rising sea levels; one of the vulnerable places is Cape Cod.
• A new climate change report by state climatologists shows that sea level rise will be much worse along the New Jersey coast than current policies envision.

Loose Feathers #727

Masked Boobies / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding news

• A genetic study confirms that the extinction of Carolina Parakeets was caused primarily by humans.
• The loss of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean could cause Dovekies to shift their migration to a route that would cost them less energy than their current one.
• New York City passed a bill to require that new construction and major renovations use bird-friendly building materials to reduce the number of birds killed by the city's skyscrapers. Renovations at the Javits Center showed that such materials could almost eliminate collisions.
• Audubon has a summary of the results of the 119th Christmas Bird Count, just in time for the 120th Christmas Bird Count, which starts tomorrow.
• The IUCN issued a new update to its Red List this week; one highlight was that the Guam Rail improved from extinct to critically endangered after the release of captive-bred birds on an island without Brown Tree Snakes.
• Debate continues over whether feeding birds is actually beneficial to them; the article suggests some best practices for those who maintain feeders.
• Laughing Gull nesting pairs in Virginia have dropped from 55,000 in 1993 to 20,000 in 2018 due to rising sea levels. These gulls are especially vulnerable to climate change because they nest in coastal marshes.
• Mosquitos carrying avian malaria are a threat to native songbirds in Hawaii.
• Excessive airplane noise causes birds to vocalize more loudly.
• The Hawaiian Goose, or Nene, has been downlisted from endangered to threatened but has not recovered its former abundance.
• Feathered dinosaurs, like modern birds, had to deal with feather parasites. 
• A project in Virginia demonstrates the importance of native, warm-season grasses for wintering songbirds.
• A Bald Eagle was nearly drowned by an octopus at a fish farm on Vancouver Island. 
• Photos show albatross chicks being attacked and eaten by house mice on Gough Island.

Science and nature blogging

• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: 15 Things We Can All Do To Help Our Birds Right Now!
• 10,000 Birds: Birding Fraser`s Hill
• In Defense of Plants: The Sinewy American Hornbeam
• awkward botany: Pine Cones Are Like Hangars for Pine Tree Seeds 
• On The Wing Photography: Focusing On Winter Redheads 
• bird and moon: Four Seasons of Bird Watching
• Avian Hybrids: White-throated Sparrows influence gene expression in their offspring 
• Chicago Ornithological Society: Dan's Feathursday Feature: Purple Sandpiper

Biodiversity and conservation

• An endangered tree in India has been hard to propagate because its seeds are difficult to preserve.
• California will list the Foothill Yellow-legged Frog as endangered in response to a petition from the Center for Biological Diversity.
• An artist is creating detailed graphite drawings of at-risk species to call attention to the extinction crisis. 
• For reforestation to be effective, it needs to be about restoring habitats and not just planting trees.

Climate change and environmental politics

• A report on the state of the Arctic found numerous concerning changes, from record high temperatures to rapid melting of Greenland's ice sheet to thawing permafrost.
• Meanwhile, bushfires in Australia have emitted a massive amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, equal to almost half of the country's annual emissions.
• Addressing climate change will require a reduction in meat and dairy consumption; "peak meat" will probably need to happen by 2030 in wealthier countries.
• Activists were frustrated that climate justice is not being given greater attention at the UN climate talks in Madrid. 
• An EU commission proposed a European Green Deal to help the European economy reduce its emissions and adapt to climate change.
• New York lost its climate change case against Exxon Mobil this week. The state argued that the company misled shareholders about the cost of climate change.
• The fracking boom has spurred the development of new plants that convert shale gas to plastic, and communities near the new plants are finding tiny plastic pellets in watersheds around the plants.
• Recycling of electronic waste is mostly done in Southeast Asia, often by people working for low pay in dangerous working conditions.
• In East Coast cities like Washington, climate change is reducing the average seasonal snowfall but increasing the potential for monster snowstorms.
• It seems that New Jersey's proposed single-use plastics ban might be stalled again due to lobbying from the plastics industry. 
• The proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline would cut through the Appalachians and Piedmont to carry fracked gas to southeast North Carolina. Construction is currently held up because of lawsuits over the pipeline's environmental impacts, including to the Appalachian Trail.

Loose Feathers #726

Ash-throated Flycatcher / my photo

Birds and birding news

• New genetic research using museum specimens finds that the extinction of the Great Auk was a result of overhunting and not due to environmental change or inbreeding.
• This week a Ross's Gull, extremely rare in the Lower 48, was seen by birders in Seattle, but a Bald Eagle caught and ate it. Photos and details about the gull, including its final moments, are in this checklist and this checklist (and several others) on eBird. 
• A study using specimens of 52 bird species that struck buildings in Chicago from 1978 to 2016 found that body size decreased in all 52 species and wing length increased in 40 species, which is consistent with warming temperatures.
• Higher temperatures have increased the daily water intake of birds in the Mojave Desert, which could reduce their populations if climate change worsens.
• The availability of cheap recording devices and data storage is making it easier to monitor wildlife sounds in places where it would be expensive or time-consuming to conduct on-the-ground surveys. Birds especially can be studied this way, but it can also be used for frogs and toads, whales, some insects, and other groups. Some software can already identify vocalizations on the recordings to species.
• More frequent wildfires may threaten Northern Goshawks in the Sierra Nevadas since the hawks avoid nesting in areas with severe burns. 
• A report finds that Australia's threatened birds declined by an average of 59% over the past 30 years, with some groups faring worse. Migratory shorebirds, for example, declined by 72%. 
• A captive-breeding program is starting to return Alagoas Curassows to Brazil's Atlantic Forest, with three pairs released this fall.
• Chinstrap Penguins have a harder time adapting to environmental changes than Gentoo Penguins because of their more specialized diet.
• Wild Turkeys come in a variety of color morphs.
• Feral Monk Parakeets have continued to thrive in Bergen County after escaping from captivity 30 years ago.

Science and nature blogging

• ABA Blog: 2020 AOS Classification Committee Proposals, Part 1
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to December 2019
• Avian Hybrids: Taking advantage of hybridization to find a migration gene in warblers
• MaghrebOrnitho: Andalusian Buttonquail observed in Algeria after three decades
• 10,000 Birds: 12 countries with the greatest bird species density
• On The Wing Photography: Song Sparrows In The Marsh Of Farmington Bay
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Fri-D: Where is It, Exactly?
• Linda Murdock Photography: Amazing Avocets 

Biodiversity and conservation

• Forest fragmentation puts wildlife in danger, especially in places where animals are used to having stable habitats.
• The IUCN is creating a Green List that will evaluate how well threatened species have recovered. Some species, like the American Bison, are no longer in danger of extinction but are nowhere near their historical population levels.
• LED lights on gillnets may reduce bycatch of sea turtles and dolphins.
• For now at least, it seems New Jersey has avoided the spread of invasive pond mussels via a fish farm in Hunterdon County. The mussels can get very large, but their larvae can ride in the gills of invasive carp.

Climate change and environmental politics

• This year's Emissions Gap Report from the UN finds that global emissions have risen by 1.5% per year over the past decade and that nations must increase their emissions cuts because the cuts pledged under the Paris Agreement would result in a temperature increase of 3.2°C. 
• Countries with the biggest emissions increases are all in Asia, but a disproportionately large share still comes from the United States, which accounts for 14.5% of global carbon emissions.
• Early climate change models were impressively accurate according to a new paper.
• The National Butterfly Center won an injunction against a private group trying to building a wall along the Rio Grande.
• California set a moratorium on dropping insurance coverage in fire-prone areas, which is a window into the problems insurance companies are having with adapting to climate change.
• The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act of 2019 advanced out of committee in the House of Representatives. The bill would provide money to states, territories, and DC to implement their wildlife conservation plans.
• The federal government recently released a report on Superfund sites that might be threatened by climate change, and 24 are in the Lower Raritan Watershed.
• New Jersey may finally pass broad restrictions on disposable plastic items after the legislation sat in limbo for months.
• California's plastics law reduced plastic bag use by 80%, but many stores still offer slightly thicker plastic bags.
• The Surfrider Foundation gave New Jersey a D- in its evaluation of how coastal communities are handling climate change adaptation. While the report praised the Blue Acres program, it found permitting and building standards were too lenient in flood-prone areas and too much emphasis was put on beach replenishment and seawalls.

Loose Feathers #725

Great Blue Heron / Photo by Keenan Adams/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A study that requires collecting seabirds in the Bering Sea so far has shown that the birds are struggling to find their preferred foods. 
• Meanwhile, Short-tailed Shearwaters were two weeks late arriving to their southern breeding grounds in Australia, and they arrived in unusually low numbers. This follows a mass mortality event for the species in the Bering Sea.
• The Rufous-headed Hornbill has been the subject of a conservation campaign that focuses on teaching schoolchildren about the endangered bird.
• South Africa is creating safe zones for vultures to try to save the threatened birds, which often die from eating poisoned bait.
• Singapore is hosting a pair of Philippine Eagles that are part of a captive-breeding program. 
• Wisdom the Laysan Albatross returned to Midway Atoll last week. 
• A white Bearded Vulture is being seen in the Alps, where that color morph does not usually occur.
• The weeks preceding Thanksgiving are full of news stories on Wild Turkeys, such as one that chases cars in Haddon Heights. 
• A wildlife manager explains why introducing Wild Turkeys to Newfoundland would be a bad idea. 
• It is a shame that Ocellated Turkeys only seem to get talked about around Thanksgiving.

Science and nature blogging

• Wing Beat: How Did a Volcanic Eruption Affect Andean Condors? 
• Avian Hybrids: Multispecies hybridization among Thrushes (genus Catharus)
• ornithologi.com: Published in the Journal of Raptor Research: Defining Raptors and Birds of Prey 
• Backyard and Beyond: Scapegoat
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Celebrating Birder Broker's Successful First Year 
• On The Wing Photography: West Desert Juniper Titmouse Feeding On Juniper Berry Seeds
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush foraging
• The Prairie Ecologist: A Surprising Winter Hideout
• 10,000 Birds: Uganda’s Billion Dollar Bird: The Shoebill
• Arachnofiles: Arachnews: October 2019

Biodiversity and conservation

• A blue whale's heart can beat remarkably slowly to conserve oxygen when it dives according to new observations.
• Recent expeditions show that vaquitas are still reproducing even as their numbers are extremely low.
• A study showed that coastal fog in California pulls mercury out of the ocean and deposits it in coastal mountain ranges, which creates problems for mountain lions and other wildlife at the top of the food chain.
• Habitat restoration may not be enough to save Alberta's caribou in areas with energy development.
• An international commission will lower catch limits for bigeye tunas, but the new limit may still be too high and ignores issues with bycatch.
• An Amazonian tree with human-sized leaves was finally formally described as a new species.
• New Jersey acquired several large properties in Cumberland County that will expand a wildlife management area by 5,500 acres.
• Commerical cranberry growers in the New Jersey Pinelands need to balance crop production with environmental sustainability to keep growing cranberries.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Global uses of coal-fired electricity may finally fall this year due to reduced demand in India and China. 
• Even so, atmospheric greenhouse gases hit a new high in 2018, and global emissions must fall by half by 2030 to have a chance of limiting warming to 1.5°C.
• Arctic permafrost is thawing faster and contains more carbon than expected, which could make climate change much worse.
• Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon increased by 30% over the past year and is expected to get worse. 
• The explosion of a chemical plant in Texas is a reminder than undermining environmental and safety regulations has real consequences.
• Last week a climate change protest disrupted the annual Harvard-Yale football game; students and other attendees sought to pressure the universities to divest their fossil fuel investments.
• Activists protested the destruction of habitat along the border in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
• The mayor of Pittsburgh came out in opposition to a proposed factory to make plastics from fracked gas.
• London is dropping charges against at least 105 Extinction Rebellion protestors who were arrested last month.
• An education center on the Chesapeake Bay has been forced to close because of rising water levels.

Loose Feathers #724

Cedar Waxwing / Photo by Bill Thompson/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Environmental DNA has been used to confirm the presence of an endangered Gouldian Finch at a watering hole in Australia.
• A study tracking Arctic Terns found that changes in their feathers corresponded to changes in the condition of Antarctic sea ice, where they spend part of each year. 
• Arctic Terns have one of the longest recorded bird migrations.
• New research suggests that birds inherited their colorful eggshell patterns from their dinosaur ancestors. 
• The endangered Hawaiian Ducks on Kauai have few hybrids but lots of genetic diversity. 
• A recent study compared Bank Swallows nesting in aggregate pits with those nesting in natural habitats.
• Flocks of jackdaws become more organized as more birds join. 
• A landowner in Australia killed 420 Wedge-tailed Eagles over a year-and-a-half. Birds of prey are frequently persecuted because of misconceptions about them preying on livestock.
• Darwin's finches are still wary despite the removal of invasive predators. 
• Andrew Cuomo vetoed a bill that would mandate bird-friendly building designs in New York State. The New York City Council is considering a similar bill to do the same within the city.
• Piping Plovers in Connecticut had a good breeding season.
• A weak wet season in Florida means that there might not be enough food for wading birds in the coming breeding season.

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Hybrids: Cultural evolution contributes to speciation in Crossbills
• Dan Tallman’s Bird Blog: Barrow’s vs. Common Goldeneye
• Gulls to the Horizon: Yellow-legged Gulls (lusitanius) in Spain – November 2019

Biodiversity and conservation

• Instead of following the wave of springtime greening, migratory bison influence how plants grow and make higher nutrient levels persist longer than they might otherwise.
• Here are five other major animal migrations in North America.
• A third of the tropical plants in Africa are threatened with extinction according to the IUCN's latest assessment. The information available for plants is less complete than for birds or mammals.
• All but one of the species listed under the Endangered Species Act face threats from climate change, but climate response has not been included in the recovery plans for most species. 
• Conserving wildlife that disperse seeds is key to using forests as carbon sinks. 
• Scientists are looking at fossil oysters to gauge what a health Chesapeake would look like. 
• A tiny population of the endangered St. Francis Satyr persists on the Fort Bragg artillery range, and scientists are starting to build backup populations elsewhere. 
• Data in notebooks from the early 20th century show that sockeye salmon populations have crashed even more than usually thought.
• New dragonfly and damselfly species continue to be found in Sri Lanka, but many are threatened by increasing water pollution.
• A new study finds that lichen colonized land after vascular plants had already evolved.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Climate change was the subject of only one question at the Democratic debate on Wednesday.
• Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has reached an eleven-year high as a result of the current government's policies.
• The Trump administration will miss its goal of selling leases for oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in 2019. It is unclear when leases will be ready. 
• That news comes at the same time that BLM had to suspend hundreds of oil and gas leases because of inadequate environmental reviews.
• It would be better if those fossil fuels stayed in the ground because current fossil fuel production is already enough to drive temperatures well above a safe level of warming. 
• Cap-and-trade is insufficient to address climate change without additional regulation of greenhouse-gas-emitting industries.
• The nominee to head NOAA, who had major conflicts-of-interest, is withdrawing from consideration. 
• Montana lawmakers want to extend the public comment period on the portion of the Keystone XL pipeline that would run through their state.
• Brazilian ethanol can no longer be considered a clean fuel since sugarcane crops threaten the Amazon forest.

Loose Feathers #723

American Bittern / my photo

Birds and birding news

• If greenhouse gas emissions continue at their current level, Emperor Penguins would probably be extinct by the end of the century. If every country met their commitments under the Paris agreement, the species would still decline by a third but probably survive.
• A new study suggests that Rough-legged Hawks prefer to nest near Peregrine Falcons because the falcons drive off other raptors that might eat small rodents. 
• Conservationists are trying to establish a second population of Maui Parrotbills, but most of the translocated birds in the initial attempt died of avian malaria.
• A Dark-eyed Junco’s smell is produced by its microbiome.
• Government biologists are trying to move Caspian Tern colonies away from the Columbia River to reduce predation on endangered salmon. Like with the cormorant control issue, the main problems for salmon are still overfishing and dams.
• The Hoiho (or Yellow-eyed Penguin) was voted New Zealand's bird of the year, and the Black-throated Finch was voted as Australia's bird of the year. Both species are endangered, and the latter's largest remaining population will be displaced by a coal mine.
• In other New Zealand bird news, the song of the Rifleman may hold clues about the origins of vocal learning in songbirds since they belong to a distinct lineage.
• The Kentish Plover and White-faced Plover look similar but are different enough genetically to be two different species.
• Thousands of Steppe Eagles were counted at stopover or wintering sites northwest of Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
• It is almost Thanksgiving in the US, so newspapers are covering Wild Turkeys being a nuisance.

Science and nature blogging

• The Rattling Crow: Mute Swan acoustic communication
• On The Wing Photography: The Trumpeter Swan I Couldn’t Rescue
• Avian Hybrids: Hybrid Honeyeaters in eastern and western Australia

Biodiversity and conservation

• A biologist has been counting butterflies at the same ten sites near Sacramento for the past 47 years, and the data show long-term declines among many species, with a sudden drop around 1999. 
• The IUCN is creating a Green List as a complement to its Red List, as a way to define and highlight species recovery.
• The process for describing and naming new plant species often moves slowly enough that the plant is extinct by the time it has an official name. For example, the newly-named Lebbiea genus is threatened by the imminent construction of hydroelectric dams.
• Some snakes in the genus Dendrelaphis have the ability to jump between branches.
• Silver-backed Chevrotains, the smallest hoofed mammal, were photographed by camera trap in Vietnam after the species had gone undetected for 30 years. 

Climate change and environmental politics

• Andrew Wheeler is continuing his perversion of the agency he runs with a new draft rule that would prohibit the EPA from including public health studies that use confidential medical data in its rulemaking process. The rule would be retroactive, meaning that it could be used to eliminate many public health regulations.
• Last week six presidential candidates attended a forum on environmental justice, which has barely gotten attention in the DNC's official debates.
• Last week the Interior Department suspended the Invasive Species Advisory Committee, which coordinates the efforts of various agencies, ostensibly as a cost-cutting move. 
• An AP report based on federal data finds that nearly 1,700 dams in the U.S. are in poor or unsatisfactory condition, enough to pose a safety hazard. The highest concentration of hazardous dams is in New Mexico.
• Putting a speed limit on ships could reduce greenhouse gas and particulate pollution as well as underwater noise and collisions with whales. 
• A new book argues that officials in the 1920s had access to data showing that their plans for dividing the Colorado River's water were flawed.
• Residents in Ocean County shore towns still plan to vote for Trump despite knowing that inaction on climate change puts their properties and lives in danger. 
• Other parts of the New Jersey coast, like Atlantic City, are already facing chronic flooding problems from sea level rise.

Loose Feathers #722

Swallow-tailed Kite / Photo by Grayson Smith/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• For coastal species like Saltmarsh Sparrows to survive climate change, restoration of high salt marshes will be necessary.
• The turtle dove is one of several European species under pressure because of changes in agricultural practices.
• Vulturine Guineafowl live in an unexpectedly complex social system.
• Studies are finding evidence that climate change is making survival and successful breeding more difficult for migratory birds. 
• Development threatens an important wintering habitat for the Far Eastern Curlew. 
• It is unclear why parrots waste so much food, but it benefits some other animals that pick up food parrots drop or leave behind.
• Most geese breed more successfully with an earlier spring, but light-bellied Brant do worse because it decreases the food available for their goslings.
• About 130 highly endangered Black-billed Gulls are nesting in an abandoned and half-demolished office complex in New Zealand. 
• The biggest threat to vultures is poisoning (either deliberate or incidental), but there is also a threat from the wildlife trade connected to traditional medicine.
• A warmer and wetter climate in the Canadian prairies benefits wetland-dependent birds. 
• Australia has allowed birds in need of conservation to continue declining even though it has the resources and knowledge to save them. 
• Speaking of Australian birds, the Guardian is sponsoring a vote for the Australian bird of the year. So far the Black-throated Finch, whose habitat is threatened by a proposed coal mine, is the leading vote getter, but the Budgerigar is an underrated candidate.
• Puffins make poor dietary choices when conditions are bad.
• New Jersey published reports on the Piping Plover Nesting Results (pdf) and the overall Beach Nesting Bird Project (pdf) in the state for 2019. Piping Plovers were more successful than in 2018, but still below the level needed for sustainability. Almost three-quarters of the state's Piping Plover population breeds in two federal properties (Sandy Hook and Forsythe NWR).

Science and nature blogging

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: New VCE Study Reveals Surprising Upland Sandpiper Migration Patterns 
• Avian Hybrids: Promiscuous Pitohuis: Exchange of “toxicity genes” between poisonous birds?
• The Freiday Bird Blog: What Are You Doing Here?
• 10,000 Birds: How to Bird on Crutches
• Backyard and Beyond: It’s That Time of Year Again 
• Urban Hawks: Purple Gallinule

Biodiversity and conservation

• Conservationists are trying to protect the Gran Chaco region, which covers parts of Bolivia, Paraguary, and Argentina.
• New research on the invasive Spotted Lanternflies in North America documents 24 different surfaces on which the lanternflies laid eggs, including yard furniture and cars. Preferred trees include black birch, black cherry, and sweet cherry, in addition to its main host, the tree-of-heaven.
• A genetic study found that Heliconius butterflies diversified rapidly with a boost from hybridization. 
• Invasive snakehead fish may not be as much of a threat as they originally seemed to be.
• Millions of migrating Monarch butterflies are killed along Texas highways. 
• The Powesheik Skipperling's population is declining rapidly and in danger of extinction. 
• A new species of dragonfly was described from Costa Rica.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The Trump administration finally took formal steps to leave the Paris agreement; withdrawal will take effect after the next election. While the announcement does not doom climate action, it isolates the US and makes it much harder to achieve the necessary emissions reductions.
• An oil spill off the coast of Brazil has soiled 2,400 km of coastline, including mangroves and coral reefs. The government has been slow to respond, leaving volunteers to clean up the mess.
• Reduction of consumer plastic waste is useful, but the biggest share of plastics in the ocean is discarded fishing gear. 
• Extreme wildfires are reversing much of the progress in cleaning up air pollution, especially in the West. 
• Invasive grasses like cane grass and buffelgrass help to fuel those wildfires.
• Long-term ecological research is hampered by government funding cuts and shutdowns.
• The US needs to start planning how to protect coastal communities and ecosystems threatened by climate change now.
• Coastal communities will need to deal with sea level rise long after greenhouse gas emissions are stopped. 
• London's ban on Extinction Rebellion protests was ruled unlawful, and activists may sue for illegal arrests. 
• Australia's prime minister wants to ban climate boycotts, especially ones that target the coal industry.

Loose Feathers #721

Gray Catbird / Photo by Kyle Chelius/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• With the fledging of some chicks this summer, there are now more than 100 California Condors in the wild in central California.
• In honor of Halloween, NPR did a piece on the intelligence of crows.
• Building wooden fake chimneys is one way to support Chimney Swifts, whose population is declining. The cause of their decline may be decreasing numbers of uncapped chimneys, declining insect populations, or an unknown problem on their wintering grounds.
• Feral parrots in Florida appear to coexist with native bird populations rather than harming them. 
• A study found that even common birds are losing their habitats in Australia. At least some birders are noticing the difference.
• Scientists tracking eagles through cellular networks emptied their budget when an eagle suddenly sent a flood of text messages after being out-of-range for a long time. 
• A birding group toured the east end of Grand Bahama and found a lot fewer birds than before the hurricane. 
• A new study finds that younger Northern Gannets learn where to forage by following their elders.
• The critically endangered Regent Honeyeater's genetic history suggests that the best way to save it is to preserve its current habitat.
• A new atlas shows how four species of quail have declined across Texas. 

Science and nature blogging

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to November 2019
• Bug Eric: One Night, One House, Seventeen Spider Species
• Chicago Ornithological Society: Dan's Feathursday Feature: Dunlin 

Biodiversity and conservation

• Scientists are studying the Klamath River in anticipation of what it is expected to be the largest dam removal project yet, in which four dams are slated to be removed.
• A Humpback Whale that was stranded at Island Beach State Park in New Jersey this week was covered in propeller cuts, including at least one that hit its spinal column. Two sea turtles and a Fin Whale were also killed by boats in New Jersey waters this week.
• Hundreds of koalas died in wildfires that tore through their habitat in eastern Australia.
• A new bat species was discovered in Nicaragua. 
• An invasive virus threatens Wood Frogs in North America.

Climate change and environmental politics

• A study found that it is better for the climate to leave intact forests alone than to log them and replant them. In the first decade of this century, logging or disturbance of intact forests accounted for about 3% of global carbon emissions.
• Because climate reports are created through consensus, they often underestimate the worst-case scenarios. 
• A new study found that sea level rise is likely to be higher than expected. The link includes maps of populated areas at high tide in 2050.
• A branch of the Keystone pipeline system spilled 383,000 gallons of crude oil in North Dakota.
• Mining companies in Texas are not cleaning up the sites of former coal and lignite mines adequately.
• Meanwhile, the EPA is weakening emissions regulations for coal-fired power plants. 
• The EPA disbanded its Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, but the committee met anyway and found that the agency's regulations were substandard. 
• Activists are fighting to stop more petrochemical plants from being added to Louisiana's "Cancer Alley."

Loose Feathers #720

Mallard (my photo)

Birds and birding news

• The male White Bellbird has the loudest recorded bird vocalization at 125 decibels, louder than a Screaming Piha.
• A study of Yellowhammer song found that the initial part of its song has a lot of individual variation while the ending distinguishes its dialect.
• The interior population of Least Terns is being removed from the Endangered Species List since the number of breeding colonies has grown from 48 to 480 since the population was listed in 1985. Least Terns in California are still listed. 
• Western Gulls take advantage of the availability of fast food on California's coast, and a project is testing whether that dietary change is altering the soil chemistry of the Channel Islands where the gulls nest.
• Migratory birds are arriving earlier but not keeping pace with earlier leaf-out and flowering dates. 
• Likewise, birds that seem to benefit from climate change today may struggle in the future as change becomes more extreme.
• Major museum collections have far more specimens of male than female birds. For more thoughts on that study, see this Twitter thread from a museum curator.
• Elbow and wrist motion account for how birds with different wing shapes can use similar flight styles like gliding or hovering.
• This year's survey of Gunnison Sage-Grouse leks found only 429 males, compared to 1,129 in 2015, which suggests that the total population has dropped from 4,000 to 1,800. 
• Scientists are tracking Long-billed Curlews that nest in Montana to learn more about their migratory movements.
• A reporter discusses his first trip birding with DC Audubon, part of a trend of younger people getting into birdwatching. 
• A vagrant Yellow-browed Warbler was front-page news in British Columbia.

Science and nature blogging

• Feathered Photography: Western Grebe Trying To Walk With Little Success
• The Prairie Ecologist: Risky Business
• Seabirding: October 18, 2019 - Diablotin - by Kate Sutherland
• Avian Hybrids: Separating Sparrows: Species limits in the striped-sparrows (genus Rhynchospiza)
• Urban Hawks: Tennessee Warbler

Biodiversity and conservation

• A boom in the purple sea urchin population on North America's Pacific coast has devastated kelp forests and the animals that depend on them. 
• Moths evolved their ears, and butterflies evolved to fly by day, long before bats existed.
• The Barrens Topminnow will be given protection under the Endangered Species Act as its range continues to shrink.
• A new species of leaf-tailed gecko has been discovered in Madagascar.
• The Fall Armyworm moth has become established in Africa and has become an agricultural pest there.

Climate change and environmental politics

• US air pollution had improved for years but suddenly increased from 2016-2018, resulting in an extra 9,700 deaths. Possible causes include more diesel-fueled trucks on the road, more extreme wildfires (especially in California), and lax enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
• Border wall construction is causing significant ecological harm beyond the effects of the wall itself.
• A new report suggests that economists have been underestimating the cost of climate change.
• A loophole in federal law allows many oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico while not paying royalties.
• An oil spill from an unknown source is polluting Brazil's beaches.
• Extinction Rebellion is fighting the protest ban in London.
• Audubon has a guide to climate action. 
• The conditions look right for another "blob" of hot water in the Pacific.

Loose Feathers #719

Common Yellowthroat / Photo by Kyle Chelius/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• It was another bad summer for seabirds in Alaska, as volunteers collected nearly 9,200 seabird carcasses from around Alaska's coastline. Short-tailed Shearwaters had a particularly hard summer. Since die-offs have occurred in each of the past five years, it seems that there may be a link to warmer ocean temperatures.
• Over three hundred Chimney Swifts collided with the large glass windows of the NASCAR Hall of Fame on a single night this week.
• A study identified control of invasive rats as the best way to protect the Puaiohi, a thrush endemic to Kauai. 
• Red-cockaded Woodpecker are changing their nesting times in response to climate change, but not all populations are changing the same way, and northern and eastern nesters are doing better than southwestern ones.
• New research shows that Phainopeplas fit a pattern called itinerant breeding, in which they breed in one place and then migrate somewhere else and breed again there. Only two other itinerant breeders are known, the Tricolored Blackbird and the Red-billed Quelea.
• A new species called the Spectacled Flowerpecker has been described from Borneo. The species was noted by birders ten years ago and finally was studied more closely this year.
• Barnacle Geese are thriving in the face of climate change by establishing breeding colonies further north.
• Each Little Penguin colony in Tasmania has its own foraging preferences, but all three pay attention to water temperature and depth. 
• A judge issued an injunction against the Trump administration's management plan for Greater Sage-Grouse, which would have opened more sage-grouse habitat for resource extraction.
• Scientists are still debating the ethics of killing Barred Owls to save Northern Spotted Owls, even as more than 2,400 Barred Owls have been killed in an experiment to see if control is effective. 
• Washington is preparing a new conservation plan for the Marbled Murrelet.
• Warmer nights seem to prompt Blue Tits to lay their eggs earlier in the spring.
• Fall migration can bring unexpected birds when some birds fly in the wrong direction.
• Corn Crakes are declining partly because of changes in agricultural practices. 
• More intensive agriculture has led to lands being withdrawn from conservation programs, which hurts grassland birds.
• Recent studies have shown some of the genetic basis for plumage color.
• Gulls seem to be ubiquitous, but many species are in decline, especially in New England.

Science and nature blogging

• Feathered Photography: Unique Adaptations of Woodpeckers
• ABA Blog: Happening NOW: Storm-Blown Birds from Hurricane Dorian
• Backyard and Beyond: The Case Against Honeybees
• 10,000 Birds: The First Bird Tracking Station Is Up and Running in Costa Rica
• On The Wing Photography: Audubon’s And Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers Perched In The Same Tree 

Biodiversity and conservation

• Leaving fallen leaves in place rather than raking or blowing them away can help protect biodiversity since many invertebrates use dead leaves as shelter over the winter.
• Sawfish numbers are crashing in the Gulf of Carpentaria, which is considered their global stronghold. 
• The first genome of the Spotted Lanternfly was built from a single specimen captured in Reading, Pennsylvania. 
• Freshwater mussels are dying of a mysterious illness, and the die-off is threatening river ecosystems.
• Time is running out to save the vaquita, and it is not clear if recent policy changes will be enough to do it.
• Researchers mapped the complex evolutionary history of oaks.
• Beavers have once again disappeared from the San Pedro River in Arizona.
• A columnist argues that Britain should let its forests regrow naturally. 
• Increasing numbers of mountain bikers on public lands is leading to conflicts with bears.
• Manatees and Key Deer are threatened by climate-fueled superstorms.

Climate change and environmental politics

• A seismometer in an old railroad tunnel in the Pyrenees records the sound of climate change caused by meltwater running over the tunnel.
• Since Bolsonaro was elected, violence against Brazil's indigenous people has increased as corporate interests rush to exploit their lands.
• London tried to ban the Extinction Rebellion protests, but the protests have not stopped. 
• Sea-level rise is swamping the Sundarbans and forcing people to evacuate.
• The Trump administration is trying to strip the Roadless Rule from Tongass National Forest to allow more logging.
• Mines in British Columbia are leaching selenium into the Kootenai River, which crosses the US-Canada border. Many aquatic invertebrates cannot survive higher levels of selenium.
• A majority of New Jerseyans see climate change as a major problem. The state is among those where the temperature is warming and the sea is rising the fastest. 
• New Jersey's Blue Acres program, which buys flood-prone properties and turns them into open space, recently made its 700th purchase, but there are many more that might be eligible if the funding were available.
• The Army Corps of Engineers wants to build massive storm surge barriers around New York Harbor, which threatens the estuary's improving ecology.

Loose Feathers #718

Sanderling / Photo by Peter Pearsall/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A new report from Audubon finds that 389 bird species are vulnerable to extinction due to climate change out of the 604 North American bird species they modeled. The greatest threats are to habitat specialist or range restricted species, especially ones that breed in the Arctic. This page allows one to see the predicted future ranges for vulnerable species under different climate scenarios.
• The report also found that at least eight states could lose their current state birds as ranges shift.
• Birders already see hints of the more dramatic range shifts predicted in the Audubon report. 
• A study found that Greater Prairie-Chickens are less concerned with noise from wind turbines than land cover, particularly woody vegetation. 
• The Kirtland's Warbler has met the standard for recovery and will be removed from the Endangered Species List. However, continued work will be necessary to maintain their preferred jack pine habitat.
• The Cerulean Warbler population dropped 70% in 44 years, but the rate of decline has slowed over the past decade. The reasons are unclear, but it may be connected to habitat conservation on their breeding and wintering ranges.
• A banding network staffed by volunteers has established that Northern Saw-whet Owls are far more common and widespread than expected and revealed more about their migration patterns.
• Restored riparian habitat supports fewer birds than intact habitat, but their nesting success is the same.
• This summer the Atlantic Puffin colony on Eastern Egg Rock in Maine reached a record 188 pairs, but their future is uncertain because of climate change. 
• Harsh winter conditions can affect the nesting success of swallows the following spring.
• Birders in Minnesota have noticed the bird declines reported in scientific article last week. 
• Thousands of Short-tailed Shearwaters failed to show up on their breeding grounds in Australia.
• A Least Bittern turned up in Ireland for the first time.
• The Philippines has 11 endemic hornbill species, nine of which are endangered. 
• Satellite imagery shows the nesting grounds for Blue Snow Geese, which should be on their way south. 
• Some Arctic seabirds are breeding earlier because of climate change bringing and earlier spring.
• An insecticide killed 200 birds in Australia.

Science and nature blogging

• ornithologi.com: Published in Marine Ornithology: Potential Northward Expansion of the Breeding Range of Red-legged Kittiwake Rissa brevirostris
• Avian Hybrids: How far did the hybrid zone between Hermit Warbler and Townsend’s Warbler move?
• Dynamic Ecology: Did North America really lose 3 billion birds? What does it mean?
• Cool Green Science: Recovery: A Future for Wood Turtles 
• Laura's Birding Blog: Why I Love Scrub Jays

Biodiversity and conservation

• A new species of tarsier was reported from Sulawesi, a biodiversity hotspot in Indonesia.
• Kangaroos are a major cause of overgrazing in Australia's preserves. 
• Stick and leaf insects probably evolved their camouflage to hide from birds and mammals.
• Florida's Python Action Team recently removed its 900th invasive python, which is in addition to the 2,567 pythons captured by another agency. However, the python population in Florida is probably still in the tens of thousands.
• Three of the nineteen wolves translocated to Isle Royale have died, and one crossed the ice back to the mainland.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Ghost forests are appearing along the US East Coast as rising seas kill what used to be stands of white cedar or loblolly pine. 
• Permafrost is thawing and collapsing in Yakutia, where temperatures have warmed 2°C in the past 50 years and 3°C since the 19th century. 
• Alaska is also warming faster than most of the world, with unusual wildfires and the loss of sea ice in the summer.
• Twenty companies are responsible for a third of global fossil fuel emissions.
• Activists in Colorado have been fighting to rein in the booming fracking industry. 
• A ballot issue to revoke a power plant bailout in Ohio has prompted a bitter fight.
• Aerial photos of Mont Blanc from 1919 show how much ice has been lost in the past century.
• A report argues that single-use plastics should be replaced with reusable containers and not alternative single-use items. 
• Some places could make money by preserving forests through carbon offset programs.
• Phil Murphy announced his opposition to a proposed power plant in the Meadowlands, but it already seemed unlikely that the plant would be built. The plant would burn natural gas to provide electricity to New York City.
• Canadian elections are approached, and here is a comparison of the climate plans offered by four major parties.