Friday, January 25, 2019

Loose Feathers #682

Turkey Vulture / Photo by Krista Lundgren/USFWS
Birds and birding news
Science and nature blogging
Conservation and biodiversity
Climate change and environmental politics
  • A warmer climate might lead to plants absorbing less carbon dioxide because of the increased risk of drought.
  • A triage approach can help planners decide how to adapt to climate change, but governments still need to budget enough to carry through with adaptation. 
  • The importance of the climate change problem tends to be underreported, even as communities are forced to move or disasters strike. 
  • Because it is an El Niño year, atmospheric carbon dioxide is expected to rise more this year than it did last year. 
  • Parts of Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument are now available for mining, but it remains to be seen if mining will actually happen.
  • Protests and corruption investigations stopped a series of dams along the Marañón River between Peru and Brazil that would have resulted in an environmental disaster.
  • A bill in the NJ Assembly would protect Liberty State Park from further development schemes.

Friday, January 18, 2019

Loose Feathers #681

Northern Shovelers / Photo by June Durbian/USFWS
Birds and birding news
Science and nature blogging
Conservation and biodiversity
Climate change and environmental politics

Friday, January 11, 2019

Loose Feathers #680

Black-billed Magpie / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS
Birds and birding news
Science and nature blogging
Conservation and biodiversity
Climate change and environmental politics

Friday, January 04, 2019

Loose Feathers #679

Ring-billed Gull / my photo
Birds and birding news
  • Last year, there were 185 active Bald Eagle nests in New Jersey, and they produced 172 young. About half of the state's nests were located in the Delaware Bay region. You can read the report of the New Jersey Bald Eagle Project here (pdf).
  • At the Magellanic Penguin breeding colony at Punta Tombo in Argentina, males outnumber females by about three to one, most likely because females are more likely than males to die at sea. Their death rate seems to be tied to a serious population decline.
  • Audubon covers the birding possibilities in the Red Dead Redemption video game.
  • A proposed conservation area for the endangered Black-throated Finch in Australia sits on top of a proposed coal mine, which raises questions about how serious the conservation plan is.
Science and nature blogging
Conservation and biodiversity
Climate change and environmental politics