Loose Feathers #695

Green-winged Teal / Photo: Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• One of the largest breeding colonies for Emperor Penguins has been empty for the past several years. A nearby colony has grown, but not enough to account for the missing penguins. The incident is a reminder that some penguin species will be hit hard by climate change.
• Geolocators are revealing details of the incredible migratory journeys of Blackpoll Warblers. 
• A small population of non-migratory Northern Saw-whet Owls in British Columbia appears to be in the process of becoming a separate species.
• Technology used to support the Kakapo recovery program include feeding stations designed to be opened by specific birds.
• A study combined eBird and radar data to estimate the number of birds crossing the Gulf of Mexico during spring migration.
• Female Seychelles Warblers live longer when they have help raising offspring from other warblers.
• Natural England has stopped allowing the free killing of certain bird species like crows and woodpigeons and will soon require licenses for doing so. The change was the result of a campaign and legal challenge by conservation groups.

Science and nature blogging

• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: When Birds Say Goodbye
• Backyard and Beyond: City Nature Challenges
• Laura's Birding Blog: Sharp-tailed Grouse 
• MaghrebOrnitho: Ancient DNA confirms Slender-billed Curlew is a valid species
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: How I Know That This A Vesper Sparrow 

Conservation and biodiversity

• Puritan Tiger Beetles are being reintroduced to a site along the Connecticut River in an attempt to ensure that the species survives. 
• The Lummi Nation in Washington wants to start feeding stations for orcas to keep the local population from starving to death. 
• A camera trap study intended to monitor birds found a threatened mammal community in Peru.
• Two endangered bumblebees were spotted in Calgary's bee corridor. 
• Great White Sharks have a reputation as fearsome predators, but they appear to be afraid of Orcas.
• Some millipedes can be identified by the color that their genitals glow under ultraviolet light.
• A new species of brome grass was discovered in Spain. 
• A draft U.N. report suggests that a million species are at risk of extinction from human activity, due to a variety of causes.

Climate change and environmental politics

• In the past week there have been a series of Extinction Rebellion protests to push governments to take action on the climate and biodiversity crises. Here are statements from some of the participants.
• In honor of Earth Day, LitHub published lists of book recommendations on climate change and related issues in four posts: The Classics, The Science, Fiction and Poetry, and The Ideas. (The Revelator also posts monthly environmental book recommendations; here is the one for April.)
• Melting permafrost could increase the costs of climate change by $70 trillion, with much of the additional cost likely to fall on poorer countries.
• Air pollution in the U.S. is being worsened by climate change, partly because of more intense wildfires.
• The U.S. media (especially on television) needs to be better at covering climate change.
• The Trump administration's attempt to expand offshore drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic appears to be dead, for now at least. 
• The Blackfeet Nation is trying to open its own national park that would be adjacent to Glacier National Park in Montana.
• Residents in countries where China is investing in infrastructure prefer solar energy to coal (even when coal is favored by their governments).
• A recent survey showed that views of wildlife management are changing in the U.S. Fewer people support predator control or see animals as intended for human benefit.
• Proposed hydropower projects threaten the last free-flowing rivers in Central America and the people and fish they support.
• The Interior Department's advisory panel for Bears Ears National Monument includes no one who supported the monument designation.
• Endangered salmon died at a fish passage that was supposed to help save them in California. 
• Climate change is visible even in the changes to individual trees. 
• A shad was found this week in the Paulins Kill, a sign that removal of the Columbia Dam will be successful at restoring migratory fish.

Loose Feathers #694

Song Sparrow / my photo

Birds and birding news

• In some migratory species like the Black-throated Blue Warbler, males arrive on their breeding grounds before females, and a study of captive wild birds shows that males show symptoms of migratory restlessness earlier in the spring.
• The first Golden Eagle tagged with a radio transmitter in Yellowstone National Park has died of lead poisoning.
• Deforestation in stopover and wintering habitats is contributing to migratory songbird declines. 
• Here is an explanation for why a duckling might turn up in a screech owl nest.
• A nest near the Mississippi River is being tended by a trio of Bald Eagles.
• A group of scientists measured avian popularity by the number of Google searches compared to eBird records and found that the least popular birds are mostly in the Southwest. The goal of the project was to raise the profiles of birds near the bottom of the list.
• Irruptions of birds like the Red-breasted Nuthatch are followed by poor breeding seasons.
• The sea level rise associated with climate change is an existential threat to Saltmarsh Sparrows.
• Williamson's Sapsucker can be difficult to identify; here are some tips.
• Conservation efforts for Dalmatian Pelicans are having some success in Europe. The pelicans, like some other waterbirds, are often persecuted by people who think they eat too many fish.
• Data from eBird is being used to map critical habitat that needs to be conserved for 117 species of Neotropical songbirds.
• Kakapos had a record breeding season, with 76 chicks, since the start of the recovery program.
• Learning the subtleties of habitat use can help with bird identification. 
• Genetic studies indicate that the Atlantic and Andean forests of Brazil were once connected.
• A study tried to answer how Jackdaws remember where they have been.

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Ecologist: Goal-Oriented Birding 
• Avian Hybrids: Is the Great White Heron a distinct species?
• The Prairie Ecologist: Remembering Why We’re Fighting Invasive Plants
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Get the Buzz on the New Vermont Wild Bee Survey
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Californian Richard Parker Convicted For Mass Killing Of Raptors 
• Dan Tallman’s Bird Blog: Pacific Banana Slug
• Snapshots of Nature: Birds Bring Joy
• Urban Hawks: White-winged Dove  
• Shorebirder: CALIFORNIA GULL in CT
• Celery Farm and Beyond: Remembering Pete Bacinski

Conservation and biodiversity

• The Kluane Red Squirrel Project is tagging Red Squirrels to learn more about their behavior. 
• Omura's Whales have a wider range than thought, with sightings in every ocean basin except the central and eastern Pacific.
• Ward's Weed, an invasive plant recently found in California, has potential to spread across the Southwest.
• US companies are involved in the illegal timber trade.
• Eight dead gray whales have been found along California's coast this year.
• Giant tortoises do not migrated as predicted in warmer conditions.
• Two hikers share their favorite trails in New Jersey.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Emails show that federal officials are choosing to prosecute fewer killings of migratory birds in the wake of regulatory changes by the Trump administration. 
• Elizabeth Warren's campaign released a set of proposals on public lands, including a new Civilian Conservation Corps to clear the maintenance backlog and improve access to some western lands that are difficult to visit.
• Here are responses to some climate-related questions posed to 2020 candidates.
• The amount of plastics found in the world's oceans continues to grow, with the latest data coming from plankton sampling devices.
• Microplastics have been found in remote parts of the Pyrenees, most likely carried there by the wind.

Loose Feathers #693

Gadwall / Photo by Tom Koenrer/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• EBird and other citizen science websites have had to obscure location data for sensitive species because of misuse of the data (often for poaching, but not just that).
• Outside of the United States and Canada, Indian birders have been among the fastest to adopt eBird, and now the data is helping to answer long-standing questions about Indian birds.
• A new paper found clear differences in body size and back color between Woodhouse’s and Sumichrast’s Scrub-Jays with a narrow hybrid zone where the populations come into contact.
• At least 100 million (and possibly a billion) birds are killed in collisions with buildings in the U.S. every year. A new study ranks which cities are the most dangerous for migratory birds.
• Scientists and students at some universities are documenting which buildings on campus kill the most birds, with the goal of taking action to reduce collisions.
• A new study found that plumage mimicry is widespread among unrelated woodpeckers.
• Non-migratory warblers are more likely to sing together (in duets) because pair bonds are more stable. 
• There is much more that bird songs can reveal about a bird's social life if you know what to listen for.
• A reintroduction program was successful in restoring Trumpeter Swans to the Midwest, and now they are spreading eastward.
• How high Golden Eagles fly depends on the topography, which in turns affects how likely wind farms are to harm birds of prey.
• The use of herbicides does not seem to affect White-crowned Sparrow fledglings, but the study did not test their effect on other species.
• The last Heath Hen, the eastern subspecies of the Greater Prairie-Chicken, is commemorated with a statue on Martha's Vineyard as part of the Lost Bird Project. 
• A project using volunteers showed how temperature and habitat differences affect Eurasian Jays.

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Hybrids: An Egyptian Goose is not a goose
• ABA Blog: 2019 AOS Classification Committee Proposals, Part 3
• Backyard and Beyond: Red-Spotted Newts
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: My Birding Apologies
• Shorebird Science: All Abuzz in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego
• The Artful Amoeba: For Some Reason, New World Flying Squirrels Fluoresce Pink

Conservation and biodiversity

• An NPS study found that cats make up one-fifth of coyotes’ diet in Los Angeles. That study, based on coyote poop, is backed by evidence from roadkill.
• A paper argues that the size of protected areas matters less than whether new or existing protected areas are adequate for preserving biodiversity.
• Two new species of corals have been discovered in the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument, a marine conservation area created by the Obama administration. 
• New squid species were found around the Kermadec Islands, part of a proposed marine reserve in New Zealand.
• A new report suggests protecting one-third of the world's oceans to preserve marine biodiversity.
• Data from New Hampshire indicate that more than dozen wild bee species declining in the Northeast.
• The Rails-to-Trails Conservancy announced plans for a trail system that would connect Washington, DC, to Washington state. The trail system would make extensive use of trails that already exist, like the towpath of C&O Canal National Historical Park.

Climate change and environmental politics

• A healthy Black Bear population in Texas needs to be free to move back and forth across the border. Birds stand to lose habitat from border fencing and not all of them fly high enough to clear the wall.
• A new EPA study predicts that climate change will cost the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars per year.
• Arctic sea ice reached a new record low at its lowest maximum extent this winter. 
• The Trump administration withdrew funding for Landscape Conservation Cooperatives even though it was explicitly funded in recent funding bills.
• The Forest Service and nonprofit organizations are trying to restore the Red Spruce forests that once covered the mountains that were converted into coal mines in West Virginia.
• Here is a state-by-state look at how recycling programs are changing across the U.S. 
• National forests were called "socialist" because they were originally proposed to address both environmental and social justice concerns, much like Green New Deal proposals.
• More people are calling out bad behavior by park visitors on social media, especially when it is done by Instagram "influencers" who inspire others to do likewise. (This has especially been a problem at hotspots for California's super bloom.)

Loose Feathers #692

Bald Eagle / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A new study constructs a new tree of life for songbird families. Among other things, it proposed a new family for two African bird species and found that songbirds originated in Australia rather than the Americas. Read the full study here.
• The bird photographer who rediscovered Night Parrots in 2013 appears to have fabricated most of his reports about Night Parrots since then.
• Hope the Whimbrel, who was fitted with a satellite transmitter in 2009 and then a coded leg flag in 2012, was likely killed by Hurricane Maria in 2017. Hope wintered at St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands and migrated to a breeding site near the MacKenzie River in western Canada by way of Virginia.
• Hybrids of Small and Medium Tree Finches seem to be better at resisting invasive flies, which are killing the chicks of many Darwin's finches.
• A new paper worked out the evolution of sex chromosomes in birds of paradise.
• A pair of California Condors is incubating an egg at Zion National Park.
• Here is a list of bird nest webcams in New Jersey.

Science and nature blogging

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: A Field Guide to April 2019
• Avian Hybrids: Mastering Malaria: The Hawaiian ‘Amakihi uses a variety of genes to combat avian malaria

Conservation and biodiversity

• A project called Canid Camera uses volunteers to identify animals using New York's forests.
• A wolf pack has been detected west of the Cascades in Washington for the first time in decades; the pack has been living just southwest of North Cascades National Park. 
• Silver Digger Bees were recently found at the Presidio in San Francisco, where they have mostly been absent since the 1960s. The find shows the value of removing invasive species and restoring habitat.
• Wild bees are attracted to areas that recently had severe forest fires, probably because the burned areas have more flowering plants.
• Scientists have identified a parasitoid wasp to combat the spread of Fall Armyworm moths in Africa. Fall Armyworms are native to North America but invasive in Africa.
• Flies have extraordinary diversity and pollinate many plants.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The Trump administration lost more environmental cases in the courts last week, this time over offshore drilling and a land swap affecting Izembeck NWR. 
• A test well drilled in 1986 in Arctic NWR turned up very little oil, which calls into question the justification for drilling there.
• Here is an interactive showing what remains and what was left out after the reduction of Bears Ears National Monument.
• Cities need a tree canopy of at least 40% to mitigate the urban heat island effect in summer.
• BLM wants to push ahead with leasing drilling rights in the Ruby Mountains but did not consult with the native peoples whose livelihoods and identity depend on the land there.
• Indigenous people have been fighting to protect the wildest parts of Panama from logging.
• New York passed a ban on single-use plastic bags, and environmentalists in New Jersey hope it will spur the state legislature to revive a stalled bill that would impose broader restrictions on plastic.
• An oil spill in the Solomon Islands has been stopped, but the damage to its coral reefs is yet to be determined. 
• Last weekend a wildfire that consumed 11,000 acres of the New Jersey Pinelands started in an area known for illegal bonfires.