Loose Feathers #703

Western Tanager / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• This week the American Ornithological Society published its 60th checklist supplement, which includes proposals accepted in the past year. See the ABA Blog for how the changes affect birding in the ABA Area.
• The Arctic is changing to become more like the Atlantic, which is potentially a problem for Arctic breeding birds like the Dovekie. 
• Surveys conducted before and after Hurricanes Irma and Maria found significant changes in Puerto Rico's bird life. The biggest change was the disappearance of birds that are dependent on fruit.
• At least one or two Bahama Nuhatches survived Hurricane Matthew, but it is unclear if that will be enough for the species to survive.
• Superstorm Sandy created nesting habitat for Piping Plovers on Long Island.
• Scientists are collecting Great Indian Bustard eggs for a captive breeding program.
• Restored pine woodlands benefit birds in the Ozark Plateau.
• Songbirds in California died because of a pesticide applied to street trees.
• A fossil discovered near the Black Sea suggests that Europe was once home to an ostrich-like bird. 
• A rainy summer is killing seabird chicks in the Farne Islands. 
• Australian fairy-wrens appear to enter torpor during winter nights to save energy.

Science and nature blogging

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: A Field Guide to July 2019
• Laura's Birding Blog: Feeding Jelly to Birds 
• Avian Hybrids: Introducing another hybrid bird species: the Salvin’s Prion
• On The Wing Photography: American Avocet Chicks Have Hatched At Bear River MBR 
• Snapshots of Nature: Summer Solstice
• Shorebird Science: How To Count Arctic Shorebirds
• 10,000 Birds: Welcome to Bird Renaming Week
• mocosocoBirds: Henslow’s Sparrow, Somerset County – June 23, 2019

Biodiversity and conservation

• At least 6 of the 411 North Atlantic Right Whales have died in the last month — a death rate that puts their population at risk.
• Meanwhile, at least 167 dead Gray Whales have washed ashore along the Pacific coast of North America this year. The cause is undetermined, but many of the whales seem malnourished.
• A recent study found that neonicotinoids spread from farm fields to nearby milkweed patches. 
• Monarchs reared indoors lose the ability to navigate.
• A new study calculated that urban gardens could support about a third of the eastern Monarch population.
• Southeastern grasslands used to be maintained by fire and bison but now cover a fraction of their former territory.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The Trump administration revived plans for a copper mine in northern Minnesota. The proposal had been rejected under the Obama administration over concerns about how mining would affect the Boundary Waters.
• Coal is declining as an energy source, but new natural gas plants are still being built.
• Countries in Southeast Asia adopted a resolution to reduce plastic waste. 
• A federal court blocked the Cadiz pipeline project.
• This week was the 50th anniversary of the last time that the Cuyahoga River caught fire. That fire and others like it prompted the passage of environmental laws and the creation of the EPA.

Loose Feathers #702

Wilson's Phalarope / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A recent study found that most Prothonotary Warblers spend in the winter in the same region of Colombia, which is at risk of deforestation. They also relied heavily on three migratory stopover sites in Central America.
• Six endangered Palila were released on Mauna Kea in the hope of rebuilding their wild population. 
• Multiple Kakapos came down with aspergillosis last month and have been receiving treatment since then. While seven have died, nine have recovered and will be released.
• Heavy rains in the Midwest raised the levels of the Great Lakes, which is putting Piping Plover nests in danger of being washed out. Another nesting pair in Chicago could be in trouble if an annual music festival happens on the same beach.
• Piping Plovers in Maine are having a record breeding season.
• Vampire Finches drink the blood of Nazca Boobies in the dry season and share elements of their microbiomes with vampire bats to digest the blood.
• Other Darwin's finches lose some of their singing ability if their beaks are deformed.
• An interview with Jason Ward discusses the appeal of birding in cities. (A birding walk or two a week seems enough to have a therapeutic effect.)
• Seabirds are among the most endangered birds in the world, but at least some of them have seen improvements in recent years.
• A recent study questioned whether climate change is really changing the predation of shorebird nests in the Arctic. 
• Yellow-naped Parrots lost an important part of their range to a forest fire.
• There is a debate among New York City birders about whether Pale Male is still alive. 
• In other area raptor news, a Peregrine Falcon nest in Jersey City was sprayed by window washers and one chick has gone missing.

Science and nature blogging

• 10,000 Birds: What is a Nonessential Experimental California Condor?
• Avian Hybrids: The genetic legacy of population decline and recovery in the Red-cockaded Woodpecker 
• John Rakestraw: My Love/Hate Relationship with My 5MR 
• The Birdist: Splits and Lumps in the ABA Podcast
• Backyard and Beyond: Pollinator Week: The Wrong Bee 
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: Why Native Plants?  
• G. J. Gamble: The Greatest Bird On Earth
• awkward botany: The Flight of the Dandelion
• In Defense of Plants: The Cypress-Knee Sedge

Conservation and biodiversity

• Here are some recommendations for recognizing signs of abuse in viral wildlife photos.
• DNA analysis confirmed that a strange whale found by an Inuit hunter is a hybrid of a narwhal and a beluga. 
• Dissolved oxygen is declining in the world's oceans, which may affect what species can survive, especially in polar regions. 
• Deforested areas tend to raise temperatures in the areas around them.
• At least 279 dolphins have died along the Gulf Coast this spring for reasons that are still unclear.
• Some store-bought bee hotels may actually harm bees if there are too many nesting holes or if they are not cleaned regularly. 
• Bees have lined some artificial nests with plastics as part of their nesting materials.
• Loggerhead sea turtles in the Southeast have had a good nesting season so far.
• At least 571 plant species have gone extinct in the last 250 years. Here is why they go undocumented (or at least not publicized).
• Pitcher plants in Canadian forests have been documented eating salamanders.
• Two weeks ago I took part in a bioblitz at a local cemetery. Here is a write-up from the Lower Raritan Watershed Partnership (which co-sponsored the event) and another from a local newspaper.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Images from spy satellites show that Himalayan glaciers have lost a quarter of their ice over the past four decades, and the rate of melting has doubled in the last decade.
• Trump officials at the EPA are undermining the science used to set air pollution regulations, which will have a direct effect on public health. 
• Similar policy changes are already affecting air quality, which has worsened over the past two years.
• Pending legislation in California would reduce plastic waste by putting more of the responsibility on manufacturers.
• Thawing permafrost is causing massive erosion in Alaska.

Loose Feathers #701

Great Blue Heron / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The large nesting colonies of Tricolored Blackbirds need protection if the species is going to survive, but changes in agriculture in California make that increasingly difficult. 
• Red Knots and other shorebirds that migrate through Delaware Bay are still struggling because of low horseshoe crab egg densities. 
• Still on the subject of Red Knots, here is an interview with the writer who translated The Narrow Edge into Spanish.
• A new report catalogues threats to New Zealand's seabirds, from invasive predators to plastic pollution.
• For a long time, Ireland was notable for its lack of woodpeckers, but in the last decade, Great Spotted Woodpeckers made it across the Irish Sea and started breeding in County Wicklow.
• When African Penguins work to corral fish, they attract the attention of other seabirds, like petrels and shearwaters. 
• A new study suggests that hummingbirds learn their songs and flight displays. 
• Changing water levels at Lake Hodges near San Diego are destroying nesting habitat for Western and Clark's Grebes. 
• A California Condor may have hatched in Zion National Park.
• The deceased Great Black Hawk that traveled to Maine will be stuffed and put on display at the Maine State Museum, and a statue of it will be placed in the park where it tried to spend the winter.
• Finally, baby bird season is upon us; here is what to do if you find a chick out of its nest.

Science and nature blogging

• Lisa G. Buckley, Ph.D.: Owls, Part 1: Fossil Owls 
• Seabirding: Sunday June 2, 2019 - Life & Death in the Deep Blue - by Kate Sutherland 
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to June 2019 
• Avian Hybrids: Honey, I resolved the Meliphaga phylogeny!
• Shorebird Science: Launching the 2019 field season in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: Our most important field season to date
• incidental naturalist: Sprites of San Francisco – Anna’s Hummingbird
• Backyard and Beyond: YCNH
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: Stop! Birds Need Tent Caterpillars
• wadertales: Chicks and ticks
• BirdConservancy.org: Six Seasons of Birds & Prairies
• Small Pond Science: Fixing a racist common name that I coined
• Gulls to the Horizon: Lesser Black-backed Gull chicks – 20190603

Conservation and biodiversity

• Genetically unique organisms like solenodons should be a conservation priority.
• Focusing too much attention on one species like the Monarch risks ignoring the great diversity of other insects, many of which also need help.
• An unusually high number of gray whales have washed up dead on the West Coast this year.
• Many birders are aware that migrating birds can be seen on weather radar; flying insects also sometimes appear.
• Topsail and Bald Head Islands off North Carolina are having unusually productive sea turtle nesting seasons.
• The U.S. is attempting the same culling tactics on coyotes as it used to extirpate wolves, but extirpating wolves made room for the coyotes. 
• A scientific panel found numerous flaws in a proposal to delist wolves in the Lower 48.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The climate change lawsuit will go before an appeals court panel this week to determine if the suit can move forward.
• People eat and breathe in thousands of particles of microplastic each year.
• Henderson Island, a remote island in the Pacific, is covered in plastic.
• This spring Alaska has been exceptionally warm, and the heat is undermining infrastructure and hurting wildlife.
• Climate change is hurting communities in Greenland as well.
• The Trump administration wants to increase hunting in national wildlife refuges. Another proposal would require hunting imagery on duck stamps, which help fund conservation.
• As the need to decarbonize becomes more dire, some states are imposing harsher penalties for protesting fossil fuel pipelines. 
• Climate change will increase the cost of maintaining state parks, which serve even more people than national parks.
• Finland's new government wants to make the country carbon-neutral by 2035.
• Meanwhile, Germany plans to close all of its coal-fired power plants by 2038. 
• DC plans to build a bridge to connect the National Arboretum to Kenilworth Park.
• The Murphy administration denied permits for a proposed pipeline that would run under Raritan Bay. New York had made a similar decision last week.