Posts
 |
| Yellow-headed Blackbird / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS |
- The New York Times has been publishing belated obituaries for historically significant people that the newspaper had neglected to cover. This week there was one for Florence Merriam Bailey, the author of the first field guide to birds and an activist against the use of birds in fashion.
- The annual eBird taxonomy update is coming soon. While there are few changes affecting the ABA Area, the update will include substantial revisions for birds in Africa, Asia, and Australia.
- Ornithologists recorded a singing female Cerulean Warbler in Indiana, the first time a female Cerulean Warbler has been documented singing.
- A new extinct albatross species has been discovered in New Zealand.
- Coastal sparrows evolved adaptations for dealing with salt marsh conditions in four different ways.
- Orange-fronted Parakeets, a threatened species from New Zealand, had a good breeding season this year.
- A writer from Britain is delighted by the variety of woodpeckers in the DC area.
- Endangered Australasian Bitterns can benefit from rice agriculture as long as the water management matches their needs.
- The Kirtland's Warbler will soon be removed from the Endangered Species List, and some activists are trying to have it named as Michigan's state bird.
- A federal court upheld protections for the California Gnatcatcher.
- One of the major threats to hornbills is the illegal trade in their casques, and Indonesia recently intercepted a large shipment of casques, all from endangered Helmeted Hornbills.
- Endemic birds are being forced into smaller, cooler habitats that are sometimes more dangerous for them because of climate change.
- British conservationists are challenging the legality of the annual release of nonnative gamebirds for hunting.
- Some Little Blue Penguins in New Zealand keep trying to get into a sushi shop.
- Piping Plovers have hatched in Chicago for the first time since 1955. The fact that plovers even nested on the beach shows the success of the Great Lakes conservation program. The chicks are likely to start flying right around the time a concert is scheduled on the beach; the concert may need to be relocated.
- Avian malaria is being blamed for the decline of London's House Sparrows.
- Seabird nests on islands off the coast of Australia are full of plastic, mostly rope or netting from fishing boats.
- A nest webcam in Finland recorded a Northern Goshawk killing a nearly grown Osprey nestling.
- Bird Ecology Study Group: Siberian Rubythroat – Hokkaidō
- Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Mansfield Update: The Kids Are Coming
- mocosocoBirds: White Ibis in Somerset County; Herons and Egrets – July 17, 2019
- International Bird Rescue – Every Bird Matters: Bird Rescue Jumps Into Action in Oakland – Rescuing Baby Birds from Fallen Tree
- National Moth Week begins today and runs through July 28. Visit the link or check with local nature clubs to find events in your area. People can also participate by attracting moths themselves. Last year's Moth Week resulted in over 28,000 observations of over 3,500 species from over 1,500 observers just on iNaturalist, with more observations submitted to other citizen science websites.
- The latest update to the IUCN Red List includes new assessments for over 100,000 species, but shows no improvements for any of the updated species.
- Conservationists and beachgoers worked together to prevent a mass stranding of pilot whales in Georgia.
- The sound of human voices scares both medium and large predators and causes them to reduce activity or become crepuscular.
- The endangered El Segundo Blue is recovering around the Los Angeles area thanks to conservation efforts.
- Ticks are a concern for anyone who spends time in nature, but the lack of a standard protocol for counting them makes it hard to tell how prevalent they are.
- Callery Pears, also known as Bradford Pears, were planted as street trees for their flowers, but they have become invasive and are taking over eastern forests.
- A new tree species was discovered in Tanzania.
- The U.S. states that will be most affected by climate change are the ones doing the least to prepare for it, and the inaction is primarily driven by politicians rather than residents.
- California's wildfires are larger and more frequent due to climate change.
- This weekend the eastern U.S. is experiencing a major heat wave; such heat waves are becoming more common and deadly because of climate change.
- By 2100, New Jersey could average 49 days per year with a heat index above 100 (as opposed to the current average of 3 days per year).
- New Jersey is suing DuPont for not properly funding the Pompton Lakes cleanup through its Chemours spinoff company.
- The EPA is making it harder for communities to challenge pollution permits.
- Even small temperature increases can trigger big methane releases from melting permafrost in the Arctic.
