Posts
 |
| Canada Goose / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS |
- Female American Kestrels spend the winter in higher quality habitat than males do, a difference that can be traced back to their roles during the breeding season.
- An elusive rat on St. Paul Island in Alaska is a reminder of the danger rats (and other invasive mammals) pose to seabirds.
- A study found that GPS transmitters affect the survival of tagged sage-grouse more than VHF transmitters do.
- Scientists found the remains of a very tall extinct penguin in New Zealand.
- A study using geolocators found that Northern Wheatears that breed in Alaska migrate across Russia and the Middle East to spend the winter in eastern Africa. A tagged wheater from Baffin Island spent the winter in western Africa.
- Since the end of the civil war, the Colombian government has devoted more attention to stopping wildlife trafficking, particularly of songbirds.
- Bones of an extinct Creighton's Caracara that where found underwater on a Caribbean island preserved DNA. The site, called Sawmill Sink, preserved bones of many other species as well.
- Here are some suggestions for getting into birding.
- 10,000 Birds: The Economic Impact of Birding on National Wildlife Refuges: Creating Local Jobs
- World Shorebirds Day: Global Shorebird Counts 2019 is coming
- The Prairie Ecologist: Grasses Have Flowers Too
- awkward botany: Idaho’s Native Milkweeds (Updated)
- In Defense of Plants: Path Rush
- robertscribbler: Melting Ice Everywhere — Arctic Sea Ice Extent Hit New Record Lows in Late July and Early August
- On The Wing Photography: Imagine Utah Without California Gulls
- BugTracks: Eggshells
- This week iNaturalist reached a milestone with 15 million research grade observations (out of 25 million observations overall). While the observations have a regional bias and are skewed to things that are easier to photograph, the site now has one of the largest citizen science datasets.
- A group of volunteer naturalists found a colony of rare Purple Fringeless Orchids in Virginia. The plants are endangered in the state, with fewer than 1,000 left.
- Lands in Canada that are managed by indigenous people tend to have more biodiversity than unprotected lands.
- Lyme disease gets most of the attention, but ticks carry a variety of other diseases as well.
- A study looked at ways to encourage farmers to plant more wildflower strips that benefit pollinators.
- Nigeria has become a center for illegal trade in pangolins.
- A trove of new water scavenger beetles were discovered and named in Brazil.
- As a result of deliberate introduction in the 1990s, invasive waterwheel plants are thriving in parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, while they are in serious decline elsewhere in the world.
- The Interior Department changed the regulations governing how it implements the Endangered Species Act, by raising the bar for listing, adding economic criteria, and weakening protections for threatened species. Here is an evaluation of how the rule changes could affect the Northern Spotted Owl, the Wolverine, and the American Burying Beetle. Another species that could be affected is the Monarch, since the department will no longer consider climate change in whether to list a species. The changes were written by opponents of the Endangered Species Act and appear to cater to business interests.
- After making those regulatory changes, the administration denied endangered listing for several species, including Joshua Trees, which are threatened by climate change,
- The Northeast is among the fastest-warming parts of the U.S., with Rhode Island already past the 2°C mark and New Jersey not far behind. Parts of New Jersey have already warmed as much as 2.7°C, which contributes to the closure of Lake Hopatcong and a longer mosquito season.
- The Adani mine in Australia (which directly threatens an endangered bird) is an example of how capitalists keep the world stuck on coal despite the threat it poses to the climate and public health.
- The Anthropocene may be better seen as an event than an epoch considering how brief it will likely be on a geological timescale.
- Mitigating climate change will require changes in land use, with more protection for natural habitats and sustainable agriculture.
- A study found microplastics in the snow in isolated places like the Alps and Svalbard, which is a sign of how much plastic is present in the air we breathe. The most common sources of microplastic in that study were varnish and rubber.
- The Bolsonaro administration approved 290 pesticides for use in Brazil. This mirrors the Trump administration's willingness to reinstate pesticides that been banned under previous administrations.
