Posts
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| Barred Owl (my photo) |
- EBird completed its taxonomic update for 2019. Read the details at the link. This year's update moves the Clements Checklist closer to other taxonomic authorities for birds in Africa and Southeast Asia.
- Despite an outbreak of fungal infections, the Kakapo Recovery Program recently hit a milestone of 200 living parrots, the highest the population has been in decades.
- A study of Garden Warblers found that migrating birds that are better fed tend to sleep with their heads facing forward, while underfed birds sleep with their heads tucked to conserve energy. (The illustration in the article is of a warbler in a different family.)
- Bird Twitter provides a more positive experience than much of social media.
- Banders in Alabama recaptured a Kentucky Warbler that is at least eleven years old, a record for that species.
- Darwin's finches survive despite low genetic diversity, and some of the Darwin's finch species with the highest genetic diversity are extinct.
- Even without intensive logging, the numbers of insect-eating birds fell in Himalayan forests after biomass was removed for firewood or fodder.
- White-tailed Eagles are being reintroduced to the Isle of Wight after success with a reintroduction program in Scotland.
- Barnacle Geese at Svalbard benefit from an earlier spring but face more predators after a warmer winter.
- ABA Blog: Skylarking Cassin’s Sparrows in Southeast Arizona
- The Xerces Society Blog: Fun with Harvester Butterflies, Part Two
- Sciblogs: Genomics, genetic persistence and the hihi
- Cool Green Science: Focus on Native Bees, Not Honey Bees
- Birds Korea Blog: Another New Identification Challenge: Warbling and Swinhoe’s White-eyes
- Bird Ecology Study Group: Red-crowned Crane Grus japonensis
- Los Angeles is planning to build a wildlife crossing over a ten-lane highway to connect different parts of the Santa Monica Mountains.
- A First Nation and provincial and federal governments worked together to create a new national park in Canada's Northwest Territories.
- Scientists are trying to figure out how killing large numbers of mosquitos affects other organisms like plants and birds.
- Controlled burns can be a useful management tool.
- The big environmental story this week has been the burning of the Amazon, where fires have increased by 85% since the beginning of the year. Brazil's president blames NGOs, but most likely the fires are part of a deliberate strategy of deforestation. The extent of the fires can be seen in satellite imagery.
- The Democratic National Committee voted down a proposal for a debate focused on climate change despite pressure from activists.
- Parts of the border wall extension will cross floodplains and put people in danger from flooding on both sides of the Rio Grande.
- The regulatory changes regarding enforcement of the Endangered Species Act could affect conservation in Canada as well, especially as some provincial governments are making similar changes.
- Washington, DC, is about 5% more humid than in 1970 and 10% more humid than in 1950. The reason seems to be climate change, since warmer air can hold more moisture.
