Loose Feathers #720

Mallard (my photo)

Birds and birding news

• The male White Bellbird has the loudest recorded bird vocalization at 125 decibels, louder than a Screaming Piha.
• A study of Yellowhammer song found that the initial part of its song has a lot of individual variation while the ending distinguishes its dialect.
• The interior population of Least Terns is being removed from the Endangered Species List since the number of breeding colonies has grown from 48 to 480 since the population was listed in 1985. Least Terns in California are still listed. 
• Western Gulls take advantage of the availability of fast food on California's coast, and a project is testing whether that dietary change is altering the soil chemistry of the Channel Islands where the gulls nest.
• Migratory birds are arriving earlier but not keeping pace with earlier leaf-out and flowering dates. 
• Likewise, birds that seem to benefit from climate change today may struggle in the future as change becomes more extreme.
• Major museum collections have far more specimens of male than female birds. For more thoughts on that study, see this Twitter thread from a museum curator.
• Elbow and wrist motion account for how birds with different wing shapes can use similar flight styles like gliding or hovering.
• This year's survey of Gunnison Sage-Grouse leks found only 429 males, compared to 1,129 in 2015, which suggests that the total population has dropped from 4,000 to 1,800. 
• Scientists are tracking Long-billed Curlews that nest in Montana to learn more about their migratory movements.
• A reporter discusses his first trip birding with DC Audubon, part of a trend of younger people getting into birdwatching. 
• A vagrant Yellow-browed Warbler was front-page news in British Columbia.

Science and nature blogging

• Feathered Photography: Western Grebe Trying To Walk With Little Success
• The Prairie Ecologist: Risky Business
• Seabirding: October 18, 2019 - Diablotin - by Kate Sutherland
• Avian Hybrids: Separating Sparrows: Species limits in the striped-sparrows (genus Rhynchospiza)
• Urban Hawks: Tennessee Warbler

Biodiversity and conservation

• A boom in the purple sea urchin population on North America's Pacific coast has devastated kelp forests and the animals that depend on them. 
• Moths evolved their ears, and butterflies evolved to fly by day, long before bats existed.
• The Barrens Topminnow will be given protection under the Endangered Species Act as its range continues to shrink.
• A new species of leaf-tailed gecko has been discovered in Madagascar.
• The Fall Armyworm moth has become established in Africa and has become an agricultural pest there.

Climate change and environmental politics

• US air pollution had improved for years but suddenly increased from 2016-2018, resulting in an extra 9,700 deaths. Possible causes include more diesel-fueled trucks on the road, more extreme wildfires (especially in California), and lax enforcement of the Clean Air Act.
• Border wall construction is causing significant ecological harm beyond the effects of the wall itself.
• A new report suggests that economists have been underestimating the cost of climate change.
• A loophole in federal law allows many oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico while not paying royalties.
• An oil spill from an unknown source is polluting Brazil's beaches.
• Extinction Rebellion is fighting the protest ban in London.
• Audubon has a guide to climate action. 
• The conditions look right for another "blob" of hot water in the Pacific.

Loose Feathers #719

Common Yellowthroat / Photo by Kyle Chelius/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• It was another bad summer for seabirds in Alaska, as volunteers collected nearly 9,200 seabird carcasses from around Alaska's coastline. Short-tailed Shearwaters had a particularly hard summer. Since die-offs have occurred in each of the past five years, it seems that there may be a link to warmer ocean temperatures.
• Over three hundred Chimney Swifts collided with the large glass windows of the NASCAR Hall of Fame on a single night this week.
• A study identified control of invasive rats as the best way to protect the Puaiohi, a thrush endemic to Kauai. 
• Red-cockaded Woodpecker are changing their nesting times in response to climate change, but not all populations are changing the same way, and northern and eastern nesters are doing better than southwestern ones.
• New research shows that Phainopeplas fit a pattern called itinerant breeding, in which they breed in one place and then migrate somewhere else and breed again there. Only two other itinerant breeders are known, the Tricolored Blackbird and the Red-billed Quelea.
• A new species called the Spectacled Flowerpecker has been described from Borneo. The species was noted by birders ten years ago and finally was studied more closely this year.
• Barnacle Geese are thriving in the face of climate change by establishing breeding colonies further north.
• Each Little Penguin colony in Tasmania has its own foraging preferences, but all three pay attention to water temperature and depth. 
• A judge issued an injunction against the Trump administration's management plan for Greater Sage-Grouse, which would have opened more sage-grouse habitat for resource extraction.
• Scientists are still debating the ethics of killing Barred Owls to save Northern Spotted Owls, even as more than 2,400 Barred Owls have been killed in an experiment to see if control is effective. 
• Washington is preparing a new conservation plan for the Marbled Murrelet.
• Warmer nights seem to prompt Blue Tits to lay their eggs earlier in the spring.
• Fall migration can bring unexpected birds when some birds fly in the wrong direction.
• Corn Crakes are declining partly because of changes in agricultural practices. 
• More intensive agriculture has led to lands being withdrawn from conservation programs, which hurts grassland birds.
• Recent studies have shown some of the genetic basis for plumage color.
• Gulls seem to be ubiquitous, but many species are in decline, especially in New England.

Science and nature blogging

• Feathered Photography: Unique Adaptations of Woodpeckers
• ABA Blog: Happening NOW: Storm-Blown Birds from Hurricane Dorian
• Backyard and Beyond: The Case Against Honeybees
• 10,000 Birds: The First Bird Tracking Station Is Up and Running in Costa Rica
• On The Wing Photography: Audubon’s And Myrtle Yellow-rumped Warblers Perched In The Same Tree 

Biodiversity and conservation

• Leaving fallen leaves in place rather than raking or blowing them away can help protect biodiversity since many invertebrates use dead leaves as shelter over the winter.
• Sawfish numbers are crashing in the Gulf of Carpentaria, which is considered their global stronghold. 
• The first genome of the Spotted Lanternfly was built from a single specimen captured in Reading, Pennsylvania. 
• Freshwater mussels are dying of a mysterious illness, and the die-off is threatening river ecosystems.
• Time is running out to save the vaquita, and it is not clear if recent policy changes will be enough to do it.
• Researchers mapped the complex evolutionary history of oaks.
• Beavers have once again disappeared from the San Pedro River in Arizona.
• A columnist argues that Britain should let its forests regrow naturally. 
• Increasing numbers of mountain bikers on public lands is leading to conflicts with bears.
• Manatees and Key Deer are threatened by climate-fueled superstorms.

Climate change and environmental politics

• A seismometer in an old railroad tunnel in the Pyrenees records the sound of climate change caused by meltwater running over the tunnel.
• Since Bolsonaro was elected, violence against Brazil's indigenous people has increased as corporate interests rush to exploit their lands.
• London tried to ban the Extinction Rebellion protests, but the protests have not stopped. 
• Sea-level rise is swamping the Sundarbans and forcing people to evacuate.
• The Trump administration is trying to strip the Roadless Rule from Tongass National Forest to allow more logging.
• Mines in British Columbia are leaching selenium into the Kootenai River, which crosses the US-Canada border. Many aquatic invertebrates cannot survive higher levels of selenium.
• A majority of New Jerseyans see climate change as a major problem. The state is among those where the temperature is warming and the sea is rising the fastest. 
• New Jersey's Blue Acres program, which buys flood-prone properties and turns them into open space, recently made its 700th purchase, but there are many more that might be eligible if the funding were available.
• The Army Corps of Engineers wants to build massive storm surge barriers around New York Harbor, which threatens the estuary's improving ecology.

Loose Feathers #718

Sanderling / Photo by Peter Pearsall/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A new report from Audubon finds that 389 bird species are vulnerable to extinction due to climate change out of the 604 North American bird species they modeled. The greatest threats are to habitat specialist or range restricted species, especially ones that breed in the Arctic. This page allows one to see the predicted future ranges for vulnerable species under different climate scenarios.
• The report also found that at least eight states could lose their current state birds as ranges shift.
• Birders already see hints of the more dramatic range shifts predicted in the Audubon report. 
• A study found that Greater Prairie-Chickens are less concerned with noise from wind turbines than land cover, particularly woody vegetation. 
• The Kirtland's Warbler has met the standard for recovery and will be removed from the Endangered Species List. However, continued work will be necessary to maintain their preferred jack pine habitat.
• The Cerulean Warbler population dropped 70% in 44 years, but the rate of decline has slowed over the past decade. The reasons are unclear, but it may be connected to habitat conservation on their breeding and wintering ranges.
• A banding network staffed by volunteers has established that Northern Saw-whet Owls are far more common and widespread than expected and revealed more about their migration patterns.
• Restored riparian habitat supports fewer birds than intact habitat, but their nesting success is the same.
• This summer the Atlantic Puffin colony on Eastern Egg Rock in Maine reached a record 188 pairs, but their future is uncertain because of climate change. 
• Harsh winter conditions can affect the nesting success of swallows the following spring.
• Birders in Minnesota have noticed the bird declines reported in scientific article last week. 
• Thousands of Short-tailed Shearwaters failed to show up on their breeding grounds in Australia.
• A Least Bittern turned up in Ireland for the first time.
• The Philippines has 11 endemic hornbill species, nine of which are endangered. 
• Satellite imagery shows the nesting grounds for Blue Snow Geese, which should be on their way south. 
• Some Arctic seabirds are breeding earlier because of climate change bringing and earlier spring.
• An insecticide killed 200 birds in Australia.

Science and nature blogging

• ornithologi.com: Published in Marine Ornithology: Potential Northward Expansion of the Breeding Range of Red-legged Kittiwake Rissa brevirostris
• Avian Hybrids: How far did the hybrid zone between Hermit Warbler and Townsend’s Warbler move?
• Dynamic Ecology: Did North America really lose 3 billion birds? What does it mean?
• Cool Green Science: Recovery: A Future for Wood Turtles 
• Laura's Birding Blog: Why I Love Scrub Jays

Biodiversity and conservation

• A new species of tarsier was reported from Sulawesi, a biodiversity hotspot in Indonesia.
• Kangaroos are a major cause of overgrazing in Australia's preserves. 
• Stick and leaf insects probably evolved their camouflage to hide from birds and mammals.
• Florida's Python Action Team recently removed its 900th invasive python, which is in addition to the 2,567 pythons captured by another agency. However, the python population in Florida is probably still in the tens of thousands.
• Three of the nineteen wolves translocated to Isle Royale have died, and one crossed the ice back to the mainland.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Ghost forests are appearing along the US East Coast as rising seas kill what used to be stands of white cedar or loblolly pine. 
• Permafrost is thawing and collapsing in Yakutia, where temperatures have warmed 2°C in the past 50 years and 3°C since the 19th century. 
• Alaska is also warming faster than most of the world, with unusual wildfires and the loss of sea ice in the summer.
• Twenty companies are responsible for a third of global fossil fuel emissions.
• Activists in Colorado have been fighting to rein in the booming fracking industry. 
• A ballot issue to revoke a power plant bailout in Ohio has prompted a bitter fight.
• Aerial photos of Mont Blanc from 1919 show how much ice has been lost in the past century.
• A report argues that single-use plastics should be replaced with reusable containers and not alternative single-use items. 
• Some places could make money by preserving forests through carbon offset programs.
• Phil Murphy announced his opposition to a proposed power plant in the Meadowlands, but it already seemed unlikely that the plant would be built. The plant would burn natural gas to provide electricity to New York City.
• Canadian elections are approached, and here is a comparison of the climate plans offered by four major parties.

Loose Feathers #717

Surfbird / Photo by Peter Pearsall/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The falling water level in the Great Salt Lake created land bridges that allowed coyotes to reach an island where American White Pelicans nest, and as a result, the number of pelican nests has fallen 66% since 1992.
• Bird populations in the Mojave Desert collapsed due to heat stress from climate change over the past century.
• Purple Martins prefer to roost in forest fragments during their southbound migration. 
• Despite conservation efforts, Gunnison's Sage-Grouse are still struggling due to recent extreme weather. An extremely dry winter and spring in 2017-18 was followed by an extremely cold winter in 2018-19.
• A study found that Brown-headed Cowbirds are mostly monogamous, despite being brood parasites.
• Six national forests in Arizona and New Mexico have stopped tree-cutting to protect Mexican Spotted Owls. 
• Invasive hydrilla is home to cyanobacteria that is killing Bald Eagles in Georgia.

Science and nature blogging

• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: 2.9 Billion Birds Lost Should Be Our Rallying Cry
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to October 2019
• Shorebirder: BERMUDA PETREL on the Brookline Bird Club Pelagic (Trip Report)
• On The Wing Photography: Photographing White-crowned Sparrows At Farmington Bay 
• The Prairie Ecologist: Flies, Flies, and More Flies
• Bug Eric: How Humanity Manufactures Its Own Pests

Biodiversity and conservation

• The invasive Spotted Lanternfly has a large potential range in the US, especially in the Mid-Atlantic (where its range is still expanding), Midwest, and central and coastal California. 
• Biologists identified three genetic mutations that allow Monarch caterpillars to feed on milkweed.
• A project aims to restore a coastal prairie that was habitat for the Oregon Silverspot, an endangered butterfly.
• Chitons roll up in a ball when threatened, possibly to get a better footing when they land somewhere else.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Despite revoking California's right to set stricter air pollution standards (and that of other states to follow California's lead), the EPA is threatening to withhold federal funding from California because of its air and water pollution.
• Climate threatens many historic and cultural sites with severe storms and rising sea levels; sites important for African American culture and history tend to have fewer resources to deal with these new climate-related problems.
• Pumping too much groundwater in arid regions is killing rivers like the San Pedro River in Arizona.