Posts
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| Mallard (my photo) |
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
