Loose Feathers #734

Pine Grosbeak / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding news

• Albatrosses equipped with radar detectors are being used to track illegal fishing that might otherwise go undetected. Out of 353 ships that albatrosses detected, only 253 had the required transponders turned on.
• A study looked at the relationship between parasites and nestling size in Tree Swallows.
• New technologies and building materials could save billions of birds from fatal window strikes.
• Snow Buntings are widespread through the northern U.S. in winter. Here is a guide to finding and identifying them.
• Wildfires burned through over 50% of the habitat for the northern and central populations of Superb Lyrebird. Albert's Lyrebird and some owl species also lost significant portions of their habitats.
• Volunteers conducted the North and South Abaco CBCs this winter for the first time since Hurricane Dorian devastated the island. Birds fared better on the south end of the island, but both counts were lower than usual.

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Hybrids: Genomics on the Galapagos: Exploring the genetic diversity of Darwin’s Finches and their relatives
• The Freiday Bird Blog: The Top Threats to NJ Birds, and What We Can Do About Them 
• On The Wing Photography: Black-billed Magpie Portrait In Whiteout Conditions 
• Snapshots of Nature: Winter Waterfowl Count 
• WildLight Photography: Light-mantled Albatross in Perseverance Harbour
• The Applied Ecologist's Blog: Loss of bumblebees is a loss to farmers
• Arachnofiles: Arachnews: January 27, 2020
• Conserve Wildlife Blog: New Jersey Eagle News 
• The Artful Amoeba: Slime Molds Have Been Oozing around Earth for at Least 100 Million Years

Biodiversity and conservation

• Orchids are among the most difficult plants to protect because of their popularity among collectors as well as the difficulty of raising them for reintroduction. Now 32 orchid species are feared extinct in Bangladesh alone. 
• Insects and other invertebrates may be among the hardest-hit animals in the Australian wildfires because of the way that complete habitats were burned.
• One invertebrate that did survive is the bright pink Mount Kaputar Slug.
• Australian conservationists are encouraging people to document the plants and wildlife they see in burned areas using iNaturalist.
• Rising acidity in the Pacific is causing the shells of Dungeness crabs to dissolve.
• Here is a review of the current state of the Everglades, which is threatened by rising sea levels, development, and invasive species.
• Cape Town is trying to manage conflicts between its residents and the baboons that enter the city from the nearby Table Mountain National Park.
• Brazilian entomologists discovered a new, brilliantly-colored species of sharpshooter, a type of planthopper, in southeastern Brazil.
• Bolivian Cochran Frogs have been rediscovered after not being seen for 18 years.
• Iridescence may be a counterintuitive form of camouflage. Even though the elytra of jewel beetles are shiny, birds seem to have trouble picking them out.
• Dragonflies and damselflies have similar neural wiring that makes them effective predators but attack prey in different ways. Damselflies attack prey in front of them, while dragonflies seize prey from below.
• Purple coneflowers are among the many plants that flourish in the aftermath of fires. In their case it seems to be that they get more attention from pollinators after fires.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The Trump administration is seeking to codify its weakened enforcement of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This would essentially legalize all sorts of "incidental" bird killing, from hunters shooting endangered Whooping Cranes to large flocks of waterbirds landing in toxic retention ponds.
• A Mexican conservationist, Homero Gómez González, was found dead after being missing for two weeks. The cause of death is unclear, but it is likely to be related to his work protecting wintering Monarchs from illegal logging. 
• Scientists measured extremely warm water temperatures beneath the Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica, which is already melting and contributing to sea level rise.
• Communities in Pennsylvania have been dealing with contaminated water since a spill related to the Mariner East pipeline, which carries natural gas from fracking sites.
• A federal appeals court upheld the designation of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument.
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• A newly-installed portion of the border wall fell over due to high winds.
• Colombian environmentalists are unhappy with their government over a variety of issues, from continuing deforestation to fracking and extractive industries to violence against environmental and social leaders.
• Murphy signed an executive order committing New Jersey to a goal of 100% clean energy by 2050 as well as updating land-use regulations to account for sea level rise. Most of the details still have to be filled in, however. 
• There is a proposal to make either the endangered Little Brown Bat or the Big Brown Bat the official state mammal of Washington, DC.

Loose Feathers #733

Golden Eagle / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A study using thermal imaging found that Tufted Puffins use their big bills to disperse excess heat.
• Northern Spotted Owls have already lost ground to Barred Owls, and it appears that the same process is happening with California Spotted Owls.
• The Tiaozini mudflats in China, which is an important stopover habitat for migrating Spoon-billed Sandpipers and Nordmann's Greenshanks, will be protected from reclamation.
• A single cat decimated a colony of Banded Dotterels in New Zealand. Out of 14 nests, only one fledgling survived. 
• South Island Wrens are thriving in a mountainous area that was cleared of invasive species. 
• Superb Lyrebirds had much of their habitat burned in the Australian wildfires.

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Hybrids: Drawing lines between larks: How many species of Horned Lark are there? 
• The Freiday Bird Blog: NJ Bird Declines: We've Been Asleep At the Switch
• The Applied Ecologist's Blog: Predator and scavenger movements as opportunities for pathogen spread among endangered seabirds 
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: Why The Decline in Bird Populations? Start Looking In Your Own Backyard.
• Urban Hawks: Bryant Park American Woodcock
• Backyard and Beyond: Raptors vs. Squirrels
• Arachnofiles: Arachnews: January 20, 2020
• brewster's linnet: WIR 1/15-1/21

Biodiversity and conservation

• A new species of earthworm is invading forests of the eastern U.S. and will add an extra challenge for native plants to survive.
• Nearly 50 threatened species had 80% of their territory burned by the Australian wildfires, and another 65 species had 50% of their range affected. Many more threatened species had at least part of their territory burned. Here are some graphics that give some examples of the species harmed and areas burned.
• The manager of a Monarch butterfly reserve in Michoacán, Mexico, has disappeared and was probably killed for his work protecting the Monarch's wintering grounds from illegal logging. The incident is part of a wave of violence against environmentalists.
• The Monarch population that winters in California is stable but remains extremely low.
• A study shows that the West Virginia flying squirrel, a subspecies of the northern flying squirrel, has continued to do well since its removal from the endangered species list.
• Eastern Indigo Snakes were found breeding in Alabama for the first time since the 1950s. This threatened species has been the focus of a reintroduction project.
• One of the four North Atlantic Right Whale calves spotted this winter already has a wound from a boat propeller. 
• Here is an explanation of the differences between some groups of animals whose names tend to get mixed up, like frog and toad or bison and buffalo.
• Conservation groups are threatening to sue to get the wolverine listed under the Endangered Species Act.
• Argentina's new Impenetrable National Park has partially opened, but most of the forest is already gone. 
• Madagascar has launched an ambitious tree-planting program, but unfortunately a lot of the trees are not native to the island.

Climate change and environmental politics

• BP successfully lobbied the Trump administration to weaken enforcement of the National Environmental Policy Act to speed up the approval of pipelines and power plants. While BP presents itself as environmentally conscious, in practice this has not amounted to much.
• The Trump administration also cut scientists out of the decision to weaken clean water regulations.
• The 9th Circuit dismissed the children's climate lawsuit, but other climate cases will continue outside its jurisdiction.
• Malaysia has sent back 150 containers of plastic waste to their countries of origin since since banning the import of plastic waste in 2017.
• Meanwhile, China is phasing out its own consumption of single-use plastics.
• Historic sites important to the Tohono O'odham Nation, including a burial ground, are in the path of Trump's border wall project. 
• New York has made funds available for the removal of obsolete or hazardous dams that block fish migration.
• Florida is buying a 20,000-acre parcel of the Everglades to protect it from oil drilling.
• The Wilderness Society is challenging an oil drilling permit within the Great Australian Bight Marine Park.
• New Jersey passed a new law to stop illegal dumping, which is a continuing problem in some towns.

Loose Feathers #732

American Robin / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A new study links the mass mortality of Common Murres in Alaska in 2015 to a combination of a reduction in prey fish and an increase in the appetites of predator fish. Both were caused by the Blob, a heatwave in the Pacific Ocean. About 10-20% of Common Murres died from 2014-2016.
• New estimates suggest that over 1 billion animals were affected by Australia's wildfires. Birds in particular danger include the Regent Honeyeater, Eastern Bristlebird, and Glossy Black Cockatoo, all of which are endangered or have endangered regional populations. 
• Biologists are using remote audio recorders to monitor the endangered Puaiohi population on Kauai. Similar methods are being used to monitor other species in remote locations.
• A study of window-killed birds around Oklahoma State University showed that the size and shape of glass exteriors influence how many birds get killed at a particular site.
• Debi Shearwater is retiring from leading pelagic birding tours.
• A new honeyeater species was described from Alor Island in Indonesia. The Alor Myzomela is similar to the Crimson-hooded Myzomela but differs in wing color and vocalizations.
• Birds can be an effective entry point for people to care about nature. 
• The throat morphology of cassowaries supports a close relationship with tinamous and moas.
• Roosting vultures have taken over a Customs and Border Patrol radio tower in Texas. 
• Early arrival in a breeding territory is important even for non-migratory birds.
• The purchase of Cousin Island in the Seychelles by a conservation group probably saved the Seychelles Warbler.  
• Hartford is home to a winter crow roost that was estimated to be 19,000 birds in 2018.
• New Jersey released its annual report on the Bald Eagle Project (pdf). In 2019, there were 211 territorial pairs with at least 190 active nests (184 with a known outcome) that produced 249 young.

Science and nature blogging

• Anything Larus: 1st Cycle Vega Gulls
• John Rakestraw: Mew Gulls
• Feathered Photography: Northern Harrier Landing Vertically On Prey In The Wind
• Linda Murdock Photography: A Most Cooperative Curlew 
• awkward botany: Camel Crickets and the Dust Seeds of Parasitic Plants
• I Used to Hate Birds: 2019 5MR Challenge Wrap-up
• Backyard and Beyond: Cactus Pose  
• On The Wing Photography: Photographing Drake Common Goldeneyes In A Territorial Dispute
• Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.: Cracking The Code of The Rebus: A Band Return For an Evening Grosbeak 
• The Prairie Ecologist: Finally, A Practical Guide for Roadside Wildflower Viewing 
• Arachnofiles: Arachnews: January 13, 2020
• mocosocoBirds: The Emerald Ash Borer and Morris County Parks – Jan. 11, 2020 
• Avian Hybrids: Explaining the pantropical distribution of kingfishers, bee-eaters, rollers, motmots, and todies

Conservation and biodiversity

• Healthy natural ecosystems sequester a lot of carbon, so climate solutions ought to pay more attention to conservation.
• Three new gecko species were discovered on Sri Lanka. All three are rare and range-restricted.
• The wildfires in Australia are likely to push some species towards extinction, and even some species that are not endangered may lose regional populations.
• Feral cats are making the aftermath of Australia's wildfires worse by traveling to burn scars and hunting the wildlife that survived.
• The fog in coastal California transports toxic dimethylmercury from the ocean into terrestrial ecosystems, where it accumulates in the animals that live there.
• The restoration of American River has increased the number of salmon breeding there. It still has a long way to reach its historic level.
• Principe's Obô snails have declined by 75% since the 1990s due to invasive species and collection.
• A single gene controls the pheromones that separate two species of orchid bees. 
• A camera trap photographed a Bobcat in Northwest DC near the C&O Canal. The closest previous record of a Bobcat to DC was 25 miles away.
• Insects need to adjust for the effect of gravity on their internal organs when they hang upside down.
• Since Bristlecone Pines can live for millennia, they contain a global climate record.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Last year was the second-hottest year on record, behind only 2016, when temperatures were influenced by El Niño. The past decade was also the warmest decade on record. 
• Last year also set a record for ocean temperatures. High ocean temperatures are harmful for marine life and also affect weather on land.
• The Trump administration has been dismantling the management of the National Park Service and undermining the regulations that protect them.
• Most of the political appointees in charge of enforcing federal environmental laws have a background in the fossil fuel or agricultural industries or worked to undermine regulations in a state government.
• New Jersey legislators failed to pass the single-use plastic ban or a bill to protect Liberty State Park from development before the end of the last session. (The latter passed the state senate but died in the assembly.) The process for both will need to be restarted.

Loose Feathers #731

Gray-crowned Rosy-Finch / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A new study names five new bird species and five new subspecies from three remote Indonesian islands.
• Detroit is experiencing a Snowy Owl irruption. 
• American Kestrels have declined by 50% in the last 50 years in northeastern North America, a decline that matches trends in other grassland birds.
• A camera trap in Iceland caught an Atlantic Puffin using a stick to scratch itself.
• A study found that African Gray Parrots are willing to help each other find food.
• Lebanese conservationists are building a system of protected areas to prevent migratory birds from being hunted while passing through.
• Audubon is urging Congress to pass an update to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. 
• Virginia paved over its largest seabird colony, which was on the south island of the bridge-tunnel. The state wildlife agency wants to replace the colony with a new island, but there are obstacles to doing that.
• A team of scientists is trying to figure out how many parasites a bird can carry.

Science and nature blogging

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Of Birds and Buckets: Nocturnal Flight Call Recordings Shine A Light on Migration Timing
• Feathered Photography: Rough-legged Hawk – The (very) Big Yawn
• ornithologi.com: Published in Ambio: Status and trends of circumpolar Peregrine Falcon and Gyrfalcon populations
• incidental naturalist: Winter Ruddy Ducks on the Hudson River 
• MaghrebOrnitho: White-rumped Seedeater: first for Algeria and Western Palearctic
• On The Wing Photography: Some Days In The Field Are Mostly For Learning 
• Arachnofiles: Arachnews: January 6, 2020 
• Cool Green Science: Owling: A Field Guide to Finding Winter Owls
• The Rattling Crow: Stonechat pairs in winter territories

Biodiversity and conservation

• Here is a listing of the species declared extinct in 2019. Most were probably extinct long before last year.
• The palm oil industry is a major threat to proboscis monkeys because much of their habitat was converted to plantations and more is being fragmented for processing plants.
• The severe wildfires in Australia are a threat to the country's wildlife and may push some species towards extinction. While much of the attention has focused on vertebrates like koalas, kangaroos, and cockatoos, many unique invertebrates are also at risk.
• Here are ten reasons to care about spiders (and much-maligned Australian spiders in particular).
• There are about 435,000 plant species on Earth, and over one-third are considered "exceedingly rare" according to a new study. Rare plants are especially vulnerable to climate change. 
• Highways are a threat to wolverines since female wolverines will not attempt to cross them.
• A study found that the Chinese Paddlefish is probably extinct. This was one of only two paddlefish species in the world and the largest freshwater fish.
• Once an area reaches 50% deforestation, the rest of the trees are felled soon after.
• New York City recently conducted its first squirrel census and found that there are 2,373 squirrels in Central Park.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The 2010s could be described as the decade when the significance of climate change became impossible to ignore, and the 2020s will be worse. 
• Australia, like many countries, is too dependent on fossil fuels to make the changes necessary to mitigate climate change.
• Unfortunately the wildfires in Australia have been accompanied by a disinformation campaign regarding their causes and severity. This campaign supports climate change denialism by prominent politicians.
• New Jersey (and states with similar pinelands-type habitats) can learn from recent wildfires. 
• Recent research suggests that exposure to the smoke from wildfires can cause lifelong health problems.
• America's use of coal fell by 18% in 2019, but greenhouse gas emissions overall are still rising because other parts of the economy are not decarbonizing as quickly as energy plants. Transportation is now the largest contributor.
• Massive solar projects in California's deserts have continue to be controversial because of their effects on desert ecosystems.
• Last year was the second-hottest year on record, trailing only 2016 (and not by much). 
• The Trump administration is planning regulatory changes to do away with the NEPA review process for highway projects.
• At the same time, the EPA is planning to introduce new air pollution standards for trucks, in order to prevent regulation at the state level.
• The owners of the Liberty National golf course in Jersey City are still lobbying the state legislature to get a chunk of Liberty State Park to expand their golf course. The site in question is currently preserved as a natural area. Activists have been protesting the privatization proposal.

Loose Feathers #730

Red-headed Woodpecker on New Year's Day / by me

Birds and birding news

• The number of Gurney's Pittas has declined rapidly since surveys in 2003. Major threats include the wildlife trade (pittas get caught in traps for pangolins) and deforestation (primarily for palm oil plantations).
• The most colorful coot chicks tend to be the most vulnerable, and the bright colors can get adult coots to feed them more.
• Hooded Grebes are threatened by introduced American Mink and Rainbow Trout as well as increasing predation from Kelp Gulls.A conservation program includes guardians to watch over the nesting colonies.
• As the climate warms and more people provide feeders, increasing numbers of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds are overwintering in the Carolinas.
• Two Spoon-billed Sandpiper chicks have hatched in England as part of a captive-breeding program. So far the program has not successfully fledged any chicks.
• A zoo in India is raising endangered Greater Adjutant chicks as part of a captive-breeding program.
• About 5,000 Golden Eagles winter east of the Mississippi according to new estimates.
• Vultures in Zululand, South Africa, suffered their four mass poisonings in 2019.

Science and nature blogging

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to January 2020
• Laura's Birding Blog: The End of Mitigation 
• Shorebirder: A Taverner's Cackling Goose in Rhode Island
• MaghrebOrnitho: Migratory connectivity of Fennoscandian Dotterels using geolocator and ring recoveries 
• Feathered Photography: Peregrine Falcon In Hoarfrost 
• Wanstead Birder: Top ten bird images from 2019
• Earthling Nature: Friday Fellow: Rhinoceros Tick
• 10,000 Birds: Chats
• BugTracks: Another year, another 20 new species 
• earthstar: 2/366 New Year Plant Hunt
• Arachnofiles: Arachnews: November 2019 
• On The Wing Photography: Hay Bales And Wild Turkeys 
• Green Humour: Meet the Zitting Cisticola 

Biodiversity and conservation

• A survey last summer found an increase in the number of endangered Seabeach Amaranth plants on New Jersey's beaches. Protection zones at Island Beach State Park and elsewhere have allowed the plants to thrive and also benefit beach-nesting birds.
• The Natural History Museum in Britain announced that their scientists named 412 new species in 2019. 
• Conifers rely on their existing root systems during times of drought rather than growing new, deeper roots.

Climate change and environmental politics

• Over 100 wildfires are burning across Australia thanks to a season of extreme heat linked to climate change. Scientists estimate that 480 million wild animals have been killed, including a third of the koalas in New South Wales. It may get worse this weekend. Ash from the fires has darkened glaciers in New Zealand, which could lead to more melting.
• There has been some progress on climate change in the past ten years, but not enough to slow warming or reverse the emissions that cause it.
• The EPA's scientific advisory panel has found serious problems with several of the agency's proposed regulatory changes, including weakening water pollution rules, weakening emissions standards for cars, and restrictions on the studies used for public health regulations. 
• The clean water rule is a major concern for people in New Mexico, where 96% of streams and wetlands would lose protection from pollution.
• Costa Rica announced a plan to reach zero net emissions by 2050. Reforestation is a major component of the plan.
• Germany is reducing fares for long-distance trains to encourage people to travel by rail instead of air to reduce emissions.
• The past year was disastrous for the Brazilian Amazon thanks to changes in governmental policies.
• Overuse of road salt in the winter threatens freshwater ecosystems and the wildlife that depends on them.
• Maryland's deal with Exelon regarding the Conowingo Dam does not address most of the pollution that follows past the dam into the Chesapeake.
• A ballot initiative in Colorado would reintroduce Gray Wolves to the state.
• So far the plastics industry has beaten back most attempts to regulate the amount and types of plastic produced.
• New single-use plastic bans went into effect in towns across New Jersey on January 1. As of now, 32 towns have passed plastic bag bans, and more have bans pending or under consideration. A statewide law is still held up in the legislature.