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