Posts
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| American Robin / my photo |
- The American Birding Association has some recommendations for birding while practicing social distancing.
- A study in Brazil showed that forest birds will quickly recolonize an area that has been reforested after fragmentation.
- An ornithologist at the Field Museum has been documenting the dangers that buildings pose to migratory birds since the 1970s, and his findings have helped make their migrations safer.
- A group of amateur naturalists is documenting the lives of rare and little-known birds of the Phillippines, such as the South Philippine Dwarf-Kingfisher.
- Birds that can adapt to new foods or foraging strategies are less likely to go extinct.
- High winds killed swallows and swifts that were migrating over Greece. Many of the birds arrived exhausted and malnourished.
- BugTracks: The Yard List(s)
- Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Updated for 2020: State of the Mountain Birds Report
- Arachnofiles: Arachnews: April 6, 2020
- As the climate warms, it will be possible for more species to invade Antarctica, which has generally been too cold for newcomers. The first appears to be a mussel from Patagonia.
- It seems that Black Rhinos listen for the alarm calls of Red-billed Oxpeckers to know when humans are nearby.
- Cold snaps help control some invasive species, but the Emerald Ash Borer benefits from extreme temperature variability because it kills the parasitoids used to control them.
- The Interior Department wants to remove the Canada Lynx from the threatened species list, even though their population is still declining in the lower 48 states.
- During the pandemic, there have been numerous stories about how wildlife have reacted to the shutdown, some of which are true and many of which are false.
- Preserving established habitats like old-growth forests, grasslands, and peatlands, can do more to reduce atmospheric carbon than aggressive tree-planting programs, especially when the latter involved non-native trees.
- Another study found that breeding and releasing Monarchs probably does more harm than good because captive-bred Monarchs are weaker fliers.
- Due to social distancing and restrictions on travel, air pollution and carbon emissions have fallen dramatically compared to recent years. However, there is no guarantee that they will stay down once the pandemic ends.
- It would be good if they stayed down because air pollution exacerbates respiratory diseases like the coronavirus.
- Another side effect of the economic shutdown is that food is being wasted that would normally go to restaurants, school cafeterias, caterers, and similar buyers.
- Many local communities want their national parks closed down because increased visitation puts them at risk.
- New Jersey closed all of its state and county parks this week, and many towns in the state have done the same.
- There are questions about whether park shutdowns are useful or sustainable, given that outdoor exercise is good for mental and physical health and that a heavy-handed approach can increase resistance to more important restrictions.
- Many states are using the pandemic to roll back single-use plastic restrictions or even ban reusable bags, but reusable bags are still allowed in New Jersey.
- New Jersey's DEP classified an additional 600 miles of rivers and streams as Category One waterways, which receive strong protections under state law.
- The White House gave industry groups a back channel to rewrite regulations under the National Environmental Policy Act because the industry groups were unhappy that their opponents were dominating the required public comment periods.
- Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration is pushing ahead with construction of the border wall.
