Loose Feathers #760

American Goldfinch / Photo by Courtney Celley/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• For the sixth year in a row, there has been a mass die-off of seabirds in Alaskan waters, this time near Nome. Most have been murres or Horned Puffins, and many are emaciated; it is unclear if this is due to disease or an inability to find food.
  
• Swifts make vesper flights twice a day, which they use to orient themselves.
• Artificial lighting disrupts birds' sleep at night, and the lack of sleep may affect their ability to forage during the day.
  
• The timing and route of Rufous Hummingbirds during migration varies by age and sex.
• The EU has threatened to fine France if it does not end the practice of hunting birds with glue sticks.
  

Science and nature blogging

• Feathered Photography: Willow Flycatcher – Now That’s A Pretty Neat Trick
• 10,000 Birds: What Birders Dream About?
• Matthew R. Halley: Who was the first non-male American ornithologist?
• The Urban Nature Enthusiast: Mabel the Matriarch
• Coffee & Conservation: New Rainforest Alliance criteria for shade
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• Last week was National Moth Week, and observers recorded moth sightings worldwide. Many of them can be seen in the iNaturalist project. (Most of mine are here.) Moths have remarkable diversity, and there is still much to learn about them. Mothing can be an alternative when birding slows down over the summer.
  
• Populations of migratory fish have fallen by 76% over the past 50 years, and some species have fallen by 90% or more. Causes include the reduction of breeding habitat due to obstructions like dams and culverts.
  
• Monarchs are declining, and their habitat is threatened all along their migration, from their wintering grounds in Mexico, to stopover sites like the National Butterfly Center, to breeding grounds that are being converted to lawns or high-intensity agriculture.
• Scientists are debating whether species whose ranges shift in response to climate change should be regarded as invasive species.
• Brittlebush is showing some ability to adapt to rising temperatures in the Mojave Desert.
• Also in the Mojave, some mosses are able to survive long dry periods under quartz rocks.
  
• The only wolf pack in California has just produced its fourth litter, bringing the pack to 14 wolves.
• Some forms of the hourglass frog lack the distinctive hourglass shape on their backs.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• Last year was the most deadly so far for environmental activists, who are at risk of being killed or kidnapped by governments or private individuals whose projects they opposed. At least 212 activists were murdered worldwide in 2019. The Philippines is one of the most dangerous countries for environmental activists, with at least 43 killed in 2019, second only to Colombia's 64 killed.
• In the United States, activists are less likely to be killed, but protestors are still treated harshly by police.
  
• The Smith River in Montana is a popular spot for rafting, but it may be threatened by tailings from a copper mine.
• Smoke from wildfires represents the life that was destroyed by burning.
• The pending US withdrawal from the Paris agreement will exacerbate inequality along racial and ethnic lines and encourage other countries to ignore climate change as well.
  

Loose Feathers #759

Greater Sage-Grouse / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Surface feeders like kittiwakes and fulmars are more likely to ingest plastic than seabirds that feed below the surface like murres and guillemots.
• The Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots in Germany runs captive-breeding programs for rare parrots like the Spix's Macaw, but there are questions about its ethics and results.
• The population of the endangered Chinese Crested Tern has doubled over the past decade, thanks to conservation efforts.
• The Trump administration denied threatened species protection for the bi-state Greater Sage-Grouse, a population that lives on the border of California and Nevada. 
• Fishing boats that discard fish waste seem to change the way seabirds forage.

Science and nature blogging

• Birding New Jersey: Patronymic Naming, ca. 1807
• Avian Hybrids: Crossbills show there is more to evolution than natural selection
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: From Eagles to Eastern-tailed Blues and Osprey to Oak Trees It’s All Connected and Worth Saving
• Arachnofiles: Arachnews: July 22, 2020. Your fortnightly roundup of arachnid…
• In Defense of Plants: The Carnivorous Dewy Pine  
• On The Wing Photography: Adult Willow Flycatcher Close Up Photos
• Backyard and Beyond: Midge Monday
• Feathered Photography: Barn Swallow Repeatedly Attacking A Belted Kingfisher 

Biodiversity and conservation

• This week is National Moth Week, which continues through Sunday night. Here is how to participate and submit data.
• A new study concludes that most polar bears would starve if climate change continues at its current rate.
• Fisheries management councils are not doing enough to protect essential fish habitats, even in marine protected areas.

Climate change and environmental politics

• This week, Congress passed the Great American Outdoors Act, which funds infrastructure repair in national parks and other public lands and guarantees that the Land and Water Conservation Fund will spend all its annual revenue. The downsides are that it maintains the tie between public lands and fossil fuel production and that it does little to protect wildlife affected by the increasing number of visitors on public lands.
• Climate scientists narrowed the potential range of global temperature rise to 2.6°C-3.9°C if current emissions rates continue. This rules out the most optimistic scenarios without mitigation.
• While transportation emissions fell because of the pandemic, methane emissions from agriculture and fossil fuel extraction hit a record high.
• Plastic waste reaching the ocean is expected to triple in the next two decades, and current regulations only remove a small amount of the volume.
• Climate change is already driving migration out of places that are becoming inhospitable, and the scale of migration will increase over the next century.
• Border wall construction is drying up Quitobaquito Springs, one of the few reliable oases in Arizona's Sonoran Desert.
• The Sierra Club is owning up to its involvement with white supremacy, including the racism of its founder, John Muir.
• National parks and other public lands have been overloaded with visitors, leaving trash and potentially spreading the coronavirus to remote communities.
• New Jersey's new environmental justice law will require permit applications for proposed industrial facilities to assess their cumulative effects on overburdened communities. The bill does not regulate existing sources of pollution.

Loose Feathers #758

American Robin on nest / Photo by Mara Koenig/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The Cornell Lab of Ornithology published their comment on the proposed regulatory changes to weaken the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, along with a link on how to comment.
• For anyone who missed it in previous weeks, here is a summary of this year's taxonomic changes, including the changing status of the Mexican Duck and Northwestern Crow.
• A study found that Andean Condors fly for hours without flapping, which gives them extremely efficient flight. Condors mainly flap during takeoff.
• Hunting is a factor in the declines of many shorebird species along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, including highly endangered species like the Spoon-billed Sandpiper and Far Eastern Curlew.
• This week I saw Ring-billed Gulls on my patch for the first time in two months, which is a sign that fall migration is already underway.
• A study used hybrids of Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers to identify genes that control their plumage colors. 
• Christian Cooper will not participate in the prosecution of Amy Cooper, the dog walker who called the police on him, because structural change is more important than one individual.
• An out-of-place Sandhill Crane has been hanging around North Carolina's Outer Banks.
• In other displaced bird news, a Bearded Vulture turned up in the UK, the second record of one in that country, and a Brown Booby showed up in Ireland, which seems to be the third record there.
• A robin's nest provided some welcome distraction during the pandemic until the chicks fledged.

Science and nature blogging

• Sibley Guides: Scarlet Tanagers are bright red - but this one is yellow
• Avian Hybrids: Solving the seabird paradox: How does genetic differentiation arise in highly mobile species? 
• CanadianWoodcock: Things That Are Like Birds but Aren’t Birds – Part 1
• Backyard and Beyond: Periodic Reminder
• On The Wing Photography: Recently Fledged Red-tailed Hawks From Two Nests
• Tetrapod Zoology: The Dodo in Life  
• Chicago Ornithological Society: Dan's Feathursday Feature: Henslow's Sparrow

Biodiversity and conservation

• A viral disease killed 90% of Australia's Bellinger River Snapping Turtles, and the few that remain may be displaced by another turtle species.
• Last winter British Columbia culled 463 wolves to protect caribou, but the paper the cull was based on has problems. 
• A newly-discovered Sumatran frog species, Micryletta sumatrana, is threatened by the expansion of palm oil plantations.
• This week dam removal started on the Middle Fork of the Nooksack River in Washington to provide more habitat for spawning salmon. 
• On the other side of the country, fish have already migrated upstream following the removal of a dam last year on the Patapsco River in Maryland.
• Despite their bad reputation, sharks are necessary for healthy ocean ecosystems, and many of them are threatened with extinction.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The Trump administration finalized a set of regulatory changes to weaken the National Environmental Policy Act, the cornerstone of environmental law in the US. The changes would limit public comment, shorten the timeline for the environmental review process, and eliminate consideration of climate change. The changes are intended primarily for the benefit of the fossil fuel industry and would probably damage the health of communities that already suffer a disproportionate level of pollution.
• Joe Biden announced a climate change plan that borrows extensively from Green New Deal proposals, combining emissions reductions with infrastructure spending to support the transition.
• "Net zero" emissions does not necessarily mean the same as 100% renewable energy, as the former would maintain some use of fossil fuels. As a result "net zero" has become the preferred slogan for fossil fuel companies and their supporters.
• One problem is to figure out how to replace natural gas for things like home heating and cooking.
• Abandoned oil and gas drilling sites emit large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas, and the problem is likely to get worse as fossil fuels become less profitable.
• The Trump administration is appealing the order to shut down the Dakota Access pipeline. Regardless of what happens with DAPL, the cost of pipelines is going up because of organized opposition from activists that combine public protests with lawsuits.
• A tanker off the coast of Yemen is deteriorating and threatens to spill its 1.1 million barrels of oil.
• Construction of the border wall will close access to part of the Arizona Trail in Coronado National Memorial.
• Paul Fireman, who wanted to expand his golf course into Liberty State Park, announced that he is giving up on the project, and his announcement included a diatribe against the activists who fought to preserve the park.

Loose Feathers #757

Brewer's Blackbird / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• In response to calls to drop objectionable honorific bird names, the American Ornithological Society announced that they are drafting a proposal to change the McCown's Longspur's name and will consider proposals for changing other names.
• The US Fish and Wildlife Service designated critical habitat for the Elfin-woods Warbler, which is endemic to Puerto Rico.
• California Condors were recorded in Sequoia National Park for the first time in 50 years, a sign of their increasing population.
• All birds are at risk of hitting buildings, but glass walls are most dangerous for insect-eating and forest birds. The Bird-Safe Buildings Act could help reduce the number of window collisions.
• A breeding colony of endangered New Zealand Shore Plovers disappeared, and it is unclear whether they were killed or returned to the mainland.
• During Australia's COVID-19 lockdown earlier this year, the use of a birding app increased ten times over the same period last year.
• While eBird provides good data within the U.S., global coverage is still too limited to establish population trends. In particular, traveling birders seek out rarities, which makes them appear more common than they really are in eBird's data.
• A new project is trying to determine whether Australia's Little Penguins can switch prey when their preferred food is scarce. 
• A Piping Plover nest enclosure was destroyed and at least one chick killed in Maine. 
• A couple in Trinidad turned their garden into a haven for hummingbirds.

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Hybrids: Captive-bred ducks are genetically swamping wild Mallard populations in eastern North America
• Plant Love Stories: To all the Trees I've Loved Before
• Backyard and Beyond: Tiger, tiger, flying bright 
• Arachnofiles: Arachnews: July 8, 2020
• The Prairie Ecologist: Bumble Bee Watching for Science and Family 

Biodiversity and conservation

• A federal judge reinstated endangered species protections for grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region because the administration failed to consider how delisting the Yellowstone grizzlies would affect the overall grizzly population in the Lower 48.
• The amount of roadkill has dropped since the beginning of the pandemic, and the reduction could improve the outlook for some wildlife populations.
• A group of scientists is attempting to reconcile the many taxonomic frameworks into a single tree of life. A unified taxonomy could improve conservation by clarifying which populations are unique and in need of protection.
• Last year's bushfires in Australia melted camera traps meant for a frog study, but the memory cards still worked and showed how the landscape changed during the fires and subsequent floods.
• The "nature is healing" meme has lived on during the coronavirus shutdowns even though many of the early posts were faked.
• The effects of the pandemic on citizen science have been mixed: public events like bioblitzes have been canceled, but there is increased participation in projects that can be done close to home or online.
• Restrictions on fishing off New England may be necessary to save the North Atlantic Right Whale.
• Earlier this year, scientists released 200 Northeastern Beach Tiger Beetles at Sandy Hook to re-establish a population of this threatened species.
• Conservationists are petitioning California to add the Quino Checkerspot to its list of endangered species.
• Entomologists created a new key for identifying gall wasps.

Climate change and environmental politics

• This week had a series of setbacks for fossil fuel infrastructure. Even though the Supreme Court upheld permits for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, the companies behind it decided to cancel the project anyway because of rising costs. A federal judge ordered the Dakota Access pipeline shut down and emptied until the company and the Army Corps of Engineers complete an environmental impact statement, but the pipeline's owned announced that it would defy the court. (The pipeline faced strong opposition from Native Americans whose drinking water would be at risk.) The Supreme Court upheld an injunction against Keystone XL construction while a lawsuit proceeds.
• However, the Trump administration is trying to move ahead with a LNG export terminal in Oregon.
• Breaking free from fossil fuels is important because climate change is already driving extreme weather, like the intense heat and wildfires in the Arctic this summer.
• The effects of climate change are distributed unequally. In cities like Phoenix, poorer neighborhoods have less protection from the heat, a problem that the city is trying to solve. There and elsewhere, rich neighborhoods tend to have more street trees, which provide shade and wildlife habitat. Economic problems caused by climate change are likely to be felt more strongly in poorer nations.
• Environmental activists are increasingly being charged with terrorism for civil disobedience.
• The Trump administration and other governments have been rolling back protections for public lands.
• Representatives from the Biden and Sanders campaigns worked to create common ground on climate issues.
• Even during the pandemic, plastic waste is still a problem, and solutions have to start with reducing the amount that is produced and thrown away.

Loose Feathers #756

Western Tanager / Photo by Kari Cieszkiewicz/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• The Trump administration is pushing a regulatory change that would stop enforcement of "incidental" bird killings under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Birders should comment in opposition to this rule by July 20th.
• The songs of White-throated Sparrows are changing from ending with repeated sets of triplets to repeated sets of doubled notes. The new song debuted in British Columbia and has been moving eastward over the past two decades.
• The AOS released its new checklist supplement for North America this week. The most notable changes in the ABA Area include splitting the Mexican Duck as its own species and merging the Northwestern Crow with American Crows due to widespread interbreeding.
• Black Lives Matter protests have revived calls to change problematic honorific names like the McCown's Longspur. Here are the AOS guidelines for English names and instructions for submitting proposals to change them.
• The discussion of race and birding has continued since Black Birders Week, including an interview with the author of White Fragility, interviews with some of Black Birders Week's organizers, and an essay on race and birding in Wyoming.
• Cactus Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls have a tiny range in the southwestern US and northern Mexico and are threatened by habitat fragmentation and climate change.
• Air, plastic,and water pollution threaten Madagascar's endemic birds.
• Saving the Saltmarsh Sparrow will mean providing space for salt marshes to retreat as the sea level rises.
• Restoration efforts around Cape May Point include the removal of invasive plants and their replacement with native ones. 
• Here is some good bird news from this year.
• This spring a male Golden-winged Warbler has maintained a territory on Sparta Mountain in the area that was cleared to create scrub-shrub habitat.
• Finally, this is baby bird season, so here are some guidelines on what to do if you find a baby bird. (Or see baby bird guidelines in comic form.)

Science and nature blogging

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to July 2020
• Feathered Photography: Male MacGillivray’s Warbler Turning On His Perch
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino's Life in the Meadowlands: Gardening Like Life Depends On It
• Backyard and Beyond: Wasps and Caterpillars 
• Edin Whitehead: Little zooming legs
• On The Wing Photography: Yellow Warbler Female With Food For Her Chicks
• The Prairie Ecologist: Celebrating Color, Movement and Noise in an Evolving Prairie
• Avian Hybrids: Taxonomy in flux: The story of three flatbills and a flammulated flycatcher 

Biodiversity and conservation

• Scientists are tracking Spotted Lanternflies through their life cycles to find ways to control their spread.
• A growing Elk population may bring tourists to eastern Kentucky, but see this thread on problems with the article.
• A right whale found off Monmouth County probably died from propeller wounds.
• This year's National Moth Week will not feature public events due to the pandemic, but observers are still encouraged to submit their own sightings to sites like iNaturalist.
• Dracula ants can snap their jaws at 90 m/s, which is faster than any other animal's movement.

Climate change and environmental politics

• The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the use of single-use plastics (and even led to reusable bag bans in some places), but reusables are still safe to use since the virus spreads by airborne particles rather than surface contact.
• This week the House Democrats announced a new climate action plan. The plan is unlikely to be enacted in this term but could be in the future if Democrats win control of the Senate and White House. The new plan borrows ideas from the Green New Deal and is more ambitious than the Waxman-Markey bill that passed the House but not the Senate in 2009.
• The next administration will face a major challenge undoing the environmental damage caused by the Trump administration. Many of this administration's changes disproportionately harm Black communities and worsen the effects of COVID-19.
• Despite the pandemic, the Trump administration is trying to speed up construction of the border wall. The project seems to be drying up at least one oasis because wall construction is draining the aquifer that feeds the wetland.
• Washington, DC, is suing four major oil and gas companies for misleading the public about climate change.
• A spending bill that passed the New Jersey legislature this week included language that could allow for a golf course to be expanded into Liberty State Park. This proposal has been a subject of controversy for some time, and it is time to protect Liberty State Park's bird habitat from development.
• New Jersey's DEP released a report on how climate change will affect the state, from higher temperatures and sunny day flooding to the potential disappearance of the state bird.