Loose Feathers #763

Yellow Warbler / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A tracking study found that some Kirtland's Warblers wander widely during the breeding season.
• Critically endangered Orange-bellied Parrots are most at risk during their first migration, so that only 20% of young parrots reach adulthood.
• Fires in the Brazilian Pantanal destroyed 12% of its vegetation, including an important sanctuary for Hyacinth Macaws.
  
• Data from eBird suggest that birds are already shifting their ranges in response to extreme weather. 
• Early morning singing helps songbirds warm up for better singing during the day.
  
• Birds that breed in the boreal forest are getting ready to head south on migration.
  
• A Bald Eagle attacked a drone and knocked it into Lake Michigan.
• Here are some suggestions for getting started with birding.
• Researchers identified the gene that accounts for different levels of aggression between white-striped and brown-striped White-throated Sparrows.
• A Peregrine Falcon got tangled in a disposable facemask.
  

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Hybrids: Selection on metabolism and memory in a moving Chickadee hybrid zone
• Ohio Birds and Biodiversity: A light in the dark of night lures exciting moth species
• Chicago Ornithological Society: Dan's Feathursday Feature: Peregrine Falcon
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• Last weekend I saw Spotted Lanternflies for the first time. Several New Jersey counties are already under quarantine for this invasive insect, and here is what to do if you find one. 
• The Mojave Desert may not seem friendly to fish, but there are 52 fish endemic to Nevada, and many of them rely on wetlands in the Mojave.
• The Dome Fire burned 43,000 acres of the Mojave National Preserve and killed many of the Joshua trees.
• The northeastern US is very vulnerable to invasive shrubs because non-native shrubs leaf out earlier and keep their leaves longer than native shrubs.
  
• A homeowner used iNaturalist to identify plants growing in her yard and argues that the sites like iNaturalist can be a replacement for social media.
• Here is a film on helping native bees to survive when most of the attention goes to honey bees.
• Migration changes the body shapes of butterflies.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• The Trump administration is pushing forward with its plan to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling. The refuge's coastal plain is home to the Gwich’in people and provides vital habitat for polar bears and a migratory caribou herd.
  
• The Democratic Party took criticism this week for dropping language opposing fossil fuels subsidies from their platform. Here is a rundown of changes to the Democratic climate platform from 2016 to 2020. This year's platform also lacks ideas on how to manage the declining fossil fuel industry.
  
• Earlier this week, Death Valley recorded a high of 129.9°F (54.4°C), which may be the hottest ever temperature on Earth in recorded history.
• Quitobaquito Springs, home to two endangered endemic species, is being pumped dry for the border wall. This and similar actions are happening despite warnings from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
  
• COVID outbreaks in prisons has left California short-handed of the prison labor the state uses to fight wildfires.
• Persistent drought continues to reduce the water available in the Colorado River's large reservoirs.