Loose Feathers #765

Great Blue Heron / my photo

Birds and birding news

• This year's Global Shorebird Counts will run from September 3-9. Any birder is welcome to participate, and there are directions at the link. Participants are advised to follow local COVID-19 restrictions.
• Superb Lyrebirds move more soil in a year than any other land animal by kicking up soil and leaf litter as they forage.
  
• Comparison of Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers and their hybrids helped identify a genetic basis for plumage differences. 
• Western wildfires are devastating as they happen, but burned landscapes provide habitat for wildlife like Black-backed Woodpeckers.
• Stay-at-home orders and social distancing have increased the interest in birdwatching. Here are some ways to get started.
  
• A new study found that House Sparrows can learn from each other about what foods are good to eat.
• Drones in flight stress waterbirds and cause them to stop feeding or take flight, especially for larger flocks. However, drones stress birds less in places where there is already a lot of human disturbance.
• A study in Britain found that roads reduce the bird diversity in the surrounding areas. Generalists tended to benefit from roadways, but rarer species disappeared.
• Australia is investigating the export of 232 parrots to the Association for the Conservation of Threatened Parrots in Germany. The organization presents itself as a zoo but has no public facilities.
• People can help reduce migratory bird fatality by turning off lights at night.
  
• A new study estimates that seabird guano is worth $1.1 billion per year since it is used in agriculture and makes fisheries more productive.
• A single cat killed nine Hawaiian Petrel chicks in a reserve on Kauai.
• Two banded Piping Plovers spotted on the Georgia coast this week were siblings raised by the pair at Chicago's Montrose Beach.
  

Science and nature blogging

• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: The Meaning of Birding
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to September 2020
• Avian Hybrids: Blackcaps help to unravel the genetic basis of bird migration 
• wadertales: Teenage waders 
• 10,000 Birds: The Trials and Triumphs of an Odyssey for a Nemesis Bird
  
• On The Wing Photography: Rare Veery In The Wasatch Mountains
• Wanstead Birder: I don't know 
• Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.: 2020: The Dawn of The Geri Birding Renaissance
• NJUrbanForest: Plants of New Jersey # 13 Black Birch
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• The Trump administration wants to strip endangered species protections from the Gray Wolf in most of the U.S. While the wolf population in the Lower 48 is expanding, the species still has not returned to most of its former range, and wolves still face persecution.
• The US Fish and Wildlife Service also declined to designate critical habitat for the endangered Rusty-patched Bumblebee.
• Engineers spent three days freeing a Humpback Whale that was tangled in 4,000 pounds of discarded fishing gear.
• There was a 34% increase in the acreage of national wildlife refuges sprayed with pesticides from 2016-2018. These included some of the most dangerous pesticides, and their widespread use threatens insects and the birds that depend on them.
• The border wall threatens the survival of wildlife that migrate between the US and Mexico.
• A study of mantises found that startle displays are found most often in closely related groups.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• This year, renewable energy passed energy from burning coal for the first time, and US coal production has fallen 31% since 2016. Of all forms of energy, coal contributes the most to air pollution and climate change.
• Meanwhile, the Trump administration wants more drilling in national forests.
  
• Joe Biden has publicly taken advice from former rivals to build his climate change platform, but advisors behind the scenes may have more influence. As an example of the above, Biden has refused to ban fracking.
• The number of glacial lakes and the volume of water in them has increased by 50% over the past three decades. The instability of the new lakes is expected to increase the risk of sudden floods.
• Senator Ed Markey beat back a primary challenge largely by emphasizing his work on climate change, which reinforces the sense that climate is becoming a more salient issue for voters.
• The focus on climate is probably due to recent events like deadly heat waves and extremely strong hurricanes. Like the pandemic, climate disasters have unequal effects on the population.
• The Washington Post has an interview with the editors of All We Can Save, a book on the climate crisis.
  
• The NY Times has a quiz on how to reduce your climate footprint.
• When oil refineries and other plants shut down before a hurricane, they flare all sorts of toxic chemicals into the air.
• The fossil fuel industry is pushing African countries to import more plastic from the US even though many countries lack the facilities for managing plastic waste.
  
• A former electroplating facility is about to become New Jersey's 115th Superfund site.