Loose Feathers #790

Ferruginous Hawk / Photo by Rick Bohn/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A Black-browed Babbler was found by local birders in Borneo for the first time since the 1840s.
• John James Audubon left a complicated legacy that includes enslaving people in addition to his better-known scientific and artistic achievements.
• An unusual leucistic King Penguin was found and photographed on South Georgia. The lack of melanin made it appear white and yellow.
  
• A storymap follows the migration of Hudsonian Godwits from Chile to Alaska and back. 
• A new survey of critically endangered Bahama Orioles found their population is more likely to be several thousand rather than the previous estimate of 300.
• Male Superb Lyrebirds mimic the sounds of predators to keep females from leaving during mating.
  
• A Northern Cardinal with bilateral gynandromorphism, which causes a bird to appear as half-female and half-male, was photographed in Pennsylvania.
• Flamingos at the Agios Mamas lagoon in Greece have died from ingesting lead ammunition.
• An ancient Egyptian painting at Meidum hints at a possible extinct goose species that resembled the Red-breasted Goose.
  
• Winter is as good a time as any to start birding.
• An Iceland Gull made it all the way to Florida where it was discovered during a shorebird survey.
• Gonzalo Cardona became the latest environmentalist to be assassinated for his work protecting Yellow-eared Parrots in Colombia.
  

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Hybrids: Genomic study unveils the true identity of Brewster’s and Lawrence’s Warbler
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: Song of the Red-winged Blackbird 
• Feathered Photography: Preening Male Belted Kingfisher
• Ecography: Where are all the hummingbirds? Data fusion can tell us
• avesrares: Crossbill call types in the Palearctic – a birder’s perspective (Update eastern Palearctic call types, distribution areas and drivers of differentiation) 
• Backyard and Beyond: Sharp-shinned Monday 
• On The Wing Photography: Ferruginous And Rough-legged Hawk Lift Off Photos
  

Biodiversity and climate change

• At least 317 manatees died in the first two months of 2021, a death toll way out of proportion with previous years. 
• A new group of nematodes were discovered living on the skin of manatees.
  
• Extreme weather disasters are starting to take their toll on wildlife. For example, Hurricane Harvey killed 80% of Attwater Prairie Chickens, and Hurricanes Matthew and Dorian may have killed the last Bahama Nuthatches.
  
• A small group of stranded Pilot Whales was successfully refloated in New Zealand.
• The number of Monarchs wintering in Central Mexico fell by 26% this year.
  
• A native Australian cellophane bee was recorded for the first time since 1923.
• Eating food thrown out by humans may be harming the health of urban coyotes by altering their gut microbiome.
• The deaths of North Atlantic Right Whales are being undercounted.
• Here are some suggestions for reducing shipping noise that harms whales and other marine creatures.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• Because of warming, the North Atlantic circulation system is at its weakest point in the last millennium. Weaker circulation will lead to higher sea levels on the US east coast and worse weather in Europe.
• Deb Haaland, the nominee for Interior secretary, should be a major improvement over her recent predecessors, especially the scandal-plagued Ryan Zinke. Here is more on Haaland.
  
• Defector considers which sports teams will be the first to relocate or fold because of climate change.
  
• The Delaware River Basin Commission banned fracking within the Delaware watershed.
• New Jersey subsidizes trash incineration as a form of renewable energy even though it spews toxic chemicals and air pollution, with the worst harm falling on poor or nonwhite communities.
• Federal funding will help New Jersey to protect more of the Great Egg Harbor estuary.
  
• Christian Cooper is using his temporary fame to argue for DC statehood.
  

Loose Feathers #789

Greater Sage-Grouse / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A prominent birder was accused of rape this week, and in response activists are pushing birding organizations to remove abusive members. Read the original account.
• A new (extinct) Cathartes vulture has been identified from fossils found in Cuba.
  
• A Redwing, a thrush species native to Europe, has been observed in Maine for the past few weeks. This is one of several Redwings in the Northeast this winter.
• Rare birds in Central Park continue to provoke controversy over whether to publicize rare birds, especially owls. Unfortunately media accounts tend emphasize the perspectives of some of the worst offenders; read the ABA Code of Birding Ethics for better guidance.
  
• The most recent Red List update classifies Andean Condors as vulnerable, with poisoning and habitat loss as key threats.
• A study of Eurasian Reed Warblers found that the birds have mental maps that allow them to navigate by magnetic fields, even into areas that have not visited before.
  
• Individual Yellow Warblers prefer the same habitat and climate types on both their breeding and wintering grounds.
• Birds are changing their wintering ranges faster than their breeding ranges in response to climate change.
  
• Five British birders were fined for traveling to Devon to see a vagrant Northern Mockingbird.
• Albatross deaths due to plastic are more common than thought, especially in the southern hemisphere.
• A birder writes in praise of sunflower hearts, which appeal to a variety of birds and leave less of a mess.
• The pandemic cancelled the annual survey of Whooping Cranes in Texas this year.
• A judge overturned a Trump administration policy that stripped protections from Greater Sage-Grouse habitat. In other sage grouse news, their Wyoming population was stable last year.
• There were 103 breeding pairs of Piping Plovers in New Jersey last year, which was a 10% reduction from the previous year.
  

Science and nature blogging

• Snapshots of Nature: Great Backyard Bird Count, The Weekend
• UC Weed Science: A Valentine's Day Blog Post: Weeds With Pretty Names (Re-Posted)
• On The Wing Photography: Winter American Coot Portraits  
• BugTracks: Introducing Haplopeodes loprestii
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• The Fishing Cat is vulnerable to habitat loss, but a new conservation project is raising awareness and working to protect them.
• The discovery of an extinct spruce in Louisiana suggests that there may be more extinct plants than scientists know about and that plants are more vulnerable to climate change then currently predicted.
  
• Research on the invasive Spotted Lanternfly predicts a large potential range and possible host plants.
• The South Padre Island Convention Center has been home to over 3,500 sea turtles that were rescued from unusually cold waters this week. The turtles will be released once the water warms sufficiently.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• Catastrophic power outages in Texas this week were initially blamed on wind energy (especially by politicians funded by fossil fuel companies) but were really caused by years of deregulation and climate change denial. This and the outages in California last summer are signs that energy providers need to adapt to weather extremes. Scenes like this may become the new normal.
  
• The Biden administration restored a rule that climate change should be included in environmental reviews.
• Construction on the border wall has stopped for now, but the Biden administration will need to decide what to do with the mess left behind, from damaged landscapes and habitats to desecrated Indigenous sites to ongoing lawsuits. Democrats should make it a priority to repeal the section of the REAL ID Act that allows DHS to waive environmental and other laws.
• US auto companies are finally committing to replacing gas-powered with electric vehicles within the next two decades.
• Carbon offsets may not be all that useful, especially if they discourage real reductions in carbon emissions.
  

Loose Feathers #788

Red-winged Blackbird / Photo by Courtney Celley/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• This weekend is the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. Everyone is invited to participate by watching birds for 15 minutes at home or elsewhere and then submitting their observations to eBird. See the link for details.
  
• The American Ornithological Society has released its first set of checklist proposals for 2021. You can read some analysis of them at the ABA website.
  
• Designing cities with birds in mind can benefit both birds and humans.
• Blakiston’s Fish-Owl is the world's largest owl and is threatened by climate change and logging.
• Climate change is reducing the food supply for Canada Jays in southern Ontario.
  
• Bolivia is investigating whether the recent deaths of 35 Andean Condors were a result of poisoning.
• BirdWatching has a list of ten bird species that are highly endangered.
• Willow Tits in Britain mainly live on brownfields, and breeding pairs use territories of around 17 acres.
  
• The world's oldest known bird, a Laysan Albatross named Wisdom, hatched a chick on February 1 at Midway Atoll NWR. Wisdom was first banded in 1956 and is over 70 years old.
• Starlings introduced to North America adapted quickly to local climates with a boost from genetic variations.
• A federal judge struck down the Trump administrations attempt to remove protections from vital sage-grouse habitat.
  

Science and nature blogging

• Pioneer Birding: ME - a REDWING in Portland!
• Urban Hawks: American Tree Sparrow Using eBird
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: Lost Birds Are Forever 
• Sibley Guides: Variation in Pine Siskins and the so-called "green morph"
• awkward botany: The Weeds in Your Bird Seed
• Dartford Waffler: Herring Gull from Russia 
• Laura's Birding Blog: Winter Feeding
• Backyard and Beyond: When Pine Siskins Attack
• Avian Hybrids: Unusually low genetic diversity in the Red-billed Tropicbird
• Balloon Juice: On The Road - Albatrossity - Winter in Flyover Country 4 
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• The extinctions of at least 21 birds and 7 mammals have been prevented since the Convention on Biological Diversity came into force in 1993.
• Feeding stations can be an efficient way to restore forests if the food is laced with the seeds that the animals disperse elsewhere with their poop. 
• Saltmarshes are disappearing as the sea rises, and there needs to be a strategy for letting them migrate inland.
  
• A new set of projects is trying to figure out why sawfish are disappearing in some places while thriving in others.
  
• In New Zealand, honey bees are the most numerous form of livestock, with a population of around 40 billion, while their effects on native pollinators receive little attention.
• Costa Rica includes protecting coastal wetlands as a core part of its response to climate change.
• Common pipistrelle bats in Europe are attracted to wind turbines, but so far the reason is unclear.
• Damage or destruction of ecosystems worsens human quality of life especially among the poorest people.
  
• Supawna Meadows NWR in New Jersey may be expanded with an extra 182 acres of marsh.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• Social media companies have gotten better at removing misinformation about COVID-19 and the 2020 election but need to apply the same standards to misinformation about climate change.
• The Biden administration will need to decide what to do about the border wall. Recently the flood gates at the San Pedro River were found to be welded shut.
  
• A Republican congressman from Idaho suggested breaching four dams on the Lower Snake River as part of a program to restore salmon runs and boost ecotourism.
• Younger activists are using the term "intersectional environmentalism" in place of "environental justice," but the practical differences are unclear.
  
• Water affordability and quality is also a part of the environmental justice agenda.
• A glacier collapse in India started a landslide that broke a dam and caused flash flooding. Over 200 people were missing in its aftermath. The incident raises questions about the safety and sustainability of hydropower.
  
• The pandemic caused a drop in the demand for energy from coal, and that drop could be maintained if more coal plants are retired.
  
• Climate change is reducing yields from wild rice grown by the Ojibwe in Minnesota.
• Half of a wetland in Staten Island is going to be paved over for a shopping mall even though the wetland protected the nearby neighborhood from Sandy.
• The Trillion Trees Act would plant trees on public lands to absorb carbon emissions. The downsides are that the plantations would probably be monocultures and would be logged regularly which would reduce the benefit of carbon sequestration.
  

Loose Feathers #787

Bald Eagle / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Neoptropical songbirds molt rapidly prior to migration and replace multiple feather tracts simultaneously.
• Animals that burrow fare better than birds in hotter and drier conditions in the Mojave Desert. The study compared current populations to data collected by Joseph Grinnell and his assistants. Many desert birds will likely disappear as the climate warms.
  
• Birders are no more likely to find additional rarities where a rare bird has been reported than by looking in other area, which suggests that the Patagonia Picnic Table Effect does not exist as a general rule.
• Extermination of invasive rodents on Lord Howe Island is helping endemic species like the Lord Howe Rail bounce back.
  
• Here are rules for antiracist birding.
• The Biden administration is delaying implementation of a rule change meant to weaken the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The rule is one of many from the Trump administration that attack environmental laws.
  

Science and nature blogging

• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to February 2021
• Avian Hybrids: The magic of Fairywren hybrids
• Anything Larus: Tips For Learning Eastern Gulls
• On The Wing Photography: World Wetlands Day 2021
• Avithera: Pilotbird
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• A quarter of known bee species have not been seen since 1990 despite increasing interest in wild pollinators and citizen science efforts. Some families like the Melittidae have declined more than others. 
• One way to help pollinators (in this case wasps) is to plant native plants.
  
• The bee study adds to the evidence that many insect populations are crashing as they face multiple threats, including habitat loss, overuse of insecticides, and climate change.
  
• Half of the world's vertebrate species have been reported to iNaturalist, including 90% of the world's birds. Fish and sharks have the lowest percentages.
• A new baleen whale species discovered in the Gulf of Mexico has a population under 100 individuals.
• Barnegat Light is getting habitat restoration work this winter.
• Here is a piece on animals that thrive in cities. Among other things, urban coyotes prey on rodents and Canada Goose nests.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• Construction may have stopped, but the landscapes and habitats destroyed by wall construction will never be repaired.
  
• New research using historical data suggests that the IPCC is underestimating sea-level rise.
• Here is a profile of Michael Regan, the nominee to head the EPA.
• Climate-related disasters are not really natural disasters since humans helped cause or exacerbate them. This is also true of earthquakes caused by fracking.
• The US Senate held a hearing on climate change this week and the only point of agreement was support for carbon capture.
• Unfortunately carbon capture and storage is difficult and expensive.
  
• Here is an interview on race and climate change and what to do to makes things better.