Sparrows on the Move

Recent cold fronts have pushed more sparrows into the area. Song Sparrows, like the one above, are present year-round, but in the last couple weeks, I have been seeing a lot more of them than usual. Some of that is probably post-breeding dispersal (yesterday I saw one that looked very young!), but migrants are surely part of the influx.

Yesterday I also saw my first White-throated Sparrows of the fall. I thought I had heard some calling (with their soft chip notes) once or twice before, but I had not gotten a visual confirmation.

Birds Through My Window

Outside my bedroom window there is a line of crabapple trees, and close by, there is an eastern red cedar. Both tree species are fruiting heavily right now, and birds are taking advantage of the bounty. Yesterday afternoon I noticed a lot of bird activity in those trees, so I took some time to photograph birds through my window.

First off, this European Starling seemed especially fond of the cedar berries. When I have seen birds eating berries from that tree in the past, they have mostly been House Finches, so the starling's interest came as a bit of a surprise. This individual is interesting for another reason as well. It shows feathers from two different plumage stages, juvenile (the brown patches on its head) and formative or first basic (the white-spotted body feathers).

House Sparrows were part of the crowd. How often do you get to look down at birds sitting in a tree?

Northern Cardinals were also present, though they seemed more interested in the feeders behind the house than the crabapple fruits.

Last but not least, this American Redstart was a bit of a surprise. I have been seeing them around, in the yard and further afield. This was something of a lucky shot, too, as I only had time to take two photos before it moved on, and the first was affected by motion blur. Unlike most of the other birds, redstarts are primarily insectivores, so it would have been drawn by whatever insects were in the trees rather than the fruits.

Loose Feathers #362

Osprey with spotted sea trout / Photo by Mike Weimer (USFWS)

Birds and birding

• Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the publication of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson — a book that linked the use of synthetic pesticides to the disappearance of many formerly common birds and sparked the modern environmental movement in the process. There are numerous tributes and reactions across the web. Here are a few: Silent Spring after 50 years (RRBO), Listening to nature (Smithsonian), 50 years on: Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” (Why Evolution Is True), Rachel Carson Didn’t Kill Millions of Africans (Slate), How ‘Silent Spring’ Ignited the Environmental Movement (NYT Magazine), and How Rachel Carson Spurred Chemical Concerns by Highlighting Uncertainty (NYT Dot Earth).
• Scientists in British Columbia attached geolocator backpacks to birds from two subspecies of Swainson's Thrush to track their migratory movements. One subspecies traveled south along the West Coast to Central America, while the other flew southeast to the Gulf Coast and on to Colombia.
• Mongabay.com interviews Pablo Garcia Borboroglu, the President of the Global Penguin Society, on the conservation challenges facing the 18 extant species of penguins. More than half of all penguin species are threatened with extinction, with climate change and overfishing playing prominent roles.
• Researchers found that Eurasian Jays use flexible strategies in storing food and raiding other jays' food caches; social status and proximity of other jays factor into which strategy is used.
• A study of Caribbean bullfinches found that different species used different genetic paths to similarly-shaped bills.
• Spotted Antbirds on Barro Colorado Island in Panama forage almost exclusively around marching columns of army ants, unlike their mainland counterparts that mix foraging near army ants with finding food on their own. The change in behavior seems to be linked to the recent disappearance of Ocellated Antbirds from the island.
• Dredge spoils from Rincon Channel, which serves the port of Corpus Christi in Texas, are being used to increase nesting habitat for terns and Black Skimmers.
• A Golden Eagle that had been fitted with a satellite transmitter for research purposes was killed by a trap in Scotland.
• Malabar Pied Hornbill is one of the many bird species that can be seen on Sri Lanka.

Nature blogging

• The Smaller Majority: Our top predator
• Why Evolution Is True: A marine mystery solved (and a bit about birds)
• 10,000 Birds: Kettling Broad-winged Hawks
• The Birders Report: To International Bird Rescue “Every Bird Matters”
• March of the Fossil Penguins: Killer Bobble-Headed Penguins!
• Myrmecos: A Cretaceous Haidomyrmex as the first trap-jaw ant?

Environment and biodiversity

• Painting rooftops white can lower the urban heat island affect, but it can also reduce rainfall, which may be a significant disadvantage in some areas.
• A genetic study of urban coyotes in Chicago found complete monogamy, which is unusual among animals adapted to cities.
• The National Park Service is testing 96 employees who worked at Yosemite National Park for hantavirus infections. One historian noted the irony of a hantavirus outbreak happening at a national park that was originally envisioned as a place of healing.
• The IUCN is creating a green list of fully protected species and ecosystems to complement its red list and promote conservation success stories.
• Washington's decision to kill one of its wolf packs has ignited significant opposition.
• A priest is under investigation for ivory smuggling in the Philippines. His role was brought to light by an article on the global ivory trade that appeared in National Geographic recently. Religious images (in the Philippines and elsewhere) remain a major market for smuggled ivory.
• Salt marshes sequester large amounts of carbon, but rising sea levels threaten their continued existence.

Phoebes and a Merlin

Yesterday morning I birded the Heathcote Meadows complex near Kingston, New Jersey. One of the more interesting sights was a series of Eastern Phoebes lined up along the fence surrounding the old plant nursery buildings. There were at least four, maybe more, flicking their tails and swooping down to catch insects near ground level. One even sat in the grass for a moment before flying back up to the fence. (One of them is shown above.) While I was still in the same field near the buildings, a Merlin (my second of the season) flew overhead at about treetop level. It seemed to be actively hunting rather than migrating. There were fewer warblers than I expected, but I was pleased to see a Blue-winged Warbler among them.

Loose Feathers #361

Swainson's Hawk / Roger Peterson (US Forest Service)

Birds and birding

• Scientists tagged 25 Atlantic Puffins that breed in Ireland with geolocators that will track where they spend their winter. A previous study of puffins from the North Sea found that they spent the winter in the Atlantic Ocean.
• Climate change is likely to ease the northward spread of avian malaria, which could devastate Arctic bird populations that lack immunity to the pathogen. Avian malaria was recently discovered in bird populations near Anchorage and Fairbanks in Alaska.
• A study of New Caledonian Crows suggest that the crows are able to reason cause and effect, even when the cause is hidden.
• Surveys of Brazil's state of Acre found that the region is home to numerous rare and endangered bird species, even though it is rarely visited by birders. Results of the surveys are published in Tropical Conservation Science (pdf).
• On Saturday, Heinz National Wildlife Refuge hosted its annual Cradle of Birding festival to celebrate its status as the most urbanized wildlife refuge in the US.
• Some observers have reported seeing European Hornets attack hummingbirds.

Nature blogging

• GrrlScientist: Extinct Carolina parakeet gives glimpse into evolution of American parrots
• 10,000 Birds: The Incredulous New Caledonian Crows
• The Birdist: Interview with Rosemary Mosco of Bird and Moon Comics
• Sibley Guides: My Pen-and-ink technique
• Earbirding: The “Two-part Calls” of Empidonax
• Outside My Window: The Pirate
• Myrmecos: The infamous Rasberry Crazy Ant is Nylanderia fulva
• The Smaller Majority: Dangerous candy
• BugBlog: Are male false widow spiders ant mimics?
• Extinction Countdown: Tiny, Critically Endangered and Controversial Nevada Fish Experiences Dramatic Population Increase
• Why Evolution Is True: Horseshoe crabs aren’t really “living fossils”

Environment and biodiversity

• In 2011, the US generated 14 million megawatts of electricity by burning trash, mostly along the east and west coasts. This output places waste energy on equal footing with geothermal energy.
• Coral diversity around Madagascar and elsewhere in the Indian Ocean rivals that of the Great Barrier Reef.
• Climate change is causing warmer water temperatures in the Atlantic, which is prompting fish to shift their ranges northward, out of US waters.
• Scientists in Tennessee have built an artificial bat cave that they hope will help limit the spread of white-nose syndrome.
• New Jersey scientists are testing ways to reduce the numbers of invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs, an indoor pest in the fall and winter and an agricultural pest during the growing season.
• Arctic sea ice reached its annual summer minimum on September 16 and set a record low in the process. The gradual disappearance of Arctic sea ice (along with the possibility of future ice-free summers) has set off a race to extract the Arctic Ocean's mineral resources.
• Meanwhile, Dutch Royal Shell has had to cancel its plans to drill in the Arctic this year because of a series of mistakes.
• A conservation effort is focused on saving endangered mountain yellow-legged frogs in California.