Owl Cleaners

Because of my recent relocation, I have been sorting through a lot of old possessions and deciding which to keep and which to throw away. In the course of the project I came across an old address book emblazoned with the name "OWL CLEANERS." This was presumably some laundromat or dry cleaner that may or may not still be in business. For me, the name conjured images of devices for washing this guy - presumably a daunting task.

In other silliness, we have an important warning from The Onion:

WASHINGTON, DC—The Environmental Protection Agency issued a bulletin Tuesday warning the bodies of American citizens, with their large concentrations of artificial, synthetic, and often toxic substances, have been reclassified as industrial waste.

"The average human body is now only 35 percent organic," EPA chief Ralph Johnson said. "Due to changes brought about by modern detergents, silicone implants, and processed cheese food product, it is no longer safe to allow human tissue to come into contact with our nation's topsoil."

Given recent headlines, it is tempting to think The Onion is doing real journalism instead of satire.

A Fungus Among Us

This evening I found s few of these fungi growing in a compost pile:

Here is a view of the bottom of one of the smaller ones:

I looked around for an identification in mushroom guides and on the internet. The best match I could find is Calvatia rubroflava, also known as Orange-staining Puffball. (If anyone has a better identification, please leave a comment.) The linked site notes that although the mushroom is edible, "it is distinctly unpalatable and the odor of the mature mushroom is very disagreeable." The smell of this one certainly matches the description. I could smell it from several feet away!

Piping Plovers and Cats at Cape May

Cape May is known among birders as a prime birding destination, especially during fall migration. The area is also home to nesting populations of threatened bird species, including piping plovers. Recently the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service determined that feral cats in Cape May are a threat to the endangered species that live there and informed the town that the problem would need to be rectified. Unfortunately, feral cats are seen by some residents and visitors as part of the town's Victorian charm.

The federal government may intervene on the side of the birds, drawing mixed reactions here. Cat lovers fear that the cats will be euthanized, while bird lovers are wary of the possibility of rare species being wiped out.

“This is a very emotional issue; this really is a cat town,” said one resident, Pat Peckham. “I think they should leave the cats where they are. I’m a firm believer in letting nature take its course.”

The trouble is that feral cats really are not part of nature, at least not in North America. They are introduced domesticated animals that were released into the wild for a variety of reasons. Like other nonnative species, they can upset the balance of natural ecosystems. In some places, the impact may be debatable, but when mixed with rare species, nonnative predators are a major problem.

New Jersey Audubon is offering one possible compromise solution:

Mr. Stiles, the Audubon Society official, is working on a pilot project to find a middle ground. It would bring together animal control officials and advocacy groups to share information on endangered birds and cat colonies. Cats that are near endangered birds could be relocated, while others could be undisturbed.

Whether or not this would work remains to be seen. Cats are territorial hunters and defend their territories fiercely. Taking feral cats from one territory and moving them into another would cause stress and possibly injury for both the relocated cats and other cats in the areas where they would be moved. If there is a heavy saturation of feral cats in Cape May, as the article suggests, then other cats are likely to move into the newly-vacated territories. Without some form of feral population reduction, keeping cats away from plover nests would require constant vigilance and intervention.

Griggstown Grasslands

This morning I went with my mother and sister to the Griggstown Grasslands, a spot that I have visited once before. The site is mostly managed pasture with hedgerows and woodland dividing the fields. Like the last time, the fields were full of grasshopper sparrows, but instead of singing adults hiding in the meadow, we saw young hatch year birds perched out in the open. Several were moving around right at the parking lot. These confused me at first since they were noticeably paler than the adults and had light streaks on their breasts. (A process of elimination settled the issue.)

Several other bird species were active around the parking lot as well. Most exciting were some bobolinks - life birds for my sister, and unusual for me. Song sparrows, tree swallows, indigo buntings, and orchard orioles took turns perching on the common mullein stems. (Common mullein turns out to be a useful plant for birders.) We failed to turn up many more bird species in the rest of the fields, though we could hear field sparrows at various locations.

As one would expect, most of the individuals were hatch-year birds or in non-breeding plumage. The exceptions to that were the American goldfinches, which are now in the peak of their breeding season. They typically wait to nest until late in the summer when flowers start to go to seed.

BIRD SPECIES: 26

Canada Goose
Turkey Vulture
Mourning Dove
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Eastern Wood-Pewee
Tree Swallow
Barn Swallow
House Wren
Gray Catbird
Northern Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
Tufted Titmouse
Blue Jay
European Starling
House Finch
American Goldfinch
Common Yellowthroat
Field Sparrow
Grasshopper Sparrow
Song Sparrow
Indigo Bunting
Bobolink
Red-winged Blackbird
Common Grackle
Orchard Oriole

Loose Feathers #109

Least Sandpiper / USFWS Photo

News and links about birds, birding, and the environment

• Mixed species flocks improve the health of conifers by removing insects that damage the trees. A study of mountain chickadees, red-breasted nuthatches, pygmy nuthatches, and yellow-rumped warblers in ponderosa pines found that trees where flocks were excluded with netting had 18 percent less foliage and 34 percent less wood growth at the end of the study period.
  
• After dead birds appeared at Metro stations on Sunday, the District of Columbia is considering alternate ways to keep birds away from stations.
  
• Scientific American explains that birds are unlikely to abandon their young due to human touch, but that it is a good idea to refrain from disturbing their nests anyway.
  
• From Berkeley, we have a reminder that rodenticides can kill birds of prey if a raptor eats a poisoned rodent.
• eBird has developed a tool to receive rare bird alerts through iGoogle. The alerts are based on recent rare bird records entered into the eBird database.
• A forest fire in northern Michigan may improve habitat for Kirtland's Warblers.
  
• A backyard in Northern Ireland is home to two albino house sparrows.
• The National Zoo in DC used a telemetric egg to measure the temperature of eggs incubated by a captive endangered kori bustard and how frequently the mother turned the eggs.
  
• A federal judge ruled that a timber company cannot log four parcels of land that contain spotted owl nesting habitat.
  
• The piping plover population has increased by 141 perecent over the past two decades thanks to an aggressive recovery and protection program.
  
• Other piping plover news: botulism in Wisconsin; nesting problems on Prince Edward Island; two additional chicks at Gordon's Pond (DE); and the end of beach closures for 2007 at Cape Cod. Also, residents of New Brunswick, Canada, erected their own barrier to keep ATVs off the beach, despite the objection of government officials.
  
• The White House plans to veto legislation that funds Everglades restoration.
  

Birds in the blogosphere

• DC Audubon: TRAVEL BLOG-- Australia
• GrrlScientist: Steroids Influence Brain Growth in Songbirds
• Birdchick: First Bird Blogging Conference
• Invasive Species Weblog: Hy Five
  

Carnivals and newsletters

• Friday Ark #150
• Festival of the Trees #14
• Circus of the Spineless #23
  
• Tangled Bank #85
  
• Birds in the News #93