Loose Feathers #775

Red-breasted Nuthatch / Photo by Peter Pearsall/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Ecologists are noticing hidden bird declines even in relatively undisturbed forests. 
• The decline of Common Loons had been somewhat hidden because it affected unpaired loons (or "floaters") more than breeding pairs.
  
• Light pollution causes birds to nest earlier than they would otherwise, when sufficient food might not be available. Urban birds also become less sensitive to noise than ones in forest habitats. 
• A new study links how and when birds molt to their migration patterns.
  
• Australians can use the Big City Birds app to report sightings of five bird species that are the focus of an urban bird study.
• The outlook for the Orange-bellied Parrot has improved significantly thanks to a captive-breeding program.
• California Condors will soon return to the Pacific Northwest, thanks to work by the Yurok Tribe.
• The small Salineño Wildlife Preserve in Texas has been sold for border wall construction. Update: The Valley Land Fund withdrew from the sale agreement after public outcry.
  

Science and nature blogging

• In Defense of Plants: Arctic Vegetation is Growing Taller & Why That Matters
  
• 10,000 Birds: The Cutting Edge II: Hummingbird Feeders
• Avian Hybrids: Building bowers and phylogenies: Genomic study reconstructs the complex evolution of bowerbirds
  
• Feathered Photography: Dark Morph Swainson’s Hawk Eating A Snake 
• Natural Newstead: Kingfisher special
• The Rattling Crow: Herring Gull pair long call duetting
• The Speckled Hatchback: Post #186 - Rusty Blackbird Spotlight
• Cape Sable Birding: A Good Run of Birds
• Backyard and Beyond: Autumn Meadowhawk 
• Birds Korea Blog: Korea’s First Buff-throated Warbler Phylloscopus subaffinis. Notes on Discovery and Identification.
• On The Wing Photography: How An American Oystercatcher Ruined A New Pair Of Pants 
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• The decline of insect populations puts insectivores — birds, bats, and other insects — into competition with each other for found.
  
• Rising temperatures could endanger some damselflies, which like other insects are exothermic.
• While native mason bee species are declining, introduced species have remained stable or even expanded their population.
• Decades of tracking data show how climate change has affected the migrations of Arctic animals like Caribou and Golden Eagles.
• There is continuing evidence of global insect declines, driven by systemic causes like habitat loss and climate change. The link reviews studies published and interviews conducted in the past year.
• Conservationists are working on a plan to protect wild American Ginseng in Appalachia through forest farming instead of the unsustainable harvest of wild plants.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• Climate scientists have some advice for the incoming Biden administration. Here are some other suggestions for what the incoming Biden administration should do about climate change. Here is a look at how the incoming Biden administration might affect birds and wildlife. Of course, substantive action is dependent on getting legislation through Congress, which seems unlikely.
• It will take a lot of work to undo the damage to the environment done by the Trump administration. The New York Times has counted 104 rollbacks of environmental protections under Trump.
• Overall the election was a mixed bag for progress on environmental issues.
  
• Earlier this week, Theta became the 29th named storm in the 2020 hurricane season and set a new record for named storms. Twelve of those storms hit the U.S., which is also a record.
  
• Hurricanes are staying stronger after landfall because of warmer ocean temperatures, which means inland cities face more potential for damage. Here are five other ways that climate change is making hurricanes worse.
• NOAA will allow the Navy to kill up to 51 Southern Resident Orcas per year during military exercises off the coast of Washington.
• Groundwater pumping is drying up Arizona's rivers. A similar dynamic is at work in the Ogallala-High Plains Aquifer, which farmers are draining faster than it can be recharged.
• One of the problems with free-trade agreements is that they undermine labor and environmental regulations. In this case, the US plastic industry is using CUSMA to threaten legal action against Canada for banning some single-use plastics.
  

Loose Feathers #774

Golden-crowned Kinglet / my photo

Birds and birding news

• A new study proposes splitting the Gentoo Penguin into four species based on DNA and size.
• In the spring of 2021, there will be Spring Global Shorebird Counts in addition to the usual ones in the fall. The spring event will be May 7-9, to coincide with World Migratory Bird Day.
  
• A study using geolocators found that Eurasian Blackcaps migrate to different wintering grounds depending on where they breed. A small number migrate north and spend the winter in England.
• Restoration of Red-cockaded Woodpeckers to the Piney Grove Preserve in Virginia has succeeded to such an extent that woodpeckers from that site are being used to supplement populations elsewhere.
  
• Stronger immune systems do not affect reproduction in Purple-crowned Fairy-wrens.
  

Science and nature blogging

• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: Save the Rusty Blackbird
• Pioneer Birding: RI - COMMON CUCKOO!!
• The Freiday Bird Blog: How To Talk About Owls Without Talking About Them 
• Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to November 2020
• Avian Hybrids: Following the Forests: How the Variable Antshrike spread around the Amazon
• The Urban Nature Enthusiast: Cedar Waxwing Extravaganza 
• On The Wing Photography: Male Cassin’s Finch Eating a Mountain Mahogany Seed
• Backyard and Beyond: The Cache 
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• Irruptions of winter finches is driven by mast seeding patterns by white spruce and other trees.
  
• Indigenous groups are working to protect rainforest in the Colombian Amazon. Threats include copper mining and cattle ranching.
• A scientist rediscovered the great fox-spider on a British military base.
• CBP is adding wildlife passages to parts of the border wall, but they are too small for most of the mammals that need to migrate.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• This week was Election Day in the US. While the results are not finalized, as of now it appears that Joe Biden will win, which will at least stop some of the damage being done to the environment. However, how much he can accomplish will be limited if Republicans hold onto their Senate majority, as seems likely.
• Here are some takeaways from the election results. Here is a thread of positive climate news from the election.
  
• Nevada passed an amendment requiring that half of the state's energy come from renewable sources by 2030. Colorado voters approved the reintroduction of gray wolves to the state. Several localities in New Jersey voted in favor of raising taxes for open space preservation.
• On Wednesday, the US officially left the Paris Agreement on climate change. Joe Biden has promised to rejoin it, but taking concrete steps to meet its goals will be harder. Here are some ways that the US could meet its commitments.
  
• Phil Murphy signed New Jersey's single-use plastic bill into law. The ban on plastic and paper bags, styrofoam containers, and plastic straws will go into effect in 2022. The law also overrides municipal bans to create a single standard throughout the state. It will make a small dent in the massive amount of plastic pollution generated by the US.
  
• One piece of damage that will not be undone by a Biden administration is the destruction of the US-Mexican borderlands to build the border wall. Even if construction is stopped, the wall was built through protected areas and did long-term damage to the habitats in them.
• The Trump truck rallies show the link between fossil fuels and a particular sort of identity.
• At least four Supreme Court cases this term will deal with environmental issues.
  

Loose Feathers #773

Ruby-crowned Kinglet / Photo by Peter Pearsall/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Gentoo and Chinstrap Penguins and threatened by both climate change and krill fishing, and the creation of marine protected areas to restrict krill fishing would benefit penguins.
• Nine insect-eating bird species in the Amazon have declined since the 1980s, probably because of climate change. 
• A study found that 17.4% of material in vulture pellets was synthetic, with the level of plastic debris at 17.3% in Black Vultures and 24.5% in Turkey Vultures.
• More landbirds migrate through the eastern than western US in the fall, mainly because of geography. Eastern birds also migrate farther than their western counterparts.
  
• A new study is looking at how coastal marsh birds respond to tropical cyclones.
  
• In addition to the irruption of Red-breasted Nuthatches, Pine Siskins, and others on the East Coast, there is a separate irruption of birds from the Rocky Mountains onto the Great Plains.
  
• Fossils from Antarctica belonged to a huge extinct seabird, larger than modern albatrosses.
• Northern Saw-whet Owls make different vocalizations in the winter than in the breeding season.
  
• Chickadees are slow to come to feeders if they think predators are nearby.
• Migratory birds that eat plant-based diets follow seasonal changes in vegetation, but there is less of a link for raptors and insect-eating birds.
• Egrets are less likely to mate when exposed to mercury pollution in the Everglades.
  

Science and nature blogging

• On The Wing Photography: I Am Never NOT Looking For Birds
• corvidresearch: Addressing anti-Indigenous behaviors in corvid fandom
• Avian Hybrids: A common species with a complex history: The evolutionary story of the Great Tit 
  
• CT Audubon: Daily Bird: Evening Grosbeak
• Finch Research Network: Irruption Alert: Evening Grosbeaks are moving in largest numbers in 20+ years
• Feathered Photography: Canvasbacks – Is It Love Or Is It War?  
• Association of Field Ornithologists: Fledgling Bachman’s Sparrows in a longleaf pine ecosystem: survival, movements, and habitat selection
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• USFWS is proposing a new rule to remove the Gray Wolf from Endangered Species Act protections. Because of the abbreviated comment period, the rule could be finalized by the end of the year. While the wolf populations has rebounded from its historic lows, it still has not returned to its historic range and faces the threat of unsustainable hunting.
  
• Some spiders can hear by sensing airborne vibrations with their hairs and leg joints.
• The USFWS refused again to list wolverines under the Endangered Species Act.
• Protecting nature, both by preserving habitats and stopping the wildlife trade, could prevent future pandemics that pass from wildlife to humans.
• Wild fruit production is falling in Gabon, which is reducing the food available for large mammals like forest elephants.
• Fin whales sing multiple song types instead of just one as previously thought.
• Remoras can move around on a blue whale's skin without falling off.
• A study in Guam showed the value of endangered trees to the forests where they survive.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• This year will be one of the hottest on record despite the recent start of a La Niña, which usually moderates global temperatures.
• Tuesday is Election Day in the U.S., and a Democratic victory would give a potential Biden administration the chance to rejoin the Paris Agreement and set new emissions targets.
• Climate change is on the ballot, both indirectly in elections for political offices and directly through ballot questions.
• Political journalists have not caught on to the fact that Biden's climate agenda, which emphasizes a transition to clean energy, is actually popular.
  
• Frozen methane in the Arctic Ocean is melting and starting to be released into the atmosphere. Methane release is a dangerous feedback mechanism that will accelerate global warming.
• Dust storms are becoming more common on the Great Plains and could lead to a new Dust Bowl.
• In anticipation of a loss, the Trump administration is speeding up regulatory changes. This week they opened half of Tongass National Forest to logging by exempting it from the roadless rule. Tongass is one of the world's largest intact temperate rainforests.
• New York's plastic bag ban is going into effect.
• Recent surveys confirm that huge amounts of DDT and its byproducts were dumped off the coast of California in the mid-20th century.
• Staten Island residents are fighting to stop a development that would pave over a wetland that helped protect a neighborhood from flooding during Superstorm Sandy.
• A Canadian fossil fuel company is planning to drill for oil and gas in the Okavango region of Namibia and Botswana, which poses a threat to both wildlife and public health.
• Indigenous activists have been protesting border wall construction, which destroys important natural and cultural sites and divides families on opposite sides of the border.
• A bill would protect an ancient underwater forest off the coast of Alabama; the remains of the forest date to the last Ice Age when sea levels were 400 feet lower.
  

Loose Feathers #772

Western Meadowlark / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A study spurred by deaths at a solar energy plant found that the Yuma Ridgway's Rail migrates even though it was thought to be sedentary. It spends the winter in coastal saltmarshes, unlike its freshwater breeding habitat.
• A study using eBird data showed that protected areas provide important habitat for rare or threatened species.
  
• Here are eight things to know about Tawny Frogmouths, a well-camouflaged Australian species.
• Corvids that nest in close proximity and raise young cooperatively are more likely to show generosity to other birds.
• Scientists recaptured five Hawaiian Crows ('Alala) that had been released since the wild population was doing poorly.
  

Science and nature blogging

• Avian Hybrids: A common species with a complex history: The evolutionary story of the Great Tit
  
• Outside My Window: They Eat Poison Ivy
• earthstar: 296/366 A gull’s history
• Endangered New Jersey: No Mountain Lions in New Jersey. So Far
• Costa Rica Living and Birding: Sunday Merlin Surprise 
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• Bowfishing is largely unregulated and may be unsustainable for long-lived native fish species.
• Scientists in New Zealand sequenced the genomes for three yellowjackets in the genus Vespula.
• The beetle Phloeodes diabolicus can withstand heavy pressure because its wings can shed layers without breaking.
• Slow lorises are among the few venomous mammals, and they use their venom for fighting each other.
• Rope bridges may help Hainan Gibbons to survive in fragmented habitats.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• Climate change is finally getting the attention it deserves in this presidential campaign, including at debates, which had shunned the topic in previous election cycles.
• Election Day is in a week-and-a-half. Here is a guide to the environmental issues.
  
• What happens with climate change will depend on whether the US, Europe, and China can cooperate on emissions reductions in the near term. 
• Enviromental groups are suing the Department of Homeland Security over the excessive use of tear gas during protests in Portland over the summer. High levels of cyanide and heavy metals have been found in the drainage systems around protest sites.
  
• King tides are becoming an increasing problem along the East Coast because of sea level rise.
  
• Here are some of the animals endangered by Trump administration policies.
  
• The new border wall now blocks the San Pedro River, which had been the only free-flowing river in Arizona. The higher wall increases the risk of flooding in the border region in addition to blocking wildlife migration.
• Fossil fuel infrastructure in the Arctic is threatened by melting permafrost, so oil companies are looking for ways to cool the ground around their equipment.
• The Trump administration is weakening air pollution regulations even though air pollution makes COVID-19 infections worse.
• Deregulation is facilitated by staffing the EPA with industry lobbyists.
  
• New Jersey's DEP is creating a plan for remediating and opening the interior of Liberty State Park with community input.
• NJ Transit is giving up on building a natural gas power plant in the Meadowlands to power its new microgrid. The agency will look for clean alternatives instead.
• Plastic pollution in the ocean interrupts the oxygen cycle.
• Oil spilled in Delaware Bay is washing up on nearby beaches. The source is currently unknown.
  

Loose Feathers #771

Northern Harrier / Photo: Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A Bar-tailed Godwit flew 7,500 miles from Alaska to New Zealand in 11 days in a non-stop flight. 
• Avian botulism killed 40,000 birds in the past month at Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge, a migratory staging area where the wetlands are currently too dry to accommodate so many birds.
  
• Birds with large eyes suffer more from light pollution because their vision is adapted to dark forest interiors.
• Light pollution also causes many migrating birds to crash into buildings in cities like Chicago, which is amending its building codes to reduce bird collisions. Possible solutions include turning off unnecessary lights and altering glass to make it more visible to birds.
  
• Here is a guide to helping injured birds.
• An ecologist writes about the experience of recording dead and stunned birds around university buildings.
  
• Cassia Crossbills have one of the smallest ranges among North American birds, and at least a third of their habitat was burned by wildfire this year. This could cause a crash in the crossbill population.
  
• The Center for Biological Diversity is suing the Fish and Wildlife Service to designate critical habitat and create a recovery plan for the threatened 'I'iwi.
  
• Amy Cooper apparently made two false 911 calls about Christian Cooper in the Central Park bias incident.
  
• A Western Screech-Owl landed briefly in a helicopter fighting wildfires.
• Genetic analysis showed that a Bearded Vulture that spent the summer in the UK hatched in the French Alps last year.
• This is somewhat old news, but the Fish and Wildlife Service now requires duck stamps to show hunting imagery.
• High water levels and a lack of volunteers made protecting Piping Plovers in the Great Lakes region more difficult this year.
• Neotropical suboscine songbirds are drab-looking but have distinctive feeding specializations.
  

Science and nature blogging

• 10,000 Birds: The ABA Area and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
  
• Feathered Photography: Bushtit Nest Design And Construction
• Backyard and Beyond: Long-distance Flier
• Urban Hawks: Marsh Wren 
• Finch Research Network: Irruption Alert: Remarkable Finch Records in the American South
• iNaturalist's Blog: We passed 300,000 species observed on iNaturalist!! 
• On The Wing Photography: Barbed Wire Death Trap – Western Meadowlark
  

Biodiversity and conservation

• Climate change is turning Central Asian steppes into desert, and there was a similar change 34 million years ago.
• The smalltail shark population has dropped by 90% since the 1980s, going from being one of the most common shark species in Brazil to being critically endangered. Their decline has been driven by overfishing, in which many young sharks end up as bycatch.
• Governments are not protecting enough land and ocean to stop the biodiversity crisis. The Convention on Biological Diversity recommends protecting 17% of land area and 10% of the oceans.
• A North Atlantic Right Whale, a critically endangered species, was tangled in fishing gear off the New Jersey coast. Abandoned fishing gear is one of the biggest contributors to plastic in the ocean.
  

Climate change and environmental politics

• The Earth just had its hottest September on record, and 2020 has the potential to break or tie the record for hottest year set in 2016. This extraordinary heat comes in spite of La Niña, which usually produces cooler ocean temperatures around the tropics. In addition, Arctic sea ice reached its second-lowest extent this September.
  
• Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett refused to answer questions on climate change (or even acknowledge that it is real) on the grounds that it is too controversial.
• Despite bragging about cleaning up Superfund sites, the Trump administration has cut funding for the program and reversed climate change policies.
• Sudden intensification of hurricanes shortly before landfall has been linked to ocean heat waves.
• Some Republicans are realizing that they need to do something (or at least look like they are doing something) about climate change. It remains to be seen if this realization will lead to concrete action.
• The Border Patrol tear gassed Native American protests on Indigenous Peoples Day as they protested militarization of the border, which divides the homelands of several tribes.