Loose Feathers #513

Least Sandpiper / Photo by Bill Thompson/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• This week the US Fish and Wildlife Service decided against listing the Greater Sage-Grouse under the Endangered Species Act. The agency cited voluntary measures to protect the species in its decision and proclaimed it as a win for wildlife. However, there are reasons to be skeptical of the spin.
• Noah Strycker set a new world big year record with a Sri Lanka Frogmouth. So far he has seen 4452 bird species this year, with another three months to go.
• EBird will soon release a feature for uploading images and audio to checklists.
• Avian genetic diversity is higher in the winter than in the summer in California's Central Valley.
• Wildlife groups want the California Spotted Owl to receive protection under the Endangered Species Act.
• Northern Bald Ibis chicks were released in Spain as part of a reintroduction program.
• Backyard bird feeders have encouraged more Blackcaps to spend the winter in the U.K.
• Geolocators are being used to learn the migration routes and stopover habitats of Prothonotary Warbler populations. 
• Conservationists are hand-rearing endangered Florida Grasshopper Sparrow chicks from nests that were likely to fail to give them a better chance at survival.
• A conservation program combining data from eBird with imagery from Landsat identified rice fields in California that could be flooded to create temporary wetlands for shorebirds.
• Blue-footed Boobies dirty their eggs to hide them from predators.
• Millions of songbirds migrate at night during spring and fall.

Science and nature blogging

• Nemesis Bird: Night Flight Call primer
• Extinction Countdown: Sexually Deceptive Orchid Seeks Specialty Pollinator 
• Warblers and rumors of warblers: Connecticut Warbler! 
• View from the Cape: Zone-tailed Hawk - AGAIN!!!
• Anything Larus: Banded Herring Gull: 29 Years Old  
• ABA Blog: Open Mic: The Joys of Patch Birding

Environment and biodiversity

• Last weekend I participated in the BioBlitz at Sandy Hook. The preliminary total is 271 living species. The total will probably rise as more specimens are identified.
• The US Fish and Wildlife Service is considering four species for listing under the Endangered Species Act. 
• The Volkswagen case shows the need for better regulation of the software that runs everyday objects.
• China's use of fossil fuels has often been used as an excuse for opposing greenhouse gas limits in the U.S., but now China is pledging to institute a cap-and-trade program to reduce emissions.
• Hillary Clinton finally announced her opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.
• Pope Francis called for action against climate change in a speech at the White House.
• Proximity and exposure to toxic pollutants is a major inequality between racial and economic groups in the U.S., and an egregious example can be found in DC's Brentwood neighborhood.
• Some western wildfires have been so intense that burned forests are not recovering as they normally would.
• Here is a list of cities ranked according to their heat island effects.
• A new tree of life combines phylogenetic data for 2.3 million species.
• Bumblebees in the Rocky Mountains now have shorter tongues than they did 40 years ago, an adaptation driven by climate change.

Loose Feathers #512

Virginia Rail / Photo by Steve Arena/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Colorful plumage may not always be an honest signal of a bird's reproductive quality.
• The presence of so much plastic in the oceans is a major threat to seabirds, especially the albatrosses of the Midway Atoll.
• Sage-grouse in California currently have healthy genetic diversity.
• Burrowing Owls are successfully colonizing cities in Argentina.
• An albino Barn Swallow was spotted and photographed in the U.K.
• John James Audubon painted several bird species whose modern equivalent is unclear, and birders continue to puzzle over them.
• Oriental honey buzzards use sight and smell to raid apiaries.

Science and nature blogging

• Inkfish: Penguins Find Each Other’s Beaks Sexy
• Rockablog: Roseate Terns on Rockabill, 2015. (Good news!!!)
• Extinction Countdown: Giant Panda Conservation Also Helps Other Unique Species in China 
• The Smaller Majority: Ghost hunting 
• 10,000 Birds: Faithful Loons and Human Lunacy
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: A Virginia Rail in Kearny
• Brooklyn Parrots: Why exactly do Monk Parakeets fight? 
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Courtship dance of the Pin-tailed Whydah (video) 
• Outside My Window: In Powered Flight
• My Chicago Botanic Garden: Banning Species Blindness in Budding Botanists

Environment and biodiversity

• The concept of "missing links" promotes wrong ideas about how evolution works.
• Nature photographers should follow ethical guidelines, even if it means not getting the perfect shot.
• The Animas River spill shows that the government needs to clean up the toxic waste left by mining companies.
• The year so far has been setting temperature records.
• Arctic sea ice reached its annual minimum, which appears to be the 4th lowest on record.
• The Sierra Nevada snowpack hit a 500-year low in 2015.
• Earlier this week, Australia deposed its climate change denying prime minister, but his replacement may not be much better, despite his earlier endorsement of climate action.

Loose Feathers #511

Red Knot with other shorebirds / Photo credit: Gregory Breese/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A federal judge removed endangered species protections for the Lesser Prairie-Chicken on the grounds that existing voluntary conservation measures would be sufficient.
• Bullock's Oriole stop to molt in the Mexican monsoon region in the middle of their fall migration.
• Migratory songbirds avoid predators during migration by seeking out habitats with plenty of places to hide, like brushy forest edges.
• Female cowbirds pay attention to cowbird nestling survival and lay future eggs in nests where cowbird chicks have survived well.

Science and nature blogging

• Anything Larus: Advanced Hatch Year Ring-billed Gulls
• Extinction Countdown: Thylacine Hunted into Extinction for No Reason, Study Reveals
• North Coast Diaries: Find the Yellow Jacket
• Wild New Jersey: Bird Molting 
• Wanderin' Weeta: Calling all Rock Flippers!

Environment and biodiversity

• The oil industry managed to derail a bill in California that would have reduced gasoline use by 50%.
• This year's El Niño is predicted to be one of the strongest on record but will not be enough to alleviate long-term drought in the western U.S. 
• A wildfire in the Pinelands may have been caused by carelessly discarded charcoal.
• Kuwait became the 169th signatory to the Ramsar Convention and designated its first wetland reserve under the convention.

Loose Feathers #510

Tagged Red Knot with other shorebirds / Photo by Gregory Breese/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Citizen science is contributing much data for scientific research, especially through birding-related projects like eBird and the Christmas Bird Count.
• Scientists estimate that plastic will be found in 99% of seabirds by 2050. It already affects 60% of species; the number of individuals affected rose from <5% in 1960 to 80% by 2010.
• Many birds may lose parts of their ranges due to climate change, and conservation planning needs to account for shifting ranges.
• Common Loons return to the same wintering sites year after year.
• White-tailed Eagles avoid large bullet fragments during consumption of carcasses, an important finding in support of nonlead ammunition. 
• Scientists are trying to bring back the endangered Attwater's Prairie-Chicken, but success is limited due to numerous factors, from fire ants to floods. Currently the population stands at 104 birds.

Science and nature blogging

• Extinction Countdown: Asian Vultures Get Good News Ahead of International Vulture Day
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: The Black-crowned Night Heron
• Bird Ecology Study Group: The Jacana Fields of Taiwan (A Lesson in Conservation & Advocacy to Asian Neighbours)
• Warblers and rumors of warblers: Some Fall migration photos
• Earbirding.com: Ever heard of Pine Flycatcher? 
• Charismatic Minifauna: Royal Jelly Isn't What Makes a Queen Bee a Queen Bee 
• The Smaller Majority: Mozambique Diary: Snug as a bug 
• The Birdist: Birds at Large: Teal Owl
• 10,000 Birds: What’s in a Name: Limpkin 

Environment and biodiversity

• A toad thought to be extinct was rediscovered in Ecuador. 
• Some wind energy companies have agreed to voluntary measures to reduce bat fatalities by idling turbines when wind speeds are low during migratory periods.
• Denali continues to lose ice at a rapid pace.
• California is building an overpass to serve as a wildlife corridor for mountain lions in Los Angeles County. 
• The coal industry is collapsing, but in the meantime it continues to inflict irreparable damage to the Appalachian Mountains.
• Kudzu may not be as unstoppable as advertised.
• The re-emergence of a drought in the northeast is threatening the water supplies of some northern New Jersey towns, but things are not too bad yet.

Loose Feathers #509

Osprey hovering / Photo by Ron Holmes/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Adapting to an aquatic lifestyle required changes in penguin brains, especially for processing sensory information.
• Conservation of endangered African Penguins has been hampered by disagreement over whether current management practices are working.
• A hydroelectric project in India could destroy important wintering habitat for the Black-necked Crane.
• Researchers continue trying to find a way for Golden Eagles and wind turbines to coexist. 
• Tropical birds raise fewer young, but their young are more likely to survive. 
• 25 million birds per year are killed around the Mediterranean despite laws against the killings. 108,000 birds are killed per year on Malta alone.
• New Caledonian Crows show limited evidence of social learning.
• The decline of Old World Vultures has led to other ecological problems, such as a rabies outbreak in India.
• Ospreys are characteristic birds of summer, especially in coastal areas.
• Male bluebirds alter songs to be louder and lower-pitched so they can be heard over increased background noise.

Science and nature blogging

• Moroccan Birds: Peculiar predation behaviour: Eleonora's Falcons keep their prey alive 
• Extinction Countdown: $1 Million More a Year Could Save Kiwi Birds from Extinction 
• The Prairie Ecologist: Saving Pollinators One Thistle at a Time 
• Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow
• March of the Fossil Penguins: Ancient Penguin Brains from Antarctica
• Skeptical Science: You can’t rush the oceans (why CO2 emission rates matter)
• STOKES BIRDING BLOG: Common Nighthawk Migration Happening Now - Tips for Seeing Them!  
• Gouldiae's Blog: In Support of Urban Trees
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Fri-D: Drilling Down to an I.D.

Environment and biodiversity

• Ash trees in the Emerald Ash Borer's native range produce compounds that discourage the beetles from attacking healthy trees.
• Melting of sea ice in the Arctic has forced thousands of walruses ashore near Alaska in an unusual mass stranding event.
• In addition, there have been a series of unexplained whale deaths in the Gulf of Alaska.
• Damage from Hurricane Katrina lingers in the marshes around New Orleans ten years later. 
• California may have the worst drought, but other western states have drought trouble too.
• Urban areas have an average summer temperature 1.9°C higher than surrounding the rural areas; areas with less than 35% impervious surfaces had less severe warming effects.