Loose Feathers #560

Piping Plovers / Photo by Craig Watson/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Migrating birds travel faster in the spring to beat competitors to the best breeding grounds. This study was built on data provided by improved weather and military radar technology.
• Along similar lines, another study used radar and eBird data to tie the timing of migration to specific environmental cues such as temperature changes.
• One study found that handling by researchers caused no lasting harm for storm-petrel chicks, while another found lingering stress for nesting shags. The differences may be due to their different nesting strategies.
• Birding can be a gateway to learning more about other organisms, especially on days when birds are hard to find.
• The non-native Kalij Pheasants in Hawaii live in social groups and breed cooperatively, unlike birds of the same species in their native range in the Himalayas. 
• Climate change increases the risk of extinction for six of the eighteen remaining species of Hawaiian honeycreepers, since it encourages the spread of avian diseases including malaria.
• Chaffinches around Berlin's Tegel airport start singing earlier in the morning than birds at other locations and stop singing when the airport noise gets too loud.
• Here is a profile of the scientist studying the Blakiston's Fish Owl.
• African Penguins are becoming a rarer sight along South Africa's coast as their population declines. 
• A young Bald Eagle being seen in Staten Island might have been the first to hatch and fledge successfully in New York City in over 100 years.

Science and nature blogging

• World Shorebirds Day: Shorebird of the Year 2016: Piping Plover
• birdworthy: What #WorldShorebirdsDay Means to Me
• Cool Green Science: Why You Are Smelling Skunks This Week 
• Wanstead Birder: Tales of the unexpected....
• Corvid Research: Why crows sunbathe
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: It Came From Outer Space  
• South Jersey Butterfly B/Log: August 2016 Compilation 
• On The Wing Photography: International Vulture Awareness Day 2016
• In the Field: Juvenile western grebe walking on dry land to reach the water
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Fri-D: Warblers in Flight
• The Artful Amoeba: In the Year Following Fire, a Mushroom Bonanza
• Birdchick: Florida Is For Vulture Lovers
• Lep Log: Mid-Atlantic Butterfly Field Forecast for the Week Beginning 2016 Sept 3

Environment and biodiversity

• The IUCN has improved the Giant Panda's ranking from endangered to vulnerable as its wild population has bounced back after protection of its wild habitats (which also support many other unique species).
• The oceans has absorbed a tremendous amount of heat in recent years, and that is already altering fisheries and possibly spreading disease and increasing the scale of natural disasters. 
• A tenth of the world's remaining wilderness has been destroyed in the past 25 years, with nearly a third of that destruction happening in the Amazon rainforest.
• Tapirs play a key role in how much carbon a tropical forest can store.
• The intense rain and flooding in Louisiana was probably caused by climate change. 
• The US Army Corps of Engineers ignored criticism from the EPA and other federal agencies when it approved the Dakota Access Pipeline.
• The Syrian civil war is limiting access to scarce water supplies, with repercussions for neighboring countries such as Lebanon.
• A conservationist is trying to map what Manhattan looked like before Europeans arrived with the Welikia Project. 
• This site has a map with a slider to predict when fall foliage will be at its peak in the US.
• New Jersey just had its second-hottest August on record and fourth-hottest summer on record. 
• A beetle that preys on hemlock woolly adelgids may help save hemlock forests from disappearing. 
• Conservationists are fighting to keep off-road vehicles from destroying parts of New Jersey's Pinelands.

Loose Feathers #559

Coastal California Gnatcatcher / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding news

• The US Fish and Wildlife Service decided that the Coastal California Gnatcatcher will retain its protected status as a distinct population despite a challenge.
• A comparison of Spotted Owl populations in national parks and national forests suggests that logging is far more detrimental to owls than forest fires.
• A recent study found that 30% of Australian seabirds had ingested marine debris.
• Most Snowy Owls that winter on the prairie are in good physical condition and may even increase their fat reserves over the winter.
• This week Obama is visiting Midway Atoll, home to 1.5 million Laysan Albatrosses and many other seabirds. 
• It is still unclear what causes spruce budworm outbreaks, but the outbreaks are generally ended by an increase in predators (such as the birds that depend on those caterpillars).
• Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge could be an iconic national park in an increasingly urban age.
• Birding can be a window into the marvels of the natural world.
• To learn shorebirds, start with the easy ones like Killdeer first. 
• Users of eBird can now make public profiles. 
• A Common Raven spent the summer in the Atlantic Highlands of New Jersey.
• September is a great month to look for migratory land birds.

Science and nature blogging

• World Shorebirds Day: How to use eBird for Global Shorebird Counting
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: How New Zealand's Glaciers Shaped The Origin of the Kiwi Bird
• Extinction Countdown: How Social Networks Could Save Hawaiian Monk Seals
• GlacierHub: As Temperatures Rise, Poplars Replace Alaskan Tundra 
• The Freiday Bird Blog: Fri-D: How Old is that Shorebird? 
• Backyard and Beyond: Red-Tailed Hawk Stalking
• Cicada Mania: Neotibicen latifasciatus – the Southern Jersey Shore Screamer
• On The Wing Photography: Gulf Shore Yellow-crowned Night Heron
• Biodiversity Heritage Library: Unravelling the secrets of Australian native bees 
• Capital Naturalist by Alonso Abugattas: Buttonbush
• News from the Studio: Goldenrod

Environment and biodiversity

• The African elephant population declined 30% from 2007-2014 according to a recent study.
• Mountain lions in the Santa Monica Mountains around Los Angeles could disappear in 50 years because of inbreeding, unless they have a way to cross local highways.
• Formal declaration of the Anthropocene will require identifying consistent geologic signs for it, and perhaps a spot to mark the physical boundary between it and the Holocene.
• The legal cases against the Malheur occupiers are working through the courts; meanwhile, many staff members have resigned, leaving the refuge mostly unsupervised.
• The Bears Ears area of Utah is a strong candidate for national monument status.

Loose Feathers #558

Yellow-rumped Warbler / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• A new study provides genetic evidence for splitting up the Yellow-rumped Warbler into multiple species — at least three and possibly four. Such a split would restore the status that Myrtle and Audubon's Warblers had prior to the 1970s. All About Birds has a guide to the four forms.
• Meanwhile, another study found that Blue-winged and Golden-winged Warblers are genetically almost identical and that their morphological differences may be a result of dominant and recessive traits.
• The effort to save remaining populations of Spotted Owls is increasingly becoming a race to prevent Barred Owls from encroaching on existing breeding territories. 
• Saltmarsh Sparrows are struggling in the face of encroachment from coastal development and climate change, and their long-term survival is uncertain.
• Geolocator tags are making it easier to map stopover habitat for migratory shorebirds that breed in the Arctic. 
• Golden Eagles may be more common in open, elevated terrain with higher windspeeds.

Science and nature blogging

• Bourbon, Bastards, and Birds.: Wolves Writing Rivers
• 10,000 Birds: Getting to Know Your National Wildlife Refuge: Comprehensive Conservation Plans
• On The Wing Photography: Adult and Juvenile Ring-billed Gulls 
• Stokes Birding Blog: Common Nighthawks On The Move Now, How to See Them!!
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Greetings From Saw Mill Creek
• World Shorebirds Day: Why not counting shorebirds as you go birding anyway?
• Wanstead Birder: Red-throated Diver  
• Dan Tallman’s Bird Blog: August Warblers

Environment and biodiversity

• This week marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the National Park Service. As part of the centennial celebration, all national parks will have free admission this weekend, and a series of bioblitzes have taken place at national park sites throughout the year. In recent decades, parks have taken on a new role as laboratories for studying climate change. While the parks remain popular and important for conservation and historical preservation, they are chronically underfunded. Visitors are also disproportionately white.
• On Wednesday, Obama designated the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument on land donated in Maine. The tract protects forests used by boreal bird species, among others. 
• Today Obama will also expand the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument off Hawaii to 582,578 square miles to protect marine biodiversity in the face of climate change.
• Wildlife officials in Washington will kill off the 11-member Profanity Peak wolf pack after a series of attacks on cattle. That represents 12% of the state's wolf population.
• The endangered mountain yellow-legged frog is threatened by the prolonged drought and intense wildfires in California. 
• Another study confirms that biofuels are not carbon-neutral.
• Pikas are losing their range due to climate change. 
• A Bosnian Pine in northern Greece is the oldest single-trunked tree in Europe at 1075 years old.

Loose Feathers #557

Rufous Hummingbird visiting Showy Milkweed / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• Much of our knowledge about the natural history of Song Sparrows builds on the pioneering work of Margaret Morse Nice, who tracked the progress of dozens of pairs in her home neighborhood in the 1930s.
• Barn Swallows in the US and Mediterranean have different mating preferences.

Science and nature blogging

• Bird Ecology Study Group: Chestnut Munia: Adult, immature and juvenile
• mocosocoBirds: Birds on the Water Chestnut Mat – Aug 15, 2016
• Extinction Countdown: Are Bats Facing a Hidden Extinction Crisis?
• Dan Tallman’s Bird Blog: Field Sparrow 

Environment and biodiversity

• Expansion of the border wall between the US and Mexico would harm ecosystems and wildlife on either side of the border, especially large mammals.
• This year has seen an escalating series of attempts by conservative lawmakers to give away swaths of federal land to states or private interests or parts of protected refuges to the Pentagon.
• Adapting parks to climate change is now a major part of NPS planning.
• Neonicotinoids have now been linked to wild bee population declines in the field.
• The presence of a bipedal bear in northern New Jersey has sparked debates over whether the bear should be captured and brought to a sanctuary for injured animals. 
• A conservationist is making collages of invasive species out of parts of invasive plants.
• The golf course for the Summer Olympics was built on land that had been designated as a protected wildlife refuge.
• Citizen science can be as much about education and setting policy and research priorities as about simply collecting data.

Loose Feathers #556

Black Oystercatcher / Photo by David Ledig, BLM

Birds and birding news

• This was a good year for Piping Plovers and American Oystercatchers nesting at Holgate.
• A study of three national forests in Wisconsin and Minnesota found that breeding bird populations were holding steady. 
• As embarrassing as birding might be for white birders, it can be even more uncomfortable or dangerous for black birders. 
• Cuba's Blue-headed Quail-Dove is even more unlike other doves than its appearance suggests.
• It is possible to find birds by knowing which trees to look in.
• Video monitoring might help scientists figure out why birds and other animals are dying around Ivanpah's towers and ultimately lead to a solution.
• New research using geolocators and isotopic analysis is complicating the concept of migratory flyways.
• The elegant Snowy Egret was an early conservation success.
• Gulls are more likely to raid other gulls' nests when sea temperatures are high near a nesting colony. 
• Contaminants that have accumulated in the bodies of marine mammals can harm condors' ability to reproduce if they eat marine mammal carcasses.
• An analysis of the evolution of birds' nests suggests that changing nesting habits may have contributed to their survival past the end of the Cretaceous.  
• A man in South Carolina was caught killing hawks because they sometimes preyed on his quail.

Science and nature blogging

• Extinction Countdown: Snails Are Going Extinct: Here's Why That Matters
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Life cycle of the Common Redeye butterfly
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Shorebirds of the Kearny Marsh
• The Rattling Crow: The beachcombing crows  
• View from the Cape: Identifying shorebirds in flight - Stilt Sandpiper
• 10,000 Birds: North American Gnatcatchers

Environment and biodiversity

• According to a new report, over-hunting, over-fishing, and habitat destruction (primarily for agriculture) are still the primary drivers of biodiversity loss while climate change remains a lesser threat (for now at least).
• Aggressive hunting may have wiped out the East Fork wolf pack near Denali, which is one of the longest-studied groups of wolves.
• Climate.gov released its State of the Climate report for 2015, which looks at the effects on marine life.
• Changes in land management practices have made the western juniper into an invader of the sagebrush steppe, which threatens to eliminate habitat for wildlife and livestock. 
• The poor reputation of coyotes is undeserved and leads to senseless killing. 
• The Greenland shark may be the longest-lived vertebrate, with its average lifespan estimated at 400 years old.
• Burying beetles help to clean up refuse, in this case by burying carcasses for their larvae to eat.
• Wild blue mussels are disappearing along the coast of the Gulf of Maine.
• The public has had to fund a substantial portion of the Mount Polley mine cleanup, even though the offending company is still profitable. 
• New Jersey is releasing a weevil to combat invasive mile-a-mile weed.