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| Nelson's Sparrow / Photo by Rick Bohn / USFWS |
Birds and birding news
- The AOS (formerly AOU) released the annual supplement to its North American checklist with taxonomic changes. Among other changes, the genus Anas is split into multiple genera (with no species-level splits), Northern Harrier and Northern Shrike are split from the European counterparts (and become Circus hudsonius and Lanius borealis, respectively), Thayer's Gull is merged with Iceland Gull, Cassia Crossbill (the long-rumored "South Hills Crossbill") is split from Red Crossbill, New World sparrows are now in their own family, Passerellidae, and several other new families are created, including Icteriidae for the Yellow-breasted Chat. Several proposed changes, including splits of Willet, Brown Creeper, and Yellow-rumped Warbler, and the redpoll merger, were not adopted. See also the discussion at the ABA Blog.
- A Purple Gallinule was recorded via camera trap for first time on Oak Ridge Reservation in Tennessee.
- Where different populations of a species migrate appears to be linked to genetic differences.
- Praying mantises have been photographed catching hummingbirds.
Science and nature blogging
- Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Our Public Lands – Our Legacy
- 10,000 Birds: Seaside Sparrows Feeding Young at Cape May National Wildlife Refuge, Two Mile Unit
- Birding the Crane Creek - Magee Region of Northwest Ohio: Timing of fall shorebird migration in Ohio
- The Digiscoper: July Begins
- Shorebird Science: Arctic Spring!
Environment and biodiversity
- The Trump administration wants to bring back seismic testing as part of its goal of restarting offshore drilling along the Atlantic coast despite bipartisan opposition. Seismic testing is a threat to whales and other marine life.
- Alberta's tar sands mining operations have produced over 250 billion gallons of toxic waste stored in tailings ponds around the province.
- In better news, it appears that tar sands operations have stopped growing.
- The new Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History has an interesting article on forests, logging, and environmentalism.
- A former cranberry bog in Massachusetts is being restored to a natural wetland that includes a new stream open to migrating fish.
- New Jersey's Pinelands region was made into a national reserve to preserve its unique ecosystems and protect the aquifer underneath it, but it still faces threats from pollution, off-road vehicles, and development such as new proposed pipelines.
- Millions of New Jersey's ash trees are going to die in the very near future because of the Emerald Ash Borer. The impending loss of ash trees (along with earlier devastation of the elm and chestnut populations) shows the importance of diverse plantings for street trees.
- The endangered status for the Florida Panther is under review, including the question of whether it is still a genetically distinct population.
- Horseshoe crabs are a vital part of coastal food webs but are threatened by overfishing, climate change, and coastal development. It is still unclear how harvesting their blood for medical research affects them. Climate change and coastal development interact to reduce their breeding habitat.
- Controlled burns could be used to slow the spread of chronic wasting disease.
- Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ-11) used to have a decent environmental record but has had an increasingly poor voting record on environmental issues as he has risen in power.
