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| Prothonotary Warbler / USFWS Photo |
Birds and birding news
- Last Saturday was the World Series of Birding in New Jersey. My team, the Middlesex Merlins, saw 122 species in Middlesex County, including a Ruff, and tied for fifth in the LGA competition. Here are the full standings (pdf). Teams recorded a total of 248 species (pdf) in the state.
- Southwestern Willow Flycatchers face a threat from climate change in addition to pressures from habitat destruction and nest parasitism.
- The Canadian Rockies are a hybrid zone for birds with distinctive eastern and western populations, like Myrtle and Audubon's Warblers.
- A new study finds that Darwin's finches could have originated in either South America or the Caribbean and that the group was so successful because its ancestral population had the genetic diversity to evolve many bill shapes.
- The survival of seabirds like the Nazca Booby is dependent on ocean cycles like El Niño, which suggests that the birds may have a hard time adjusting to climate change.
- Encouraging kestrels to nest around agricultural fields and orchards could reduce the need for pesticides.
- Conservationists are trying to restore habitat for the rare Cape Parrot, which has less than 2,000 individuals left.
- The New-York Historical Society is running an exhibit displaying the feathered hats that nearly brought many bird species to extinction and inspired the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which turns 100 this year.
- Migration forecasts could reduce the number of birds colliding with buildings and wind turbines.
- Audubon is looking for volunteers to track White-breasted Nuthatches and Eastern Bluebirds as part of a birds and climate change study.
- Australian Magpies can understand the meanings of other birds' alarm calls.
- Ring-necked Parakeets in Spain have been attacking bats at their roost cavities and taking the holes for nesting.
- Warmer temperatures threaten tropical songbirds, but a warm spring is better for migratory breeding birds in Finland.
- Here are some tips for attracting hummingbirds.
Science and nature blogging
- Warblers and rumors of warblers: Kirtland's Warbler
- 10,000 Birds: Kirtland’s Warbler in Central Park
- Feathered Photography: Things We Need To Think About When Approaching A Bird For Photography
- Extinction Countdown: Extinct in Algeria: Rare Plant Declared Lost
- Bird Ecology Study Group: The Decline of the Cinnamon Bittern?
- Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Yellow Warbler Perched and Foraging in a Mystery Flowering, Thorny Tree
Environment and biodiversity
- It is best to leave spiders alone since they are important predators of other invertebrates.
- A group of hunters in Oregon and Washington are being charged with poaching dozens of mammals, including cougars and bobcats, and leaving their bodies to rot.
- Edith's Checkerspots have shown some ability to adapt to new host plants and back again.
- Republican lawmakers proudly displayed their ignorance about climate science in a hearing this week.
- Hippopotamuses sometimes produce so much fecal matter that it causes fish kills.
- NJ.com mapped New Jersey's vegetation with satellite imagery.
