|
| Rufous Hummingbird / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS |
Birds and birding news
- A Great Black Hawk that recently turned up in Maine seems to be the same individual seen in Texas earlier this year.
- A new study tried to link seabird declines to specific factors, like a decrease in zooplankton for Black-legged Kittiwakes or sea surface warming for Red-legged Kittiwakes.
- A survey in northern New Mexico found declining bird numbers. Birds there have lost habitat due to bark beetle outbreaks combined with droughts and higher temperatures.
- This week eBird has been doing a taxonomy update to account for recent changes.
- New York has agreed to relocate the feral cat colony at Jones Beach State Park away from the endangered Piping Plover colony.
- Coots have unusual lobes on their feet that help them swim.
- An observation uploaded to iNaturalist shows a Black-breasted Snake Eagle eating a Cape Cobra.
- Native Americans bred macaws in captivity as far north as New Mexico 1,000 years ago.
- Indonesia expanded its list of protected birds that cannot be kept in captivity.
- Spain has been given a deadline by the European Commission to stop illegal bird trapping.
- Certain bird species (and other animals) are often described as "promiscuous" without a consistent definition of what that means.
- A research group put geolocators on some of the Bluethroats that nest in Alaska.
- A French park trained Rooks to go around and pick up garbage for rewards.
Science and nature blogging
- The Artful Amoeba: Parasitic Plants Have Surprising Accomplice
- Avian Hybrids: The eagle has landed: Tracking the migration of hybrids between lesser and greater spotted eagles
- Avian Ecologist: Indigenous Bird Naming
- Carniolicum: The Golden Eagle's hunt
- Bug Eric: Pseudoscorpions: The Strangest Arachnids?
- Tough Little Birds: Junco neighbors
- Natural Newstead: You can never have enough robins!
- Backyard and Beyond: The Anthropophiles
- Citizen Science Salon: Hiking in the Appalachian Mountains? Here’s How You Can Contribute to Science While You’re At It
Conservation and biodiversity
- Some fishing cats are adapting to life in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The success of these and other urban wild animals has opened a debate about whether an urban lifestyle is causing some animal populations to become more intelligent.
- Road density negatively affects grizzly bears, not just because of roadkill incidents, but also because bears are more likely to be killed by hunters near roads.
- American chaffseed is being restored to New Jersey's Pinelands with the help of controlled burns.
Climate change and public health
- Air pollution, especially particulate matter, kills up to 7 million people worldwide each year.
- A federal judge ordered a full environmental review for the revised route of the Keystone XL pipeline, which the Trump administration revived.
- Voters in Washington state will have a chance to approve a carbon tax this fall. The ballot initiative will face an opposition campaign by fossil fuel companies.
- Alaska may also consider a carbon tax to make up for declining oil royalties and the increasing costs of dealing with climate change.
