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| Red-footed Booby / Photo by Andrew S. Wright/USFWS |
Birds and birding news
- A fossil collector turned up a strange theropod fossil that looks like a swan and may have behaved like a cormorant.
- Studies of bee behavior show some parallels with hummingbird behavior.
- The critically endangered Blue-billed Curassow, which survived Colombia's long civil war, will need new protections now that the war is over.
- A new study explores how well hummingbirds will adapt to warmer temperatures, particularly warmer nocturnal temperatures.
- Canada will remove the threatened designation from Peregrine Falcons since the species has recovered.
- A study of Wandering Albatrosses found that certain individuals are consistently more successful throughout their lives and that their success seems tied to conditions in their early lives.
- Birds in the UK are arriving (up to 20+ days) earlier each spring and leaving later each autumn thanks to a changing climate.
- Likewise, songbirds in California now migrate earlier in spring and later in the fall.
- A project is recording audio at a nocturnal crow roost to learn more about how crows communicate at them.
- Communal crow roosts are common in urban areas, especially in the winter months.
- A Bald Eagle in Maryland died while being treated for lead poisoning. Like other raptors, eagles can ingest lead if they scavenge carcasses of animals that were hunted using lead ammunition.
- A project in Australia is seeking public involvement in tracking urban brush turkeys.
- The extinct Rodrigues Solitaire used its wings as clubs.
- A new study documents how New Caledonian Crows make hooked tools.
- Two kiwi species improved their status thanks to progress in controlling invasive predators according to the latest IUCN report.
- Atlantic Puffins in Ireland are declining, probably because they have to travel longer distances from their breeding sites to forage.
Science and nature blogging
- Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Public Lands Under Fire – Just Think About It
- ABA Blog: ACTION: Stand Up for the Migratory Bird Treaty Act
- 10,000 Birds: Snowy Owl Ethics
Environment and biodiversity
- The big conservation story this week was the radical downsizing of both Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, an attack on the protection of public lands. Cuts are expected to other national monuments as well; you can read the Interior Department's recommendations here (pdf). Bears Ears was notable for its protection of Native American archaeological sites; the cutbacks continue a long history of strained relations between Mormons and Native Americans. Grand Staircase-Escalante is an important site for paleontology.
- Meanwhile, the tax bill passed by the Senate included a provision opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling. (Republicans have been trying to do this since I started this blog.) Why this is a priority right now is hard to understand; recent leases in the nearby National Petroleum Reserve barely drew any bids. Drilling in the refuge would have a much larger footprint than reported.
- One of the strange elements of the public lands battle is how Ryan Zinke shifted from supporting conservation to stripping protections as fast as he can.
- Threats to public lands are not just from the Trump administration; it appears that the Christie administration wants to create a second private marina in Liberty State Park.
- Environmental crimes need more attention from mainstream journalism, particularly when it comes to wildlife trafficking.
- A smartphone app called Frog ID encourages members of the public to submit documentation of Australian frogs.
- Bitcoin mining is tremendously energy-intensive (and carbon-intensive).
- Entomologists discover millipede, Apheloria polychroma in Virginia, that comes in more color combinations than any other.
