|
| Surfbird / Photo by Peter Pearsall/USFWS |
Birds and birding news
- The falling water level in the Great Salt Lake created land bridges that allowed coyotes to reach an island where American White Pelicans nest, and as a result, the number of pelican nests has fallen 66% since 1992.
- Bird populations in the Mojave Desert collapsed due to heat stress from climate change over the past century.
- Purple Martins prefer to roost in forest fragments during their southbound migration.
- Despite conservation efforts, Gunnison's Sage-Grouse are still struggling due to recent extreme weather. An extremely dry winter and spring in 2017-18 was followed by an extremely cold winter in 2018-19.
- A study found that Brown-headed Cowbirds are mostly monogamous, despite being brood parasites.
- Six national forests in Arizona and New Mexico have stopped tree-cutting to protect Mexican Spotted Owls.
- Invasive hydrilla is home to cyanobacteria that is killing Bald Eagles in Georgia.
Science and nature blogging
- The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: 2.9 Billion Birds Lost Should Be Our Rallying Cry
- Vermont Center for Ecostudies: Field Guide to October 2019
- Shorebirder: BERMUDA PETREL on the Brookline Bird Club Pelagic (Trip Report)
- On The Wing Photography: Photographing White-crowned Sparrows At Farmington Bay
- The Prairie Ecologist: Flies, Flies, and More Flies
- Bug Eric: How Humanity Manufactures Its Own Pests
Biodiversity and conservation
- The invasive Spotted Lanternfly has a large potential range in the US, especially in the Mid-Atlantic (where its range is still expanding), Midwest, and central and coastal California.
- Biologists identified three genetic mutations that allow Monarch caterpillars to feed on milkweed.
- A project aims to restore a coastal prairie that was habitat for the Oregon Silverspot, an endangered butterfly.
- Chitons roll up in a ball when threatened, possibly to get a better footing when they land somewhere else.
Climate change and environmental politics
- Despite revoking California's right to set stricter air pollution standards (and that of other states to follow California's lead), the EPA is threatening to withhold federal funding from California because of its air and water pollution.
- Climate threatens many historic and cultural sites with severe storms and rising sea levels; sites important for African American culture and history tend to have fewer resources to deal with these new climate-related problems.
- Pumping too much groundwater in arid regions is killing rivers like the San Pedro River in Arizona.
