Blackpoll Warbler / Photo by Donna Dewhurst (USFWS)
Birds and birding news
- The American Bird Conservancy and Golden Gate Audubon want San Francisco to create new building standards to reduce bird strikes against glass windows.
- The cloud forests of the Solomon Islands are home to a diverse array of birds.
- Seabird colonies in Scotland had a terrible breeding season.
- A nature center in the UK is tracking the first autumn arrival of Bewick's Swans. This year marked their earliest arrival in seven years.
- A hotel on Kaua'i is taking steps to reduce its impact on nesting Hawaiian Petrels, which are confused by the resorts lights.
- King Penguins often engage in same-sex displays but rarely form long-term homosexual pairs. A group of 75 King Penguin pairs had one male-male pair and one female-female pair.
- The Philippines may be a true biodiversity hotspot, with more unique birds than are currently recognized. Genetics tests of birds that are currently listed as the same species in Southeast Asia and the Philippines reveal that the two are actually distinct populations.
- The NY Times is hosting blog posts from scientists doing bird research in Peru.
- Audubon has a short article on the many volunteers who have helped clean beaches or rescue oiled birds.
- Birders from many areas have been wondering how the spill might harm birds from their own states. Here is one article on the subject from Michigan.
- Migratory Peregrine Falcons are being checked for oil residue or poisoning.
- Louisiana is building a chain of sand berms to prevent oil from spills from reaching the state's beaches and marshes. Federal officials express reservations about the project's usefulness, and conservationists worry that it could be harmful to sea turtles.
- NOAA reports that the Arctic is unlikely to return to the conditions that prevailed in the early 20th century. A consequence of Arctic warming is that cold air gets blown south into the eastern U.S. instead of staying in the Arctic.
- The first nine months of 2010 are tied with those of 1998 as the warmest on record.
- A majority of Americans are confused or misinformed about basic facts about climate change, including why the earth is warming and the mechanics of the greenhouse effect.
- American Chestnut, a tree nearly wiped out by blight, may come back as a hybrid with a related Asian species, which has some resistance to the blight.
- The quality of water feeding into Everglades National Park has improved since the 1970s.
- Some members of Congress have proposed legislation to remove endangered species protections from the Gray Wolf.
- Recent declines in aspens in the Rocky Mountains seem to have stabilized.
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