Anna's hummingbird ♀ (Calypte anna) / Photo by Minette Layne
Birds and birding news
- Ovenbirds and Veeries eavesdrop on chipmunk calls to decide where to nest; since chipmunks eat eggs and nestlings, the birds try to nest as far away from hotspots of chipmunk activity as possible.
- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is conducting a formal review of the Eskimo Curlew's status to decide whether the bird should remain listed as endangered or be classified as extinct. The last confirmed sighting of the species was in Nebraska in 1987. Here is the announcement (pdf) in the Federal Register. That link has information on how to contact the Fish and Wildlife Service if you have seen living Eskimo Curlews (unlikely) or wish to comment on the review.
- Experiments that include the ultraviolet part of the spectrum concluded that birds produce only few of the color combinations that are possible for them to see.
- Maryland's only nesting female Goshawk was shot and killed; as a result, her offspring perished from lack of feeding or protection. Who shot the bird is unknown.
- In many cases, birds flap-run to scale obstacles in order to save energy; that style of movement takes less power than flying the same distance.
- Male Wire-tailed Manakins cooperate at leks to win attention from female birds. Cooperative behavior is unusual in lek mating systems.
- Many birds thought extinct due to deforestation have since returned to Amazon rainforest.
- Feral pigeons can differentiate between friendly and hostile people when they forage in urban environments.
- A new analysis of bird evolution posits that birds evolved through the loss of a gene that aids thermoregulation through fat reserves and the consequent development of muscles that generate heat instead.
- Sibley Guides: The new Wood-Warbler taxonomy
- 10,000 Birds: Hooded Crow in Staten Island, New York
- On the road: A new hybrid hummingbird from Honduras
- BESG: Atlantic Puffins catching sandeels for their chicks
- Birding is Fun!: What does eBird tell us about "Birder" behavior?
- One Jackdaw Birding: The Curious Behavior of two Brown Creepers
- Birders in New York and nearby states should be aware of a new tick-borne disease, babesiosis. This blood parasite is carried by deer ticks and produces flu-like symptoms and occasionally more severe results.
- New research finds that caribou in Alberta are threatened by oil sands mining activity rather than predation by wolves since the latter mainly prey on deer. Mining activity is at its peak at times when food for caribou is most scarce; their foraging activities are interrupted whenever they get spooked by heavy equipment.
- Surveys in Sweden have found declines in their native pollinators, to the point that previously common bumblebee species are so rare as to warrant red listing. As a result, red clover plants – an important forage crop that depends on pollination services – have produced fewer seeds in recent years.
- In North America, factors like the presence of dead wood and soil characteristics are better predictors of what native bee species will be present at a location than a site's plant species composition. The key seems to be the suitability of a particular site for nesting.
- New research in the Pacific shows the importance of food hotspots for apex predators, especially blue whales, which travel from hotspot to hotspot as they migrate. Scientists consider the Pacific's California Current as an oceanic hotspot akin to Africa's Serengeti Plain.
- Seven new species of field mice were discovered on the island of Luzon in the Philippines.
- A new study found that sea level along the East Coast of the U.S. is rising faster than at any other time in the last 2,000 years. The current rate is consistent with a local sea level rise of three feet by 2100.
- The Obama administration will institute a 20-year ban on new uranium mining claims around the Grand Canyon in order to protect the Colorado River watershed, which is a crucial source of drinking water for the region.
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