Birding News #74

:: A Bicknell’s Thrush that was banded in the Dominican Republic while wintering there in 2010 has been has been re-captured for the second time on Mount Mansfield in Vermont.

:: Do birds use properties of quantum mechanics to help them make their annual migrations?

:: Rufus the Hawk is “the Most Important Bird at Wimbledon”.

:: A report by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute, “Climate Change Vulnerability of Alberta’s Terrestrial Biodiversity: A Preliminary Assessment”, which studied the sensitivity of amphibians, birds, insects, mammals, and plants — to an average predicted temperature increase of between 2.5 C to 3.5 C in the next 40 years — suggests that birds are among the least vulnerable species because they would simply move with a changing climate.

:: People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has filed a lawsuit against the US Dept. of Agriculture alleging that the agency has failed to protect birds under the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act.

:: The US Fish & Wildlife Service has downgraded the Wood Stork from “endangered” to “threatened”.

:: According to a study published in the journal Polar Biology, the migrating shorebirds that breed on on the coastal tundra of Alaska’s North Slope seem to be responding to earlier snow melting by speeding up their nesting activities.

:: Saving the Western Grebe, recently listed by the Alberta government as a threatened species, means limiting lakeside recreational development, including preserving crucial shoreline vegetation like bulrushes.

:: With Piping Plovers nesting on the beach, and federal regulations protecting the species, the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts, has cancelled its annual Fourth of July beach bonfire celebration.

Great post in birding blogs this week:

:: From Brian Switek at Laelaps blog: Tracing the Roots of Beautiful Bird Hues

:: From Sharon at Bird Canada: Sparrows, sparrows, everywhere …

:: From Justin at Birding Frontiers: Digiscoping Majestic Gannets

:: From Scott at Birding is Fun: The Joy of Contributing to Florida’s Breeding Bird Atlas

:: From Barbara at Primarily Pets: Loons – a favorite water bird

:: From Kathie at Kathie’s Birds: Family and Birding

:: From Len at Focussed at Fauna (and a little flora): Sooty Grouse June 9 2014 Hemlock, British Columbia

:: From Nicholas at Hipster Birders: Finding Something of Everything at Ankeny NWR

:: From Rick at Wader Quest: Separating Baird’s and White-rumped Sandpipers

Feathers on Friday

If you would like to join me for my Feathers on Friday meme, please put the link to your blog post in the comments and I’ll add the link to my post.

A Song Sparrow at the Vermilion Provincial Park earlier this month. I really like the colors in this photo, the blue of the boat house and rich brown of the sparrow,

More Feathers on Friday Posts:

New Bird Books on My Shelf

Earlier this month, my Mom bought me two wonderful new bird books (thank you, Mom!) — the first book is Ornithology by Frank B. Gill and the second is Manual of Ornithology: Avian Structure and Function by Noble S. Proctor and Patrick J. Lynch. I think these books will pair nicely with the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s Handbook of Bird Biology I’ve been slowly working through for the home study course.

I haven’t had much time to read over these two books yet, since my full-time summer job, farming, and other projects have been keeping me busy. I’m also hoping to review these books sometime soon. But I need something else for lighter summer reading!

 

Birding News #73

:: There are now more than 160 birding/bird apps listed on iTunes

:: A Tufted Puffin was seen near the New Brunswick coast this past week. The last time a Tufted Puffin was spotted on the Atlantic coast was in Maine in the 1830s.

:: Many Common Loons in Wisconsin are making second nesting attempts, after a population explosion of blackflies led many loons to abandon their nests earlier this spring.

:: A woman in Quebec has been found guilty of causing the deaths of a motorcyclist and his daughter after she stopped to help some ducklings cross a busy highway in 2010.

:: A power outage and forest fire in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, were apparently caused by an electrocuted Common Raven

:: Researchers are fitting radio transmitters on American Avocets that nest along the Great Salt Lake, hoping to collect data on where the birds migrate to for winter.

:: A article from NPR discussing the pros and cons of collecting bird specimens for science 

:: The Tri-colored Blackbird population in California has declined 44 percent since  2011

:: You can now buy the Federal Duck Stamp from the American Birding Association

Great post in birding blogs this week:

:: From The Eyrie: Meet Chloe Walker: 2014 ABA Young Birder of the Year

:: From Alfredo at 10,000 Birds: Digital Photos or Illustrations 

:; From Maureen at Hipster Birders: Hittin’ the West Coast

:: From Julie at Nature’s Splendor: Flying Jewels of Spring 

:: From Josiah at Birding in Your Backyard: Oak Hammock Marsh Birding and Bird Banding

:: From Kathleen at Birdworthy: Birding Brigatine 

:: From Andrew at Birding Dude: Jamaica Bay Barn Owls

:: From Barbara at Primarily Pets: A controversial waterbird but a very good parent

:: From Larry at The Brownstone Birding Blog: When Endangered Birds Can’t Pay The Rent

Feathers on Friday

If you would like to join me for my Feathers on Friday meme, please put the link to your blog post in the comments and I’ll add the link to my post.

This is an Alder Flycatcher I spotted on the Spring Bird Count in June. The only way I was able to identify this empidonax was by its song. I remember the Alder Flycatcher’s song with the mnemonic, “Free Beer”.

More Feathers on Friday Posts:

:: From Ethan at Bird Boy: Feathers on Friday

:: From Josiah at Birds in Your Backyard: Feathers on Friday

:: From Sylvia at Another Day in Paradise: Feathers on Friday: Hungry Anhinga Chicks

Birding News #72

:: The feathers of migrating birds are carrying resilient microscopic plant spores, or diaspores, of some mosses, algae, and fungi, from breeding grounds in the Arctic to South America, where the plants take root and grow.

:: It’s that time of year again — well-meaning people out for walks are “ducknapping” young birds, much to the dismay of the parent birds and wildlife rehabilitators.

:: Jay Holcomb, a pioneer in seabird rescue and rehabiliation, and who helped to build International Bird Rescue into one of the world’s top wildlife organizations, died this week at the age of 63.

:: Biologists are capturing, tagging, and releasing Hawaiian seabirds, as part of studies by the US Geological Survey Western Ecological Research Center  and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, in light of current proposals to build new renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines, in the waters around Hawaii, to see if the turbines and other structures may cause problems for seabirds.

:: Two MIT linguists, studying the roots of human language, have hypothesized that our ability to communicate ideas came from primates, while the expressive, melodic side of our language came from birds.

:: Australian researchers studying the relationship between Superb Fairy-Wrens and Horsfield’s Bronze-Cuckoos and the threat of brood parasitism, have learned that female Fairy-Wrens teach their embryos a secret “password” to use after they hatch in their begging calls for food.

:: The National Wildlife Federation and Vermont Natural Resources Council have issued a report stating that the US Dept. of Interior is under a legal obligation, known as the Pelly Amendment, to determine whether tar sands mining and drilling in Canada, which has already killed thousands of birds and is putting millions more at risk, is undermining a century-old international treaty to protect North America’s songbirds and waterfowl. 

:: The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission is asking the public and citizen scientists to help locate three species of rare and declining species — Southeastern American Kestrel, Burrowing Owl, and Painted Bunting — during the breeding season which lasts through July.

Great posts in birding blogs this week: 

:: From Grant at The Birders Library: Review: The New Birder’s Guide to Birds of North America/The Young Birder’s Guide to north America

:: From Kathleen at Birdworthy: Returning to my roots

:: From Nate at The ABA Blog: Climate Change and Migratory Birds: New Concerns

:: From The Younger Birder Network: Featured Blog: Krishna Girish

:: From Russell at Russel Canning’s Blog: “Western Teenagers” Big Weekend Report!

:: From Shyloh at Beakingoff: Jukka’s 2014 YBC Birdathon

:: From Kirby at Birding Is Fun: June Shorebirding, Sans-tundra

:: From Rebecca at Rebecca in the Woods: Calliope Hummingbird Nest

:: From Tim at Nemesis Bird: Phone Scope Big Year Update

:: From Kathie at Kathie’s Birds: Spring Birds at Wharton Point