Posts
Pileated Woodpecker Pair / Photo by Jerry Downs
Bird news
- New research has finally demonstrated that male Club-winged Manakins "sing" by vibrating specialized feathers together.
- Male animals, such as birds, fish, and odonates, show such a striking diversity of colors and shapes in part to attract females of their own species but also to help them recognize competitors of their own species. The same may hold true for songs and other territorial displays.
- Conservationists are starting a captive breeding program to prevent the extinction of the Madagascar Pochard, the world's rarest duck. In a 2008 survey, only 25 adult ducks were recorded.
- Comparison of DNA tests with frozen penguin remains of known ages found that current genetic methods underestimate the age of specimens. They may be 2-6 times older than their current DNA tests indicate. Dead penguins (even very old ones) from Antarctica are preserved more completely than specimens from elsewhere due to subfreezing temperatures.
- Workers on a North Sea oil platform discovered a migrating Long-eared Owl that had stopped to rest on the platform. The bird had to be sent to a rescue center since it got coated with oil while on the platform.
- A captive breeding program is restoring Croatia's population of Griffon Vultures.
- Cornell's Project FeederWatch begins tomorrow, November 14th. See the link for how to participate.
- Net Results: An amazing white-breasted robin finishes the season
- Shelfari: David Allen Sibley: How to Draw an Osprey
- Stokes Birding Blog: Cackling Goose from every angle
- Saw-whet Owl Research: Wrong Way Corrigan
- Biological Ramblings: Sanderlings in Molt
- BrdPics: A Tale of Two Grebes
- The Drinking Bird: Accipiter Post Mortum
- Great Auk or Greatest Auk: Night at the Museum, or How I Saw the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
- IBRRC: Release of clean, healthy birds after SF Bay spill and More slimed birds released; 200 back in wild
- Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped by 45% between July 2008 and August 2009. It is not clear from the article whether the drop is due to conservation efforts or the global recession.
- Boreal forests store about twice as much carbon per hectare as tropical forests, which in turn store about three times as much as temperate forests. The holarctic boreal forest accounts for 22% of the Earth's surface carbon. The new report's conclusions increase the importance of preserving as much boreal forest as possible. Here is a link to the full report.
- The koala population has dropped by more than half in the past six years. The decline has multiple causes, including development, bushfires, climate change, and a chlamydia epidemic. Quote of the Day: "We'd consider the koala with the same level of diligence and dedication as if it were the death adder."
- An EPA study found high levels of mercury in fish from 49% of the 500 lakes and reservoirs included in the testing. The samples included commonly eaten fish such as bass, trout, catfish, and carp. Here is the EPA's report.
- Greenland's glaciers are melting and losing mass faster than they had in the past.
- Meanwhile the melting of Antarctica's glaciers is encouraging blooms of phytoplankton, which fix carbon by taking it to the bottom of the ocean when they die. However, these blooms cannot take enough carbon out of the air to counteract current emission levels.
- The shuttle launch scheduled for November 16th will carry two butterfly habitats with Monarch and Painted Lady larvae to the International Space Station. Participating schools can compare the development of weightless butterflies with butterflies raised in the classroom.
- The Sierra Club has some tips for women to become more comfortable commuting by bike. (Actually, most of them should be useful for men, too.)
- A coalition of conservation groups is pushing the EU to adopt sustainability standards for all forms of bioenergy. Current standards do not adequately address the effects of land use changes.
- Canada, Mexico, and the United States agreed to cooperate in protecting wilderness areas.
