Loose Feathers #554

Vesper Sparrow / Photo by Ryan Moehring / USFWS

Birds and birding

• In case you missed it last week, the latest revision of the AOU Check-list splits the Western Scrub-Jay into California and Woodhouse's Scrub-Jays.
• Shorebirds breeding in Alaska are exposed to mercury at high enough levels to affect their reproduction and migration survival. 
• Ravens learn best from ravens that they socialize with.
• A long-running study of birds in the Great Lakes region found that most populations are holding steady or increasing.
• Imprinting in newly-hatched chicks involves a form of abstract thought.
• Some dinosaurs likely had the ability to coo like doves.
• Crows, like other scavengers, perform a valuable service by cleaning up carcasses and other refuse.
• European warblers sing out of sight among the reeds.
• Some feather damage in wild birds is due to bacteria. 
• Mississippi Kites have finally been documented nesting in New Jersey (pdf).
• A piece in NJ Monthly profiles some of the endangered and threatened species that live in New Jersey, including the Red Knot.

Science and nature blogging

• Aphelocoma.com: Western Scrub-Jay is no more 
• On The Wing Photography: New Genus for Sandhill Cranes
• Extinction Countdown: Tragic Deaths Represent a Victory in Spoon-Billed Sandpiper Conservation
• World Shorebirds Day: Global Shorebird Counting 2016 dates
• Ecology Ngātahi: Is mist netting safe for birds?
• ABA Blog: Open Mic – The Endangered Species Act and Birds: A Wild Success? 
• 10,000 Birds: Tiny Hawk at Quebrada Gonzalez
• Small Pond Science: Respecting the expertise of amateurs
• Sibley Guides: A white Great Blue Heron in Massachusetts

Environment and biodiversity

• A paleontologist argues that turtles first developed shells to anchor the powerful legs needed for digging.
• The weather station at Deadhorse on the northern coast of Alaska recorded a high of 85°F, the highest temperature ever recorded within 50 miles of the Arctic coast of Alaska.
• A study estimates that if cougars recolonized the eastern US, their predation on deer would reduce deer-vehicle collisions by 22%. 
• A new catalogue finds that 12,000 species of trees have been identified and documented in the Amazon. That figure supports an estimate of 16,000 total tree species in the region, including species not yet discovered.
• Canada may not be able to meet its climate commitments if it keeps building pipelines.
• Migratory Silver Y moths swarmed the stadium where Europe's soccer championship was held because the lights were left on overnight.
• One of the new British prime minister's first acts was to abolish the department that had overseen climate change efforts.
• BP will pay an additional $2.5 billion fine for damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill.
• Botanists have found a new species of orchid that is already considered critically endangered in Colombia.
• Luzon Island in the Philippines hosts the greatest concentration of endemic mammals in the world according to a recent survey.
• Water off the southern coast of New Jersey has turned green due to a massive bloom of phytoplankton. 
• New York is conducting a major survey of the whales that use the state's waters.