Green Heron / Photo by Jerry Herman/USFWS volunteerBirds and birding newsScientists are beginning to understand more about nocturnal bird migration thanks to technogical advances in weather radar and audio monitoring. Among other things, this has allowed scientists to predict...
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| Green Heron / Photo by Jerry Herman/USFWS volunteer |
Birds and birding newsScientists are beginning to understand more about nocturnal bird migration thanks to technogical advances in weather radar and audio monitoring. Among other things, this has allowed scientists to predict peak migration nights in advance.
Chaco Eagles are endangered, young adults struggle to reach adulthood because of a variety of threats related to infrastructure, including drowning and electrocution.
The discovery of an Anna's Hummingbird nest in a tree felled for TransMountain pipeline construction has stopped work on the pipeline for the next few months.German scientists combed through Instagram posts to find the most popular birds, and frogmouths came out on top.Here is a summary of a recent panel on changing English bird names to remove eponyms.
Artificial intelligence that can identify bird songs is making it possible to monitor birds remotely and sort through audio recordings more quickly.
Aside from the threat of invasive species, Swift Parrots are declining partly because they produce more male than female chicks.
Science and nature blogging
Ibycter: Finding and photographing spiders for the City Nature Challenge (A post for Nova Scotia)Linda Murdock Photography: Great Blue Herons at Texas City DikeAvian Hybrids: Where did all these penguins come from? Corvid Research: Are ravens smarter than a___? The Prairie Ecologist: The Darker Side of Tree Planting in the Great Plains Sibley Guides: New illustrations of Cave Swallow subspeciesOn The Wing Photography: Dreaming Of Mountain Bluebirds Dartford Waffler: Nesting White StorksBiodiversity and conservation
Mangroves help protect the southern end of Vietnam from sea-level rise, and a conservation project is trying restore parts that were lost to aquaculture or defoliation. Native American legislators in Montana want the Biden administration to restore bison to Glacier National Park and the Charles M. Russell National Wildlife Refuge. Bobcats are expanding their numbers in New Jersey, with a current population estimate of 106.Orcas are struggling to survive in Puget Sound because of a lack of salmon, but many other marine species are thriving because of conservation work.
Climate change and environmental politics
Scientists found a massive dumping ground for DDT in the San Pedro Basin off the coast of California. The discarded pesticide still affects dolphins and sea lions in the area.Activists are skeptical of "net-zero" pledges by the United States, Canada, Norway, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar since the pledges do not include stopping fossil fuel extraction.Another obstacle to addressing climate change is that there is a huge gap — as much as 5.5 gigatons of CO2 — between the emissions countries report and what climate scientists measure. Any effective plan to address climate change is going to need to be based on accurate numbers.Biden's "American Jobs Plan" includes a provision to increase funding for Superfund, which has been underfunded foor decades and has trouble completing cleanups as a result.
Governments around the world are raising the criminal penalties for climate protests.The US Senate used the Congressional Review Act to reinstate the Obama administration's limits on methane emissions.A refinery in the US Virgin Islands has repeatedly released sulphuric gases that sickened residents.
The Supreme Court heard arguments over whether PennEast can seize state protected lands for its proposed pipeline. Unfortunately the Biden administration supports the fossil fuel company.The proposed construction of a BJ's in Staten Island would destroy a wetland that helped protect the neighborhood from Sandy's floodwaters.The cherry trees that line the Tidal Basin in DC are threatened by sea-level rise, which has started breaching the basin's sea walls. There is currently a competition for plans to remedy the problem.