1. When the cat’s away the mice will play. But what happens when humanity’s away, locked inside to slow the Covid-19 pandemic? It turns out that birds will play—a sexier song, that is. Male white-crowned sparrows around the San Francisco Bay Area exploited the sudden drop in anthropogenic noise when the region went on strict lockdown in April and May. During previous years, researchers had lots of data to show that urban birds sacrifice song quality for higher amplitudes—basically, they’re yelling to be heard in a noisy environment. When that din suddenly died down, the birds switched to songs that more closely resemble the softer, higher-quality calls of their nearby rural counterparts. (via Wired)
2. With enough training, pigeons can distinguish between the works of Picasso and Monet. Ravens can identify themselves in a mirror. And on a university campus in Japan, crows are known to intentionally leave walnuts in a crosswalk and let passing traffic do their nut cracking. Many bird species are incredibly smart. Yet among intelligent animals, the “bird brain” often doesn’t get much respect. Two papers published this week in Science find birds actually have a brain that is much more similar to our complex primate organ than previously thought. (via Scientific American)
By Hap Ellis, Whimbrel.
3. While some birds are born knowing how to sing innately, many need to be taught how to sing by adults — just like humans. Those birds can develop regional dialects, meaning their songs sound slightly different depending on where they live. Think Boston and Georgia accents, but for birds. Just as speaking the local language can make it easier for humans to fit in, speaking the local bird dialect can increase a bird's chances of finding a mate. And, more ominously, just as human dialects can sometimes disappear as the world globalizes, bird dialects can be shaped or lost as cities grow. (via CNN)
4. That gray heron spotted off Nantucket about three weeks ago still has bird watchers buzzing. That’s because there had never been a prior confirmed sighting of the bird in the lower 48 states, experts said this week. “Well it was from an ornithologist’s, from a birder’s point of view, very exciting,” said Wayne R. Petersen, director of the Massachusetts Important Bird Area (IBA) Program at Mass Audubon, in a phone interview on Wednesday. “It’s one of those things, when something of that magnitude shows up, it obviously creates a lot of interest.” (via The Boston Globe)
5. While most of us have stuck close to home this year, bird watching has taken flight. The outdoor activity, which naturally encourages social distancing, has soared in popularity. “We’re going back to our roots to reconnect with nature,” says Stan Tekiela, a naturalist and the author of seven regional birding guides: "Birding for Beginners: California, Northeast, Pacific Northwest, Rocky Mountains, Midwest, South, and Southwest ". “It really touches our souls.” He says wildlife refuges and parks make it easy to see a wide variety of flyers and shares some prime locations here. (via USA Today)
6. Excerpt: We get it: You don’t care about sports. When someone yells “foul!” you look for a gallinaceous bird. Or maybe you do enjoy catching a game, but with everything going on right now, it's just hard to care about something that seems frivolous. We’re not here to dispute that there are more important things going on. As birding NBA fanatics, we have developed this birder’s guide to the playoffs, in which we liken each of the conference finalists to a species that can be found in the team’s city. If you’re new to the game or your home team didn’t make the cut, we hope it gives you a squad to cheer for. (via Audubon)
7. Birdwatchers around the world may have to decide whether they are hawks or doves when it comes to the thorny issue of Taiwan independence. Long-running geopolitical tensions spilled into the conservation world this month after UK-based NGO BirdLife International severed ties with a Taiwanese group, after it refused to sign a declaration it would not advocate for independence – something the apolitical group maintains it never does anyway. In response, Taiwan’s group announced on Friday it was changing its name from Chinese Wild Bird Federation (CWBF) to Taiwan Wild Bird Federation (TWBF) and issued a plea to remember that “birds do not know borders”. (via The Guardian)
8. As smoke from western wildfires blots out the sun in Northern California and drifts as far as the East Coast and Europe, locals watch daily wildfire updates for evacuation and air-quality warnings. Outside at their birdfeeders, there’s another warning: silence. Ecologists Aaron Rice and Amanda Rodewald are working with Migrations: A Global Grand Challenge, part of Global Cornell, to understand how human impacts and activities affect animals – from small birds to the largest whales – and the ecosystems we all share. (via Cornell Chronicle)
By Hap Ellis, Migrating Semipalmated Sandpipers.
9. Ornithologists believe they are getting closer to understanding why thousands of migratory songbirds literally fell out of the sky across the Southwest earlier this month, including in areas of Colorado. The deaths hit several species seemingly without warning, including sparrows, warblers and thrushes, which were heading south to their winter homes. Arvind Panjabi, an ornithologist with the Bird Conservancy of the Rockies, said the unprecedented discovery of hundreds of dead birds could have been due in part to toxic smoke from fires in the Northwestern United States. The extreme temperature swing during Colorado’s early September storm was also a bird killer. (via Colorado Public Radio)
10. During a lull in the winds of Hurricane Rita back in 2005, a ruby-throated hummingbird flew through the rain to get to our hummingbird feeder. But a tree where a red-bellied woodpecker had taken refuge in a nesting cavity crashed onto our roof overnight, and the woodpecker was nowhere to be seen by daylight. An irrepressible hummingbird might be able to endure a tropical cyclone, but other birds, such as a hardy woodpecker, may see their lives upended — the way some of us do. (via The Houston Chronicle)
11. As the days grow shorter and neotropical migrants return to their wintering grounds, North American birders begin eagerly awaiting a report that can single-handedly determine their winter birding plans: the Winter Finch Forecast. Each year, the online post, developed and written by Ron Pittaway, offers predictions of the movements of enigmatic birds like White-winged Crossbills and Evening Grosbeaks. But this past month, much to the surprise of finch fanatics, Pittaway announced his retirement. Fortunately, he’s already elected a successor. (via Audubon)
12. For the love of birds, the New York Times begs the question, “Can a book capture the magic of birding?” Delve into the many tomes that try to distill the fascination that makes so many want to stare up through their binoculars. (via The New York Times)
Bonus: The British Wildlife Photography awards is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a retrospective touring outdoor exhibition. The retrospective will for the first time include all the overall winners, along with a selection of category winners and highly commended images. The competition has captured the imagination of photographers from all over the UK, who have created a unique legacy showcasing British wildlife at its best and inspired millions across the world with outstanding wildlife photography. (via The Guardian)
Bird Photo of the Week
By Hap Ellis, Contortionist – Great Blue Heron.
Bird Videos of the Week
By Smithsonian Channel, “Why Peacocks Have Nothing on the Male Sage Grouse”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam, Red-bellied Woodpeckers.
Cornell Live Bird Cam, Northern Royal Albatross.