1. They’re beautiful, but… RED Alert: It is a plot that would have pleased Alfred Hitchcock: the inhabitants of a waterside town are being terrorized by birds. Except this is not faraway California, or the product of a director’s imagination, but Henley-on-Thames, and the culprits are red kites. In one attack a child was scratched on the hand and in another a woman was left with a sore head. Residents say that the problem is getting worse, because people are feeding the birds in the hope of getting a close-up photograph. Frankie Bird, two, was eating a biscuit while he and his grandmother waited to collect his older brother from school when a kite snatched it out of his hands. His right hand was cut and was bandaged in hospital. (via The Times)
2. When Alexandra Dimsdale found the stumbling young grackle on the ground outside her D.C. home on Saturday morning, she wasn’t sure whether it was a crow or some other type of black bird. All she knew for certain was that it needed help. She called local animal control officials for advice and right before she covered her hands in plastic grocery bags, scooped the blinded bird into an empty diaper box and took it to City Wildlife, a rehabilitation center in Northwest D.C. What that staff member said next left her concerned for more than that young grackle: They had seen other birds with the same symptoms. Wildlife experts say that an unusual number of blind birds have been found dead or dying in the Washington region lately, and they don’t know why. (via The Washington Post)
3. Well then, let’s buy Kestrel American IPA: Two beers recently released by Massachusetts breweries will be of special interest to bird enthusiasts. Ipswich’s True North Ale Company has partnered with Mass Audubon to release Kestrel American IPA, a beer tribute to North America’s smallest falcon. Mass Audubon, which helps protect more than 38,000 acres across the state, has worked in recent years to expand the grassland habitat of the kestrel, a bird that prefers open fields and can often be seen perching on fence posts or hovering over and dropping in on its prey. Kestrels are currently included as a “Species of Greatest Conservation Concern” in the wildlife action plans of all six New England states. (via The Boston Globe)
4. A Central Park birding story (again): If you grab binoculars and head to Central Park in New York, you may see a warbler, a robin and Robert DeCandido, also known as “Birding Bob.” If you can’t spot him, you’ll definitely hear him. Among dedicated birders, some consider his use of recorded bird calls a disturbance to birds and bird-watchers alike, while others see him as an eager advocate for the natural world. In response to his detractors, Dr. DeCandido maintains that he’s doing his best to make bird-watching less daunting to hobbyists — and that no birds are harmed in the process. In the short documentary above, explore the sights, sounds, birds — and bird-watching drama — of the park with some of its most colorful characters. (via The New York Times)
5. Nature reserve with 500 year plan: As I walk along a winding trail through Zealandia, an ecosanctuary in New Zealand's capital city of Wellington, I smell the wet earth from last night's rain, hear birds cackle and sing, and feel a slight chill from the cool breeze. Then, I see it: a streak of yellow landing on a tree branch high above. It's a stitchbird– a sparrow-sized songbird whose Māori name, hihi, refers to the rays of the sun. Aside from housing over 40 native bird species, Zealandia is also home to dozens of critically endangered reptiles, frogs and invertebrates, as well as hundreds of native plants and trees. Yet unlike many ecosanctuaries located on an offshore island, in a forest or in a rural environment, Zealandia is situated in a valley in Karori, a suburb only 10 minutes' drive from New Zealand's parliament. (via BBC)
6. Nearly a year ago, a birder named Christian Cooper, who is Black, asked a white woman to put her dog on a leash in Central Park and was received with racist hostility, including an implicit threat of violence. The incident spurred activists and social media influencers to launch Black Birders Week, an event that celebrates Black experiences in nature and seeks to change the white-dominated culture surrounding conservation and outdoor spaces.As the second annual Black Birders Week approaches, we’re taking a look at just a few of the numerous co-organizers and other activists and influencers who have spearheaded the movement to diversify birding, the outdoors and the conservation movement. (via The Wilderness Society)
7. Shaped by sound: Mylene Mariette was studying zebra finch calls when she started to notice something strange: Sometimes a solo parent in the nest would produce a knocking sound. "Because it was by itself just with the eggs, I wondered whether they would be communicating with the embryos," she said. It soon became apparent that the sound only happened when it was hot outside. Mariette came up with an experiment, hatching the eggs with artificial incubators in two groups: one without the calls, and another group hearing a recorded call from the parents. She was surprised to find that the birds were physically different — the birds who had heard the heat call were smaller than their siblings who had not. But even more surprising was that the birds who had heard the call had more babies over the course of their lives. (via Inside Science)
8. Red flag: Seabirds are "sentinels" of ocean health. If marine ecosystems are suffering, the birds will be among the first to show it. Now a major study finds that seabirds in the Northern Hemisphere are already struggling. And without extra precautions, those in the Southern Hemisphere might be next. The findings point to broader patterns of environmental change across the world's oceans. As a result, seafaring birds perched at the top of the food chain are struggling to breed and raise their young. They're canaries in the coal mine, so to speak — clear indicators that something is wrong with the entire ecosystem. (via The Independent) (BNI recommends The Seabird’s Cry by Adam Nicolson on this very topic.)
9. A proven strategy, actually: Conservationists are using life-size dummies of seabirds to lure the real thing back to islands from which they have largely disappeared. Mauritius, once home to the now-extinct dodo, has suffered a sharp drop in numbers of seabirds, caused by construction, poaching, pollution and the climate crisis. Species have become rarer on islands named after them, including the Ile aux Aigrettes, or Egret Island, Bird Island, Bird Rock and Flamingo Island. But a new project involves using decoys to trick real birds flying overhead into thinking there are already bird populations on Egret Island and that it is therefore a safe place on which to land, mate and lay eggs. The dummies will be accompanied by the sounds of bird calls being played to entice seabirds in. (via The Independent)
10. For those who can swing it: With more species of birds and trees than any other area of the world, Central America is the destination among destinations for those seeking to locate the elusive as well as the resplendent nature travel experience. Panama is rich with birdwatching opportunities. Contadora Island, the fifth largest of the Pearl Islands, is located in the Pacific Ocean about 50 miles from Panama City. From here, birders can share the shoreline with birds such as the yellow-crowned night heron, snowy egret and the brown pelican. On Taboga island, the birder can check off his/her list when identifying cormorants, boobies and frigate birds. A closer inspection, and birdwatchers might catch a glimpse of a blue-chested hummingbird, black striped woodpecker, or a grey-capped flycatcher. (via Forbes)
11. Ouch!: A man is being treated at JMH’s burn unit after being electrocuted trying to reach a parrot’s nest. It happened off Turtle Creek Drive, in an easement north of the Walmart supercenter early Thursday. According to Coral Springs Fire Rescue, the man was using a landscaping tool when he hit a 400,000-volt high tension power line. “He suffered second and third-degree burns on half his body,” said deputy fire chief Mike Moser. It’s not clear why the man was trying to reach the birds. Quaker parrots are widespread in South Florida, “Quaker parrots were brought here with the pet trade, they are from Argentina,” said Julie D’Errico, an outreach volunteer coordinator with the South Florida Wildlife Center. (via CBS Miami)
Bird Photo of the Week
By Terri Allender, Mountain Bluebird.
Bird Videos of the Week
By Cornell Lab of Ornithology, “Birds of St. Matthew Island, Alaska”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Red-tailed Hawks.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Osprey Feeding.