1. “A most savage destroyer of small game”: Are the massive migration flights of Northern Goshawks a thing of the past? Some scientists think climate change and habitat loss have made these big accipiters permanently scarce. But others see a complex pattern of cycles within cycles, and the possibility that the mega flights will return. They have been the focus of intensive research and sometimes acrimonious litigation over their proper management, with big implications for forestry and timbering in places like the Pacific Northwest and Southwestern mountains. (via Living Bird)
2. “The greatest aerial rainforest predator” seen in Costa Rica: Hollow eye sockets glared at me from the dark tropical leaf litter. Not expecting to be watched from below, I rested on my haunches, searching with the image recognition software installed by my primate ancestors. Once sure there were no coils of a deadly fer-de-lance snake, I plunged my hand into the leaves. Out came the skull of Central America’s largest primate, a spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi). Immediately I could see that this animal hadn’t died of old age or sickness, it had been ruthlessly killed. Three holes pierced the top of the cranium, with a fourth puncture at the rear base of the skull. Holy crap! I was holding the skull of Costa Rica’s largest primate… killed by the greatest aerial rainforest predator on Earth – the harpy eagle (Harpia harpyja). (via Mongabay)
3. The full scale of Beijing’s migratory bird importance: Beijing has long been known as a major hub for bird life. But according to new research, the Chinese capital is a stopover for even more migratory birds than previously thought. The study — which recorded the night calls of birds flying over the city — found a greater volume and diversity of migratory birds than expected, suggesting that millions of birds are passing through Beijing during the fall migration season. The findings underline the urgent need to protect the city’s remaining bird habitats, which are disappearing due to afforestation projects. (via Sixth Tone)
4. Birds and hurricanes – unfortunately topical this week: It’s peak hurricane season — and also prime time for fall bird migration. Millions of Neotropical songbirds and shorebirds that nested in North America during spring and summer are flying south now to Latin America and Caribbean islands for the winter. But how do these long-distance travelers cope with ferocious hurricanes, such as Hurricane Ian this week, that could blow them far and wide off track or lead to their deaths? Research has found that birds can detect low-frequency sound waves and changes in barometric pressure that tell them a storm is on the way. (via Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
5. Grim: Almost half of all bird species are in decline globally and one in eight are threatened with extinction, according to a major new report warning that human actions are driving more species to the brink and nature is "in trouble". The four-yearly State of the World's Birds report, which provides a snapshot of the plight of species globally and more broadly a barometer for biodiversity, comes as the United Nations steers an international process to protect nature. (via France24)
6. Saving the Western Capercaillie (in the UK): An emergency plan is being drawn up to save the capercaillie, one of the UK’s most elusive and threatened woodland birds, after its numbers plunged. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said the latest population survey found its estimated population had fallen from roughly 1,114 in 2015/16 to about 542 birds last winter, putting it at a critically low level. Officials in the Cairngorms national park are working on plans to close and reroute paths used by ramblers, dog walkers and mountain bikers through the Highland forests where capercaillie mate and nests, in a final effort to halt the species’ decline. (via The Guardian)
7. More from the UK: People weren’t the only ones who changed their ways during the COVID-19 pandemic — birds did, too. Four out of five of the most commonly observed birds in the United Kingdom altered their behaviour during the nation’s first lockdown of 2020, although they did so in different ways depending on the species. The study is one of several that used the disruptions brought about by the pandemic — from a reduction in the number of cars on the roads to the closure of some national parks — to quantify the impact that humanity has on the natural world. Although some research has found that lockdowns had a largely positive effect on wildlife2, the latest data from the United Kingdom provide a much more nuanced picture (see ‘Bird behaviour’). (via Nature)
8. An “evolutionary explanation” to a question you might not have thought to ask: Males of some hummingbird species may have evolved to be smaller than their female counterparts because it allows them to put on more impressive courtship displays. Sexual dimorphism – where the sexes of an animal differ in size and appearance – is common across the tree of life. When dimorphism occurs in mammals and birds, the males are typically the larger sex. But not so in a species group of very small bee hummingbirds, where the pattern is reversed. Intrigued by the mystery of these tiny males, Sean Wilcox – now at Moorpark College in California – and Christopher Clark at the University of California, Riverside, investigated evolutionary explanations. (via New Scientist)
9. What an 80 million year-old skull tells us: “Bird brain” insults be damned. The noggins of our flying friends are packed with neurons, and recent studies have shown birds can develop complex tools and even discriminate between paintings by Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso. But is this avian acumen a recent development, evolutionarily speaking, or does it trace back tens of millions of years? A remarkably preserved fossil unearthed in Brazil may hold some answers. The 80-million-year-old bird skull contains impressions of advanced brain structures, suggesting early birds were bright like modern ones. (via Science)
10. Dromornithids were just too slow to adept – looking back 40,000 years ago: The demise of Australia’s thunder birds 40,000 years ago has previously been blamed on human nest raiders and crippling bone disease. However new research reveals the extinction of dromornithids may have been down to something far more mundane: that they were just too slow to adapt to a changing environment. Big bones from the mighty birds excavated in the northern Flinders Ranges and near Alice Springs have yielded fresh insights into their time-heavy breeding patterns. (via The Guardian)
11. Reinforcements for the Griffon Vulture’s precarious status on Cyprus: Some 15 Griffon vultures from Spain have been released into the wild in Cyprus to help revive the east Mediterranean island’s population that’s dropped to just 8-10 birds because of deliberate poisoning, conservationists said Wednesday. The LIFE with Vultures CY group said the large birds were initially brought to the east Mediterranean island nation nearly a year ago and stayed in a specially constructed cage to get acclimatized to local conditions before their release. (via The Washington Post)
12. This week’s avian flu story: In mid-February, the owners of a backyard flock in Suffolk County, New York, noticed two guinea hens and three of their chickens were sick. Three days later, the birds were dead. Within five hours of getting a swab of the birds’ airways, Cornell’s Animal Health Diagnostic Center and the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory determined it was New York state’s first case of a deadly strain of avian influenza – the same strain that has killed millions of domestic poultry and devastated wild birds in dozens of countries. Cornell researchers knew highly pathogenic avian influenza, or bird flu, was coming. They had been tracking the disease’s spread in northeast Canada and then in the Carolinas for months. (via Cornell Chronicle)
13. Good luck but we’re betting on the birds: Bird damage is a significant factor impacting production and profit for California farms, stated Bird Control Group. The company noted that growers have reported seasonal damages that range from $2 million for blueberries to as much as $49 million for wine grapes, with an average of $4,000 per acre. To combat this bird threat, Cypress AgriTech, a California-based partner of Bird Control Group, has introduced the AVIX Autonomic Mark II. The device is a fully autonomous system that reduces bird damage by than 70%, the company said. It can be programmed via a user-friendly app to shine a laser beam across predetermined paths and scare birds away 24/7. (via DesignNews)
14. And finally, we close with some beautiful photos courtesy of the New York Times: Six photographers journey around the world in search of animal encounters. (via The New York Times)
Bird Photo of the Week
Photo by Hap Ellis, Snowy Egret, Kennebunkport, ME.
Bird Videos of the Week
By Minute Earth, “Everything you ever wanted to know about Birds”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Spotting Starlings.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - California Condors.