1. Let’s start with The New Yorker’s piece on the “vulture chef” in Nepal (not what you might think!): For nearly twenty years, Yam Bahadur Nepali has been known as the “vulture chef” of Jatayu Restaurant. Every week, Nepali, a strong and stocky forty-one-year-old, hitches animal carcasses to a truck and drags them into a clearing near Chitwan National Park, in the lowlands of Nepal. Then hundreds of vultures gather for a feast. A group of feeding vultures, which is known as a wake, can transform a hulking carcass into a bare skeleton in the time it takes a human to fix a pot of rice. Nepali began feeding vultures because the birds were dying from what they scavenged themselves. When he was growing up, Nepal was home to more than a million vultures, and neighboring India was home to millions more, according to estimates. They were a crucial link in the food chain, responsible for cleaning up nature’s messes. (via The New Yorker)
2. “The crane who loved me”: She had a long, elegant neck and orange eyes. He was a jeans-and-hoodie guy. She was a white-naped crane named Walnut, who chose him as her partner. He was Chris Crowe, her keeper at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, who tried to mimic the part. Their bond lasted almost 20 years and made headlines. He was the only person she tolerated. And with his arm-flapping imitation of a male crane, he eased the artificial insemination that helped her produce eight chicks for her vulnerable species. (via The Washington Post)
3. A Chinese spy? Not guilty! (And suspect finally released): Suspicion of foreign espionage, cursive messages in ancient Chinese, a sensitive microchip — and a suspect that could not be stopped at the border. Ravindra Patil, the assistant Mumbai police sub-inspector assigned to the case, was scratching his head for answers. But first, he had to find a place to lock up the unusual captive. So he turned to a veterinary hospital in the Indian metropolis, asking it to retrieve a list of “very confidential and necessary” information about the suspect — a black pigeon caught lurking at a port where international vessels dock. After eight months, the bird was finally set free this week, its innocence of spying for China long confirmed through crack detective work, but the jail doors flung open only after a newspaper report, repeated letters to the police by the veterinary hospital, and intervention from an animal rights group. (via The New York Times)
4. “Beakiation”? Read on: Rosy-faced lovebirds are charismatic, petite parrots. They also aren’t afraid to use their heads — literally — to get around an awkward situation. “They’re these incredibly smart animals who are really good problem solvers, and that also extends to the way that they move,” said Edwin Dickinson, a biomechanist at the New York Institute of Technology. The parrots proved their talents to Dr. Dickinson and colleagues recently in a lab as they navigated perches that got smaller and smaller. When a rod got thin enough, the birds gave up on trying to keep their balance with two feet. Instead, they moved beneath the wire, hanging from their beaks and swinging their legs and bodies, almost like a monkey swinging from tree to tree in a forest. (via The New York Times)
5. The state of New York City (for birds): “Birding is having a moment,” Partridge said. “It’s an amazing time.” This is partly because of interest generated by Flaco, he said. For New Yorkers whose idea of birds ranged from pigeons to sparrows, Flaco was a consciousness-raiser. And as Freya McGregor, a birder who founded the nonprofit group Birdability, has noted, Central Park — where Flaco resided for a while — has been a favorite spot for bird-watching almost from its earliest days in the mid-19th century. On a good day during the spring migration, birders might see 100 species.
6. Very concerning news from Antarctica: A highly lethal form of bird flu has been detected in Antarctic penguins for the first time. The virus, which is known as H5N1, was confirmed in two gentoo penguins that were found dead on Sea Lion Island in the Falkland Islands, a British territory. “But many more are dying,” said Sally Heathman, the head of communications for the Falkland Islands government. As of January 30, more than 200 dead or dying gentoo chicks have been reported on Sea Lion Island, she said. (via The New York Times)
7. A Rainbow Lorikeet mystery Down Under: Hundreds of birds are falling from the sky in northern New South Wales and researchers cannot pinpoint why. In the past week, more than 200 paralysed rainbow lorikeets have been taken into care around Grafton, struck down by lorikeet paralysis syndrome (LPS), the cause of which is still unknown. Robyn Gray is the Clarence Valley avian coordinator for the Wildlife Information, Rescue and Education Service (WIRES) and has more than 80 birds in her care. "A lot of them don't make it because when they come in, they are underweight and malnourished and very sick birds," she said. "We've got professors in Sydney, Currumbin and Australia Zoo, Sydney Uni, all testing them and no one can really give a definitive answer." (via ABC News)
8. Good news from the UK on its Cranes – once extinct, now slowly recovering: Britain’s tallest bird, the spectacular, wetland-loving crane bred in higher numbers last summer than at any point since they disappeared from the UK in the 16th century. At least 80 pairs of cranes were recorded in 2023, up from the previous high of 72 two years earlier. The birds, which make distinctive bugling calls but are surprisingly elusive in the breeding season, as they hide in reedbeds, successfully fledged at least 36 chicks. The species, which performs elaborate mating dances each spring, first returned from Scandinavia to breed in east Norfolk in 1979. The population was kept secret for years and very slowly spread. More recently it has been boosted by a reintroduction project where hand-reared cranes were released on expanded wetlands in the Somerset Levels. (via The Guardian)
9. Fire, birds and a recent study from NC State: We’ve all seen frightening images of wildfires roaring through forests in the western United States and Maui, as well as Canada, Australia, Greece and China. And last summer here in North Carolina, a state of emergency was declared in Henderson County because of a wildfire that burned hundreds of acres and destroyed several buildings. Residents across the state also witnessed the hazy skies and smelled the smoke from wildfires in Canada. Air quality alerts were issued as winds carried the smoke for hundreds of miles. And while those fires are incredibly destructive and sometimes deadly, a study from NC State shows severe fires can be beneficial for wildlife, especially birds. (via PBS North Carolina)
10. “How did the brains of birds evolve to enable them to fly?: Evolutionary biologists have combined PET scans of modern pigeons with studies of dinosaur fossils to help answer an enduring biology question: How did the brains of birds evolve to enable them to fly? The answer, they say, appears to be an adaptive increase in the size of the cerebellum in some fossil vertebrates. The cerebellum is a brain region responsible for movement and motor control. The findings are published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Scientists have long thought that the cerebellum should be important in bird flight, but they lacked direct evidence. To pinpoint its value, the new research combined modern PET scan imaging data of ordinary pigeons with the fossil record, examining brain regions of birds during flight and braincases of ancient dinosaurs. (via Futurity)
11. Speaking of brains, here’s how a chickadee keeps track of 80,000 seeds: You put the car keys down somewhere in the house, and have spent 15 minutes trying to find them. You've also been known to dash around looking for your hat, forgetting that it's already on your head. These kinds of things happen to us humans, but they don't happen to chickadees. The reason: Chickadees expand their brains in winter to increase their ability to remember where they've hidden bits of food in the autumn. Their spatial memory bank literally grows up to 30% to handle more things needing to be remembered. And being able to call on an expanded memory is what's going to keep chickadees alive until spring. (via Star Tribune)
12. DOD and UC Davis announce the Bird Flight Research Center to inform next generation “unscrewed arerial systems” - a first of its kind: Researching how bird flight can inform aircraft design is the goal of a new center to be established at the University of California, Davis. Christina Harvey, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at UC Davis, and Michelle Hawkins, a professor in the School of Veterinary Medicine and director of the California Raptor Center, are launching the bird flight research center with a nearly $3 million grant from the Department of Defense. The new center will utilize motion capture and photogrammetry — which uses photography to determine the distance between objects — technologies to image birds in flight and create 3D models of the wing shapes to inform the design and capabilities of the next generation of uncrewed aerial systems, or UAS. The center will be the first of its kind in the country. (via U.C. Davis)
13. If you ever wanted to read a NTSB report on a collision between a small plane and a flock of birds, here’s your chance: The pilot reported he conducted a local flight in the Thatcher CX4. On final approach to land at the airport in Angier, North Carolina, about ¼ mile from the runway, he glanced down at the airspeed indicator, and then glanced up and “all of a sudden” a flock of birds flew into the airplane. He told investigators it was “like a wall” or like a “machine gun” going off in his flight path. He reported that the birds hit with the airplane and after that point he “was a passenger.” He recalled the airplane entered an aerodynamic stall and spin and subsequently descended and hit trees and terrain. The fuselage and wings sustained substantial damage, while the pilot sustained serious injuries. Probable Cause: The pilot’s encounter with a flock of birds on final approach, which resulted in a loss of control, an aerodynamic stall and spin, and impact with trees and terrain. (via General Aviation News)
14. Audubon on choosing a photography workshop: From a guided walk in a local park to a pricey multi-day excursion to a remote locale, your options for bird photography workshops are seemingly endless. At their best, workshops and outfitter tours offer an exceptional opportunity to build technical skills and community while seeing wildlife you might never encounter on your own. Yet for photographers who want to celebrate and protect wild birds and habitats, it’s important to weigh the impact of any organized group you’re participating in. But not all trips and tours are created equal. Under pressure to ensure clients leave with breathtaking images (especially when they’ve paid significant fees!), some may cut corners or employ irresponsible practices that put wildlife at risk. (via Audubon)
Regardless of which one you choose, read Gerrit Vyn’s Photography Birds published by Mountaineers Books
15. And finally, The Parliament of Birds by Carl Wilhelm de Hamilton inspired by Chaucer’s poem of love (above):
Bird Videos of the Week
By BBC Earth, “Puffins Fishing”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Ontario Flock!
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Baby Albatross.