1. Let’s start with “A Bird’s Eye View” of nature – a New York Times article on interesting new technology: Forget cerulean — a bright, clear sky is actually dominated by ultraviolet light. Humans can’t see ultraviolet light, but many birds can. The human eye contains three types of cone cells, photoreceptors that allow us to see blue, green and red light. Many animals have different combinations of photoreceptors, which means that they see the world in their own distinct color palettes. A butterfly that looks pale yellow to us might appear entirely different to an avian observer. Dr. Hanley and his colleagues have created a video camera system that creates moving representations of how other creatures see colors, such as how a spider perched on a flower might look to a honeybee. The resulting videos, which were published on Tuesday as part of a new study, give human viewers a rough animal-eye view of nature. “You actually can look at the world in new and interesting ways,” Dr. Hanley said.
The study abstract is here (and dense!): Plants, animals, and fungi display a rich tapestry of colors. Animals, in particular, use colors in dynamic displays performed in spatially complex environments. Although current approaches for studying colors are objective and repeatable, they miss the temporal variation of color signals entirely. Here, we introduce hardware and software that provide ecologists and filmmakers the ability to accurately record animal-perceived colors in motion. Specifically, our Python codes transform photos or videos into perceivable units (quantum catches) for animals of known photoreceptor sensitivity. (via PLOS Biology)
2. Cool story from Uganda: “Birds are everywhere. You can miss a lion, but you can’t miss a bird!”: On a recent Sunday morning, a group of eight women birders met in the historic botanical garden in Entebbe, a town nestled along the shore of Lake Victoria. More than 400 bird species can be found in the garden. The women oohed and aahed as they spotted some of their favorites, including a broad-billed roller perched high in a cluster of trees and the rare sight of a female great blue turaco feeding one of her chicks. “I love birds!” said Priscilla Kabarungi, one of the tour leaders. “Birds are everywhere. You can miss a lion, but you can’t miss a bird!” (via TheWorld)
3. New study on bird habitat restoration in the Colorado River Delta: A new tool will better support habitat in the Colorado River Delta through identifying key areas for restoration, according to a new study published in the Journal of Environmental Management. This significant scientific contribution will allow for optimizing limited water and financial resources in the Colorado River Delta, which, because of significant restoration efforts, is coming back to life with birds and other wildlife. (via Audubon)
4. A “growing mismatch” - a new study on climate change and Spring migration timing: How does climate change affect the migration routes of birds? Mainly negatively, according to a new study from Yali Si from the CML at Leiden University. The study is published in the journal Global Change Biology. "It changes the timing of natural events differently in each region," Si explains. "This can lead to a growing mismatch between the availability of food and the supposed arrival of the birds in a certain area. For migratory birds, food must be available at precisely the right time and place," says Si. "If the growth of grass or other food occurs earlier or later, the birds face the risk of arriving too late or too early." (via Phys Org)
5. New York Times on winter birding in California: Blackbirds flit between reeds jutting out of the marshy waters. A bald eagle perches in a tree, far above clusters of bobbing ducks. In a mesmerizing display, hundreds of snowy white geese take flight in an undulating swarm that mottles the gray sky. This is the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge, one of a number of spots in California for birds traveling along the Pacific Flyway, a migratory path that stretches from Alaska to the tip of South America. Millions of migratory birds, representing more than 100 species, visit or pass through the Golden State each year. “If you’re interested in migratory birds for any reason, California is the place to be,” John Eadie, who teaches conservation biology at the University of California, Davis, told me. (via The New York Times)
6. And one California hot spot mentioned is the Salton Sea: Migrating to all sides of the shoreline like their avian counterparts, dozens of people gathered at the Salton Sea to disconnect from the bustle of weekday life to enjoy some bird watching. A shrinking sea and fewer fish over time has seen a decline in the bird population that once flocked to the sea as part of its trip south on the Pacific Flyway, yet some 10 years into a diminished Salton Sea Bird Festival, visitors are still finding their tranquility and more than enough birds. On Saturday, Jan. 13, visitors seemed to be divided between the north shore and the Salton Sea State Recreation Area in Mecca, while other festival attendees enjoyed the sights of the Sonny Bono National Wildlife Refuge area on the southeastern end by what will come to be known as Lithium Valley. (via Hotville Tribune)
7. This from India – “A birder’s Paradise”: Chilika, Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon, comes alive during winter every year as hordes of feathered visitors make this their home for a few months. A birder’s paradise, the beautiful lake also houses the rare Irrawaddy dolphins. The boat ride into the lake among the birds is an experience to cherish. The vast expanse of the lake has a number of tourist spots – Satapada, Barkul, Rambha, Mangalajodi – each unique and stunning. Before winter ends, head to Odisha’s coastal getaway and experience its natural heritage. (via Outlook Traveller)
8. And this too from India - If you can’t get to the Baruipur grasslands, here’s a glimpse of the life birds you’re missing: Come winter and Baruipur, a neighbourhood on the southern fringes of Kolkata, is buzzing with migratory birds, which includes some very rare species as well. My Kolkata tries to catch glimpses of some of those. The time to enjoy the chill in Bengal has finally arrived. And what better way to spend the wintry mornings outdoors than birding. The arrival of migratory birds makes it an interesting hobby. These birds fly from far and wide and temporarily settle in the relatively warmer regions. Despite the burgeoning population, several birding spots in and around Kolkata welcome these feathered guests every year. (via My Kolkata)
9. “What’s the use of half a wing?” – maybe a robotic dinosaur has the answer: Scientists built a robotic dinosaur to terrify grasshoppers, all in hopes of understanding how truly pathetic wings could offer prehistoric animals an evolutionary advantage. In any group, not everyone can be a fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex or a majestic Triceratops. Someone must be stuck being gangly and awkward, with stubby little dodo wings that never fly, only flap. That was the sad tale of Caudipteryx, a three-foot-long dinosaur that lived about 125 million years ago in what’s now China. To the modern eye, Caudipteryx looks like a miniature ostrich but with a longer, fan-tipped tail and, remarkably, even dinkier wings—like a sparrow’s flappers stuck onto a turkey. The wings are actually so puny that paleontologists are compelled to tackle the evolutionary puzzle of why they exist at all. (via Scientific American)
10. From Slate, more on the “eponymic naming issue”: Last November, the American Ornithological Society, or AOS, announced that it would change the common names of all American birds named after people. There are 152 such “eponymic” names (that is, birds that are named after a specific person, like Bicknell’s Thrush) on the AOS’ official checklist, and the group is planning to start with between 70 and 80 species predominantly found in the U.S. and Canada. In the coming years, birds like Cooper’s Hawk, Wilson’s Snipe, and Lincoln’s Sparrow will be stripped of their eponyms and given new common English names. The eponymic naming issue has been heating up in the bird world for a few years now. (via Slate Magazine)
11. Any story that has the phrase “grebe-a-geddon” deserves a shout out: After snowy weather hit central Pennsylvania on Jan. 16, many horned grebes and other birds were stranded after making emergency landings, but a team of wildlife experts and volunteers stepped in and responded to the “grebe-a-geddon.” "We've seen this phenomenon happen in the past with loons and grebes with rainstorms because they're nocturnal migrators. And they think that parking lots and roads are bodies of water, and they'll land and then they get grounded because they can't take off flying from a flat surface," explained Robyn Graboski, executive director and founder of Centre Wildlife Care, a nonprofit wildlife rescue operation based in Centre County. (via WPSU News)
12. Drones and owls do not mix: On her way home from work on a recent wintry night, Kathy Keane ran into a group of people quietly watching a pair of great horned owls perched on a tree in Lincoln Park. "I started hearing the 'hoot, hoot,' and then the other would call back 'hoot, hoot,'" she told the Tribune. "And it was just so beautiful." Excited about the sighting, she made sure to walk by the same spot the next day with her husband, Patrick Keane. The bird was still on the tree, but then a drone flew toward the owl and scared it away. The Keanes decided to approach the two people piloting the aircraft. "I'm like, 'Do you realize you scared the owl with that thing?'" Patrick Keane recalled. "And he got—I'm not exaggerating here—he got a big smile on his face and said, 'Yeah, we did.' And he's like, 'We scared the other one earlier in the evening.'" (via Phys Org)
13. “Punk rockers” and the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend in the UK: The scale of this waxwing winter will be revealed this weekend when people are encouraged to spend an hour recording the birds they see in their gardens, balconies, parks and school grounds. The spectacular migratory, mohican-sporting birds have been spotted across Britain during the colder weather and will be recorded alongside more familiar sparrows, blackbirds and robins in the RSPB’s annual Big Garden Birdwatch. Data from the long-running garden birdwatch has traced the waxing and waning of bird species in gardens, parks and urban areas, with 38 million fewer birds in our skies than almost half a century ago. (via The Guardian)
14. Disappointing: A new rule imposing penalties for migratory bird killings associated with energy development, construction, and poaching is unlikely to be proposed by the Interior Department before the end of the current presidential term, legal experts say. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in 2021 that the rulemaking for implementing the Migratory Bird Treaty Act was a priority, but a proposal that was scheduled to be finalized this spring was recently withdrawn from Office of Management and Budget review. Without the rule, developers are unsure how the MBTA will be enforced, and prosecutions have been too rare to counter the decline of the bird population, advocates say. (via Bloomberg Law)
15. Finally, a short piece on snow, birds and a rare find: This time the snow stuck. It was the perfect snow – not enough to shovel but enough to fuel a weekend of sledding and several days of successful wildlife tracking. In snow, the secretive night animals are forced to write their stories. Coyotes reveal that they are everywhere, every night – based on what I see whenever it snows, they frequently pass right under my bedroom window, leaving tracks on top of the ones my little dog left earlier. The snow brings birds out where you can see them. It melts first at sunny edges, where the newly exposed grass often fills with feeding birds. (via National Public Radio: Cape and Islands)
Videos of the Week
Video by Chiara Talia, “Birding in the most unknown region of Italy”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Canada Jay.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Royal Albatross.