1. Seabird populations in the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean are facing direct and indirect impacts of climate change due to rising temperatures and ocean acidification. Long-term monitoring of seabird populations in the South Atlantic and Southern Ocean typically only began in the 1950s, posing a challenge to understanding the long-term responses of seabirds to global change. Dulcinea Groff, a University of Wyoming postdoctoral research associate with the Wyoming Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR), led a study that put together a puzzle of the 14,000-year-old record of tussac grasslands in the Falkland Islands. (via EurekaAlert)
2. Hurricane watch: As Hurricane Zeta menaces the Gulf Coast, residents know the drill: Board up windows, clear storm drains, gas up the car and stock up on water, batteries and canned goods. But how does wildlife ride out a hurricane? This year, the places they inhabit have borne the brunt of 10 named storms, some just a few weeks apart. Wildlife ecologists are interested in how species respond to stresses in their environment. They are currently studying how marsh birds such as clapper rails (Rallus crepitans) have adapted to tropical storms along the Alabama and Mississippi Gulf coast. Understanding how they do this entails wading into marshes and thinking like a small, secretive bird. (via Phys Org, Research Gate, All About Birds)
By Hap Ellis, Yellow-rumped Warbler.
3. This past spring, many people got a chance to experience how the outside world sounded in the 1950s. Global transport came to a halt as human activities decreased abruptly (either voluntarily or under direct order for lockdown) to stem the spread of coronavirus. A new report by Derryberry et al. reveals the impact of the COVID-19 shutdown on animal behavior—namely, the songs of white-crowned sparrows. The findings suggest that mitigation measures against noise pollution could yield immediate beneficial effects on urban wildlife. (via Science Mag)
4. Who Knew? : China’s capital city has an image problem. Yet journalist Terry Townshend believes Beijing – his home for the last ten years and whose people and wildlife he have grown to love – has the potential to demonstrate how a modern city can be designed and managed to make life better for humans and for nature. At the same time it could transform its image to the outside world. (via China Dialogue)
5. The birds fight long, bloody battles over access to trees, where these woodpeckers nest and store their food: you guessed it, acorns. “They build these giant acorn granaries, and these are basically acorn-storage structures, where they store thousands of acorns every fall.” Sahas Barve, with the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. When woodpeckers that hold high-quality territory die, others come to claim it for themselves. That’s when the fighting begins. “It’s a lot of energy that they put in, and that sort of tells you how valuable the granaries are for them. They put in a lot of effort in the short term for this big long-term prize.” (via Scientific American)
By Hap Ellis, Northern Gannet.
6. Fossils recovered from Antarctica in the 1980s represent the oldest giant members of an extinct group of birds that patrolled the southern oceans with wingspans of up to 21 feet that would dwarf the 11½-foot wingspan of today's largest bird, the wandering albatross. Called pelagornithids, the birds filled a niche much like that of today's albatrosses and traveled widely over Earth's oceans for at least 60 million years. Though a much smaller pelagornithid fossil dates from 62 million years ago, one of the newly described fossils shows that the larger pelagornithids arose just after life rebounded from the mass extinction 65 million years ago, when the relatives of birds, the dinosaurs, went extinct. (via EurekaAlert)
7. If you've never seen a Pine Siskin, this is your year. In the past month, the birds have invaded the United States in search of food, inundating backyard feeders across the country. Without question, it's one of the biggest irruption years in recorded history for the finches. Brown and heavily striped with a flash of bright yellow on their wings and tails, Pine Siskins are typically found in abundance across Canada, and to a lesser extent in the U.S., in northern states and higher elevations of the west and northeast, as well as parts of Mexico. This year, though, they are everywhere in-between. (via Audubon)
By Hap Ellis, Eastern Bluebird.
8. Flitting around the Indian subcontinent all the way to Australia are a group of nocturnal birds that are as cute as they are captivating. Known as frogmouths, they have a wide, gaping beak—giving these birds their name—and a furrowed brow lending them a serious, yet silly, look. Frogmouths may appear similar to owls, but they are actually more closely related to nightjars. They belong to the Podargidae family, which contains 15 different species. Three species—the tawny frogmouth, marbled frogmouth, and Papuan frogmouth—are larger and call Australia and New Guinea their home. Another 11 species are found across Asia and tend to be smaller. Then there is the Solomons frogmouth, which was just discovered on the Solomon Islands in 2007 and given its own genus. (via My Modern Met)
9. Fall is here, and we see the leaves turning yellow, orange or red thanks to a trick of our vision: our brains categorize colors. Scientists have learned that birds with colorful markings do this too. But what about drab birds that don't rely on color? According to a new Duke University study, the ability to mentally categorize colors is not a universal avian attribute, and dull-colored birds may see the world in a completely different way than their colorful cousins. (via Phys Org)
Bird Photo of the Week
By Hap Ellis, Surf Scoters.
Bird Videos of the Week
By Indie Alaska, “I am a Birder.”
Cornell Live Bird Cam, Pileated Woodpecker.
Cornell Live Bird Cam, Ontario in October.