1. Let’s start with a great piece in the N Y Times: Johannes Fritz, a maverick Austrian biologist, needed to come up with a plan, again, if he was going to prevent his rare and beloved birds from going extinct. To survive the European winter, the northern bald ibis — which had once disappeared entirely from the wild on the continent — needs to migrate south for the winter, over the Alps, before the mountains become impassable. But shifting climate patterns have delayed when the birds begin to migrate, and they are now reaching the mountains too late to make it over the peaks, locking them in an icy death trap. Determined to save them, Mr. Fritz decided he would teach the birds a new, safer migration route by guiding them himself in a tiny aircraft. And he was confident he could succeed in this daring, unconventional plan — because he had done it before. (via The New York Times)
2. The “akikiki”, the Maui Bird Conservation Center and the fires: Inside a barn, atop a dormant volcano on Maui, a pair of birds is building a nest. It’s their kind’s last chance to survive in our rapidly warming world. This is the ‘akikiki. This little, silver bird holds the unenviable title of being the most endangered bird in the United States. A grim census earlier this year found only five left in the wild on the neighboring island of Kauai, its native home. (via The Washington Post)
3. “100 milliseconds long” – the challenge of nighttime birding: Very night while you sleep, thousands, if not millions, of ghostly figures dart through the sky just above where you lie. They are Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Sora, Grasshopper Sparrows, Blackpoll Warblers, Long-billed Curlews. Some of them are flying just a few hundred miles. Some are nearly circumnavigating the globe. So how, given that it’s dark and given that they are flying anywhere from 15 to about 55 miles per hour over your sleeping head, would anyone ever be able not only to count them but also to know which bird species just zoomed past? (via Scientific American)
4. Here is a fun TikTok video celebrating Merlin’s great success, produced by the Cornell Lab:
5. But even Merlin’s Sound ID can make mistakes: As a volunteer reviewer for eBird, Tim Carney’s role is to review bird observations logged in multiple counties in Maryland to ensure they are as accurate as possible. In a typical migration season, he might receive up to 50 reports of uncommon species that require him to email users for additional documentation. But in the past couple of years, Carney says, his workload has grown dramatically. Dubious reports have poured in without sufficient evidence to support them. Carney says that’s because more birders have been attributing their identifications toMerlin Sound ID, a tool created, like eBird, by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Yet, impressive as the tool is, Merlin Sound ID can make mistakes. And when eBird users rely solely on the technology to make identifications, reviewers are swarmed with unexpected and sometimes questionable observations. (via Audubon)
6. “Leaving town”…well, leaving cities to be more exact: Humans aren’t the only ones leaving town when city heat becomes unbearable. A study done on 336 cities in China concludes that heat-retaining buildings and paved surfaces are directly related to a loss in bird diversity. These findings from scientists at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Zhejiang University were published Aug. 14 inScience of the Total Environment. “The heat-retention characteristic of cities is a well-known phenomenon called the urban heat island effect,” said corresponding author Frank La Sorte, senior research associate at the Cornell Lab. “Our findings document, for the first time, the direct relationship between bird diversity and the ‘urban heat island’ effect across multiple seasons. (via Cornell Chronicle)
7. The green avadavat fights for survival (check out the pictures of this beautiful bird): High in the oldest mountain range in India lives a group of beautiful birds known as green avadavats. These are small, finch-like songbirds with rich and distinctive yellow and olive-green plumage. They were once a popular caged bird in India, but their numbers have dropped significantly in recent years, and they are now classed as 'vulnerable' by theIUCN. Loss of habitat has further put pressure on their numbers. Now their stronghold at Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary, located in the Aravalli mountain range in North-Western India, is also under threat by increasing wildfires. A recent study has also shown that Mount Abu’s 'Eco-Sensitive Zone' is experiencing severe environmental degradation through tourism and human expansion of the town and surrounding villages. (via Science Focus)
8. We don’t want to point fingers, but…: Three satellite-tracked Hen Harriers have suddenly disappeared over land managed for driven grouse shooting. All three disappearances have happened within days of the Glorious Twelfth, the official start of the shooting season for Red Grouse, and a time where grouse numbers are managed to be at their peak level to ensure a successful shooting season. Hen Harriers, are a rare, protected species, known for their acrobatic ‘skydancing’ courtship display over the uplands. The Hen Harrier is categorised as a red listed species in the UK, due to its low population levels. Martha was a one-year-old female Hen Harrier. (via RSPB)
9. “Tailored guidance” for saving threatened birds in the Andes: Birds native to the tropical Andes are threatened by increasing agricultural development in the region. A new study combines a meta-analysis of papers on birds across the Andes with five years of fieldwork in Peru, revealing that open farmlands result in up to a 60% decline in the number of species in an area. The study documents how specific species are affected and provides tailored guidance for conservationists trying to protect them. (via Science Daily)
10. Rare-bird alert!: About 400 birdwatchers from across the country have visited the Isles of Scilly this month to catch a glimpse of a rare tropical bird recorded only once before in the UK. The red-footed booby, a seabird native to the Galápagos Islands, was spotted earlier in August by on Bishop Rock Lighthouse, about four miles (6.5km) west of Scilly. Joe Pender, skipper of the boat Scilly Pelagics, said people had flocked from far and wide since to see the rare bird. He said: "I would imagine that if the red-footed booby stays for a while, we will get a steady stream of birders over the coming weeks. (via BBC)
11. “Retaining featherness” – an artist’s work: All creatures spirit me away from my thoughts into the real and present world. Because birds fly, they don’t need to be unnoticeable and hide like mice do, so I, like most birders, notice them. The first time I really observed feathers was when I was twelve years old entranced by the flamingos at the Seattle Zoo. When I saw their shed orange/pink feathers on the ground and floating in their pond, I was so excited that the head bird keeper let me pick them up, put them in a bag and take them home. I sat with these feathers for hours, exploring their structure, dropping each one to watch as it twirled and floated to the earth. I still do that. I don’t take feathers directly from birds. The ones I prefer to use are from birds that have grown new feathers, molted their old used ones, and now passed them on. The birds are still alive. Their shed feathers are gifts. (via Orion Magazine)
12. Adapting at the genetic level: Even bird enthusiasts will admit the southwestern willow flycatcher isn’t very flashy. But in studying the DNA of this brownish-olive songbird, scientists say they have found something remarkable: evidence that the endangered bird is adapting at the genetic level to climate change. These genetic changes are not visible to the human eye — but the birds are now probably better equipped to weather increasingly wet and humid days in southern California, the researchers found. The findings add to a body of research suggesting that climate change is forcing evolution in some animals at a rapid pace. (via The Washington Post)
13. Ever wonder how Pelicans glide so effortlessly so close to the water? This study is for you: One of the pleasures of a trip to the beach is watching pelicans and other birds gliding above the waves as they break along the shoreline. Even on still days, they stay aloft without flapping their wings. A paper in the journal Movement Ecology unravels the complicated physics behind the graceful maneuver. (via The Washington Post)
14. Here’s a wonderful story from Living Bird on the May ranch in southeastern Colorado and how it survived a devastating fire in 2022: The May family has a wildfire safety plan in place for their 15,000-acre natural-range ranch just north of the Arkansas River, on the southeastern plains of Colorado. So when 60-mph winds whipped a wall of flames across the bone-dry ranchland in April of 2022, everyone knew the protocols meant human safety first. Circle the bulldozers and earth-moving machinery around the ranch house to cut firebreaks. Keep a clear path to the highway for family pickup trucks. Call in the ranch hands. Consider the livestock next. With more than 9,000 acres of the ranch on fire and smoke blanketing the air, the Mays, their ranch hands, and a few good neighbors knocked down fences to provide escape routes for their 800 head of Limousin cattle. (via Living Bird)
The May ranch story comes from the latest edition of Living Bird, which is here.
Bird Videos of the Week
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Royal Albatross close-up!
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Red-bellied Woodpecker.