1. 12,000 year-old flutes made from bird bones to imitate birds of prey calls says this study: Scientists in Israel have discovered seven 12,000-year-old flutes, according to a study published this month in the journal Scientific Reports. Made from tiny bird bones, the instruments were likely designed to imitate the calls of birds of prey. The flutes were among a collection of 1,100 bird bones unearthed during previous excavations at an archaeological site in Israel’s Hula Valley. During a recent examination of the artifacts, scientists noticed that seven had strange features—like finger holes and mouthpieces—that would have allowed them to function as musical instruments. These flutes, or aerophones, are some of the oldest known instruments that imitate bird calls. (via Smithsonian Magazine)
2. BNI has had this story before but it is worth another look: The Namaqua sandgrouse is unusual, when it comes to birds, as its belly feathers are designed to suck water in rather than keep it out. Now Jochen Mueller of Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, and Lorna Gibson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have uncovered the details of this water-sucking ability. The results could aid in understanding from an evolutionary perspective how and why these birds developed this ability. The work could also inspire designs of artificial materials that can efficiently store and release water. (via Physics)
3. Irrepressible parrots – from Scientific American: At Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery the living get as much attention as the dead. Groundskeepers maintain the 478-acre historic landmark as an arboretum and habitat for more than 200 breeding and migratory bird species. But many visiting wildlife lovers aren't interested in those native birds. They're at the entryway, their binoculars trained on the spire atop its Gothic Revival arches. They've come to see the parrots. The urban cemetery hosts dozens of long-tailed, dove-size parrots, lime green with gray accents on their foreheads and chests, called Monk Parakeets. These birds maintain barrel-size stick nests not just at this cemetery but across the city. (via Scientific American)
4. Irrepressible Monk Parakeets – from The Economist: “These guys are tenacious,” says John Stalzer, of pseg Long Island, a utility company. No matter what his team does to stop them from building nests, the monk parakeets prevail. The birds will find the smallest gap, as teeny as a quarter of an inch (6mm), and insert a twig. “They will literally build off a twig and build their nests,” says Mr Stalzer, an environment specialist. “We should hire them as engineers.” Monk parakeets, also known as Quaker parakeets, come from Argentina, where they are pests to farmers. But they look cute and are sociable, so lots were exported. Birds now breed in more than 20 states, including cold spots like Chicago. (via The Economist)
5. This is welcomed news: The number of rufa red knot shore birds migrating via Delaware Bay beaches to Arctic breeding sites this spring rose to the highest level in four years. The count, by land and boat, tallied about 22,000 of the robin-sized birds, an encouraging sign for a shorebird that is listed as federally threatened. The survey’s figures were the highest since 2019, and a sharp increase from a record low of 6,880 in 2021, according to Larry Niles, an independent biologist. He has been monitoring the migration of the rufa red knot, an Atlantic coast subspecies, on the Delaware Bay for the last quarter century. (via The New York Times)
6. Back again (to twitchers’ delight!): Rainbow birds not normally seen in the UK have established a breeding colony, thanks to warmer temperatures caused by climate change. Eight bee-eaters, distinctive blue, yellow and orange birds, have returned to a Norfolk quarry for the second year running. It is the first time the birds, which are normally seen in Africa, have travelled to the same location in consecutive years and marks the seventh breeding attempt in England in the last 20 years. Dozens of birdwatchers have been drawn to the site by the small birds since they were spotted at the end of May by local twitcher Andy Chamberlain. (via Telegraph UK)
7. An island made for birds – an NPR podcast on South Carolina’s Crab Bank – worth a listen: There's a man-made island near Charleston that's now serving as a sanctuary for thousands of shorebirds. It's one beneficial way to use soil from dredging rivers. (via National Public Radio)
8. An impressive flick of a switch - Read on: After a long-distance trip under the polite, if slightly repetitive instruction of your favorite GPS app, nothing is worse that being told how to navigate your own neighborhood. Migratory birds that can sense the planet's magnetic field might experience a similar irritation over being micromanaged. Researchers from the University of Western Ontario in Canada and Bowling Green State University in the US have found they can lilterally switch off their neurological navigation aid when no longer in need of it. The research looked at white-throated sparrows and found that they were able to activate a particular part of their brain when they needed to migrate, and put it back into a dormant mode while resting at stopover points. (via Science Alert)
9. A fun look at Maine’s warblers: It’s easy to find warblers in the guidebooks. In my Sibley’s edition, the warbler section covers pages 328 through 354. It’s a little harder to find them in the field. The key is knowing where to look. Maine is an impressive place to bird with so many different habitats. The state is smack dab in the middle of the temperate zone. There are forests dominated by both deciduous and coniferous trees. There are marshes, freshwater and salty. There are myriad wetlands. Maine has many warblers, thanks to all this habitat variation. On a lark, I ranked all 26 nesting species from most to least commonly reported. I used data from eBird, the free database app from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Naturally, warblers that use the most abundant habitats are the most abundant warblers. (via Bangor Daily News)
10. And speaking of Maine, this short video from Maine Audubon on Eastern Phoebes is fun – last 15 seconds are must see: A year after “The Feeding Frenzy,” a finalist for a New England Emmy award, Roger McCord takes the Chasing Maine cameras back under his porch in Cumberland to look at the Eastern phoebe nest. Chasing Maine is a video series that explores Maine from a distinct visual perspective. Join veteran Maine journalist and storyteller Roger McCord as he chases the people, places and things that define the unique character of the Pine Tree State. Follow the Chasing Maine playlist on YouTube. (via The Maine Monitor)
11. Grim story from Mexico: When hundreds of birds were found dead along Mexico's Pacific coast earlier this year, experts immediately suspected avian flu. But tests now suggest that warming Pacific ocean currents associated with El Niño, not bird flu, were responsible for the mass die-off. The findings were announced by the government yesterday, as authorities urged people to take care during an ‘atypical’ heatwave across the country. (via EuroNews)
See also “El Niño, not avian flu, caused the deaths of hundreds of birds in Mexico, government says” (via ABC News)
12. Georgia Audubon helps build a conservation-minded Georgia: The recent smoke plumes in New York City and the northeastern United States from the Canadian wildfires have driven home the evidence that we are all connected. What happens in someone else’s backyard may well spill over into our own. A recent study published in the journal Science found that we have lost nearly three billion birds, or 30 percent, of the world’s birds, since the 1970s. In order to reverse these changes and build a more climate resilient Georgia, the collective efforts of all of us, from government and NGOs to conservation groups and concerned citizens, is going to be required. (via Saporata Report)
13. Don’t like seeing “vanishing” and “kestrels” in a headline: At first, people thought it might be a housing shortage. Scientists had noticed worrisome declines in the American kestrel, a small, flashy falcon found coast to coast. The downturn was especially puzzling because birds of prey in North America are largely considered a conservation bright spot. “Why are all these other raptors doing great when the American kestrel is on the decline?” said Chris McClure, who directs global conservation science at the Peregrine Fund, a conservation group. Maybe the problem was a lack of nesting spots, some researchers thought, as intensive agriculture and ever more housing developments meant fewer dead trees in the open landscapes that kestrels need. Scientists and members of the public set out nest boxes, and kestrels moved in. (via The Seattle Times)
14. Finally, the Economist reviews Jennifer Ackerman’s new book on owls – “What an Owl Knows”: With a face as round as the first letter of its name and a stance as upright as the last—along with human-like features and a haunting cry—the owl has a mystical, mythical perch in the imagination. Difficult to spot because of their mostly nocturnal habits, and sporting cryptic plumage that helps them melt into landscapes, owls, writes Jennifer Ackerman, are the most enigmatic of birds. (via The Economist)
Bird Videos of the Week
By Stefano Laniro, “I Spent 24 Hours Birding - Here’s What Happened”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Hellgate Ospreys.
Cornell Live Bird Cam- Ezra and Big Red.