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1. TikTok’s CrowTok (who knew?): The crows play hide-and-seek with Nicole Steinke after her older kids head to school. She feeds a family of the birds from her apartment balcony in Alexandria, Virginia, twice daily (usually peanuts, but walnuts and cashews are valued treats). Once there’s no food left, they’ll look for her as she walks around her neighborhood. When one crow finds her, it will call to the others, and they’ll surround her and make a bunch of noise. This, she notes, can alarm bystanders. “People think that death is coming,” she says. “They’re a bad omen, all that—kind of the same as a black cat.” They are not omens. One of the crows is named Waffles. They are, however, minor TikTok celebrities thanks to CrowTok, a small but extremely active niche on the social video app that has exploded in popularity over the past two years. (via MIT Technology Review)
2. From Maine to Kenya: Dave Courtemanch connected with the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) to build a standard aquatic Biological Conditions Gradient using fish and bugs. However, NMK asked to also include a model using birds. NMK has a lot of information about birds in the country collected through the Kenya Bird Map Project, a community science effort. This led Courtemanch to reach out to Mac Hunter, professor emeritus of wildlife ecology at the University of Maine and a former TNC trustee. Hunter reviewed the proposal and was intrigued enough to connect Courtemanch with the U.S. Geological Survey’s cooperative research unit at the University. (via The Nature Conservancy)
3. The thrill of winter birding: The Clark’s nutcracker, I surmised after observing one in an Aspen tree last winter furiously pecking at a seed, is a determined bird. His sharp beak matched the black wingtips on his pearl gray body, and white, spectacle-like eye rings seemed to amplify his diligence. The bird is the size of a jay, but on this frigid morning in Aspen, Colo., he had puffed out his feathers for warmth in comically plump style. Most people associate birds and birding with warmer weather, which the animals often chase. But many endemic species stay and, here in the Rocky Mountains, migrants arrive from the more punishing north. In winter, wildlife watchers have the advantage of clearer sightlines after the deciduous leaves have dropped. Birds and other animals often stand out against the white backdrop, making them easier to spot. And even if you can’t see them, their tracks let you know they’re around. (via The New York Times)
4. And then there is the self-proclaimed “Idiot’s Guide” to winter birding: In the summer of 2020, I found emotional refuge in the parabolic flight of goldfinches, and by autumn—following an agonizing decision to send our kids back to school—I started walking in the woods for an hour after dropping them off each morning. If you have never needed to get two young children ready for school, please continue living your life well. Being outside and quietly focusing my attention on something unrelated to the stressors in my life releases the knot in my shoulders. Research by King’s College London suggests that seeing birds or just hearing birdsong can lead to improvement in mental well-being for up to eight hours, but you don’t have to take the scientists’ word for it—all they did is study 1,300 people for three and a half years. Instead, take it from me, one guy who’s been birding for two years. I am mostly not depressed. It works! (via Defector)
5. Biodiversity threatened in Columbia: A new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters used satellite mapping data to analyze how changes in human footprint on the landscape between 1970 and 2018 overlapped with distributions of 1,469 Colombian bird species. The study is the first of its kind to expand focus from forested regions, like the Amazon and Chocó, to all of Colombia's terrestrial habitats. Researchers also projected future trends in human impact on bird habitats through 2030. (via Phys Org)
6. Heck of a place to raise a petrel: About a month before Mauna Loa began erupting, an endangered seabird fledgling was seen on camera emerging from a burrow on the volcano. It's the first confirmed 'akē'akē, also known as the band-rumped storm petrel, nest found in Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, according to the National Park Service. Band-rumped storm petrel nests are extremely difficult to find, according to researchers, because the birds don't leave a lot of evidence behind. Researchers said the nest was originally detected by a dog named Slater, part of the Hawaii Detector Dogs. (via CBS News)
7. Speaking of seabirds, this is strange: Hundreds of razorbills, marine seabirds native to northern Atlantic coasts, have been arriving at coastlines in Italy – and many aren’t looking healthy. Rosario Balestrieri at the Anton Dohrn Zoological Station in Naples, Italy, who spotted the first birds on 17 November, says that while the razorbill isn’t new to southern Europe, sightings would typically involve single birds getting lost once or twice a year. This time, 11 razorbills have been counted in the Gulf of Naples. (via New Scientist)
8. Angry Robins in the UK – really?: It isn’t just people who get road rage. Robins in the countryside become more aggressive when they hear the sound of traffic. Beloved for their plump appearance, proud bearing and sweet song, European robins are actually fiercely competitive creatures, whose calls and behaviours are part of a struggle for territorial dominance fought daily with their neighbours. When a robin arrives uninvited on another bird’s territory, they adapt their songs to ward the rival away, and adopt visual displays including swaying from side to side and menacingly baring their red chest feathers, before closing in and even going on the attack. (via The Guardian)
9. Podcast with Cornell’s Amanda Rodewald on State of the Birds Report: The state of the birds is not looking good. That’s the conclusion from a new report that looks at decades of community-collected population data from surveys like the annual Christmas Bird Count and the Breeding Bird Survey. Species that inhabit grasslands seem to fare the worst, with their populations down over 30 percent in the last 50 years. Meanwhile, dozens of newly identified “tipping point” species have lost 50 percent of their populations in the same time, and are poised to lose the same proportion in the coming half century. Dr. Amanda Rodewald of Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology helps unpack the report’s key findings, including the good news: Decades of cooperative efforts to protect waterfowl have paid off in thriving duck populations. (via Science Friday)
10. Window strikes in UK – some sense of urgency might be helpful: None of the UK's biggest cities have policies in place to protect birds from deadly strikes with buildings in their boroughs, exclusive Dezeen research has found. Freedom of Information requests to the 33 local authorities in London and the councils responsible for 10 other major UK cities also revealed that none have ever carried out an assessment of bird-window collisions in their areas. This is despite the British Trust for Ornithology's (BTO) alarming estimation that up to 100 million birds crash into the windows of buildings in the UK each year, with one-third of these birds dying as a result. David Noble, a scientist who is investigating the issue of window-strike risks for the BTO, warned that building collisions could be accelerating the decline in bird numbers in the UK. (via Dezeen)
11. No surprise: This holiday season you may spot an unexpected visitor in your backyard: red-bellied woodpeckers are showing up in Maine in places the species hasn’t been seen before. Typically, a few readers send me photos every year, asking me to identify a strange woodpecker at their feeder. Some have already figured out it’s a red-bellied woodpecker, but question why it’s here. The woodpecker’s breeding range barely reaches into southern New England, as many maps in guidebooks show. My favorite online source for birding information, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, displays several maps in different places. Their AllAboutBirds.org map depicts a red-bellied woodpecker range limited to southern Massachusetts. (via Bangor Daily News)
12. On the other hand: More than 50 million Americans feed birds, but let’s face it: We do it for us, not for them. A bird feeder brings feathered creatures to your yard for easy viewing, no binoculars required. Over time, birds might get used to you, and a few special ones might land near you, heads cocked adorably for gifts of seed, a glimmer of a Disney princess moment. “The birds don’t need the feeders. We do,” Paul Baicich wrote in Feeding Wild Birds in America: Culture, Commerce and Conservation. Just as most fairy tales are derived from darker, grimmer backstories, however, bird feeding also isn’t entirely innocent do-gooding for our feathered friends. (via Slate)
13. A quick post for Jennifer in Moab: Moab birders will gather in teams for the 123rd Audubon Society-sponsored Christmas Bird Count on Saturday, Dec. 17. The Audubon Society began the Christmas count in part to replace annual shooting competitions held in the 1800s where hunters tried to shoot as many birds as possible. “The impact of Covid 19 during the last two years caused the CBC to be reduced to only a few participants,” local organizers wrote in a release. “However, this year, [in] the Moab area’s 38th count, participants will be searching every bush, tree, field and cliff in a 15 mile circle.” To participate, contact Marcy Hafner at 259-6197 or marcymoab@yahoo.com. Participants don’t need to be experts—novices are placed with seasoned birders and all are welcome. (via Moab Sun News)
14. And finally, the Avian flu toll: More than 140 million birds have died and hundreds of millions of pounds have been spent in the past year in the US, UK and EU in tackling bird flu, as some experts said continual culling was “morally” wrong. With an international agreement on the use of vaccinations likely to be one or two years away, the situation will probably worsen this winter as outbreaks of bird flu continue to rise. Globally, the disease – and related culling – has killed 140 million poultry since October 2021, according to the World Organisation for Animal Health. This includes almost 48 million birds in Europe and the UK combined and just over 53 million in the US. (via The Guardian)
Also a bite-sized masterclass on avian flu in podcast form is here: Instant Genius podcast
Bird Photo of the Week
Photo by Hap Ellis, Snowy Egret – Longboat Key, FL.
Bird Videos of the Week
By Climate on Game, “Klimatosükis Bird Watching 2022”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Texas Feeder.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Downy Woodpeckers.