1. As many Westerners awoke this week to a sky so muted by smoke from raging wildfires that it looked like night, backyard bird watchers noticed something else: Silence at their bird feeders. Or worse yet, dead birds. Nearly 100 serious birdwatchers from throughout California and parts of Nevada responded to an impromptu survey posted on the Facebook group. And the majority said they had observed a pronounced drop in the number of birds flying in for a nibble at feeders or sips of water at bird baths, as well as a reduction in the variety of species. (via Inside Climate News).
2. High in the Andes, thousands of meters above sea level, speedy hummingbirds defy near-freezing temperatures. These tiny flyers endure the cold with a counterintuitive trick: They lower their body temperature—sometimes as much as 33°C—for hours at a time. Among vertebrates, hummingbirds have the highest metabolism for their size. With a metabolic rate roughly 77 times that of an average human, they need to feed nearly continuously. But when it gets too cold or dark to forage, maintaining a normal body temperature is energetically draining. Instead, the small animals can cool their internal temperature by 10°C to 30°C. This slows their metabolism by as much as 95% and protects them from starvation. (via Science Mag)
By Hap Ellis, Barn Swallow.
3. At first they circle high in the evening sky. But as night descends, they, too, begin to descend, bird by bird, one at a time, and then all in a rush: 150,000 purple martins swirling together, each bird calling to the others in the failing light as they sweep past the tops of buildings in the heart of downtown Nashville. To anyone watching from the ground, they look like one great airborne beast, one unmistakable, singular mind. (via The New York Times)
4. When acorn woodpeckers spot a potential new home, they join forces with their brothers and sisters for a battle royale. Up to a dozen teams of two or three woodpeckers fight to claim the spot for up to 10 hours per day for almost a week, with spectator birds flying in from kilometres away. Sahas Barve at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC and his colleagues studied the movements of acorn woodpeckers in the Hastings Natural History Reservation in California. (via New Scientist)
5. Christian Cooper, the former Marvel Comics editor who famously recorded a racial profiling incident he experienced while birding in New York’s Central Park, has returned to the world of mainstream comic books. Cooper’s 10-page comic book, “It’s a Bird,” became available digitally Wednesday. “It’s a Bird” features Jules, a teenager given a pair of binoculars by his father and told to explore his surroundings. Jules, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of birds, is quickly harassed by those threatened by his presence as an unannounced Black man in an open space. (via The Washington Post)
6. Peregrine falcons are a special interest species in Lake Tahoe, closely monitored by a network of biologists, government agencies, and environmental nonprofits. The birds disappeared entirely in Tahoe after the 1940s, when a pesticide known as DDT pushed the species to the brink of extinction. The EPA banned the use of DDT in 1972. And gradually, peregrine falcons have made a comeback in the United States. In 1999, the birds were taken off the Endangered Species List, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service praised their “dramatic success story.” Now, the birds are facing a new challenge: how to survive in places that are frequently visited by humans who are out exploring the mountains. (via San Francisco Gate)
7. Here's some good news. The mangrove forest belts in Bhitarkanika National Park in Odisha, India has seen a significant rise in the number of seasonal monsoon birds coming in for their annual nesting. The impressive rise in the number of local migrant birds visiting the wetland sites re-establishes Bhitarkanika as one of the prominent heronries of the state. Bikash Ranjan Das, divisional forest officer of Rajnagar, said that a total of 97,866 birds from 10 species were counted in the park this year, which notes an increase of 9,252 birds from last year. The number of nests also saw an increase of 1,959 totalling 21,185. (via Outlook India)
By Hap Ellis, Snowy Egrets.
8. Americans often idealize scientists as unbiased, objective observers. But scientists are affected by conscious and unconscious biases, just like anyone else. Studies of birds' vocal behavior clearly show how research approaches can be affected by the people who do the work. Dating back at least to Charles Darwin's writings on sexual selection, scientists have generally considered bird song to be a male trait. The widely accepted view was that bird songs are long complex vocalizations produced by males during the breeding season, whereas such vocalizations in females are generally rare or abnormal. But over the past 20 years, research has shown that both males and females in many bird species sing, especially in the tropics. (via Phys Org)
9. “At first, we were not welcomed with open arms,” remembers Susan Elbin, conservation scientist emerita with NYC Audubon. At dusk every September 11th, two massive columns of light honoring those who died as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center switch on. Near the spotlights, on the roof of the Battery Parking Garage in Lower Manhattan, a small crew of bird monitors from NYC Audubon lie on sleeping mats, looking up at the night sky. Because “Tribute” had agreed to turn off the lights if too many birds were in danger, NYC Audubon and scientists have had the opportunity to track, year after year, through different weather, the difference in effects on migratory birds when the lights were off, versus when the lights were on. (via The Sierra Club)
10. A new study has identified the most important coastal wetlands to focus on to preserve more than a dozen species of marsh birds on the Great Lakes. Multiple groups conducted the collaborative research effort, which included researchers from the National Audubon Society, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and the Natural Resources Research Institute at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. The science journal Biological Conservation recently published their findings. (via Wisconsin Public Radio)
Helpful: Have you found yourself paying more attention to their chirps? Stopping to watch them swoop? Peering from a window while they worm hunt? Give birds a reason to visit your backyard with a milk carton feeder. Attract cardinals and house finches — and keep squirrels away — with safflower seeds. Here’s how to create a carton bird feeder filled with a chirp-worthy snack. (via The Washington Post)
Bird Photo of the Week
By Hap Ellis, Pectoral Sandpiper.
Bird Videos of the Week
By National Geographic, “Albatrosses’ Life-Long Bond Begins with Elaborate Courtship”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam, Pileated Woodpecker.
Cornell Live Bird Cam, Great Horned Owl chicks.