1. Rare shorebirds called phalaropes practice an unusual water dance to help them consume their prey: They spin in tight, quick circles on the water by kicking one foot harder than the other, creating upward jets that pump tiny, out-of-reach insects and crustaceans toward the surface. The birds then dip their bills into the upwelling and feed at high speed. Now, a research team finds that these dizzying birds choose neighbors that spin in the same direction. The cliquishness of right-footed and left-footed birds helps keep the peace within a flock as phalaropes scarf down food, the team suggests. (via Science Mag)
2. In late summer and autumn, millions of birds fly above our heads, often at night, winging their way toward their wintering grounds. Before the journey, many birds molt their bright feathers, replacing them with a more subdued palette. Watching this molt led scientists to wonder how feather color changes relate to the migrations many birds undertake twice each year. Molt matters — not only because replacing worn feathers is necessary for flight, but because molt is the catalyst for plumage changes that affect whether birds find mates and reproduce. (via EurekaAlert)
By Hap Ellis, Carolina Wren.
3. Oh no!: A vote-rigging scandal has rocked New Zealand’s “bird of the year” competition. Organizers for the annual contest—now in its 15th year—announced on Tuesday that they had discovered more than 1,500 fraudulent votes cast for the Kiwi pukupuku, or little-spotted kiwi. It’s not clear who was responsible for the fraud, nor their motivations for stacking the votes in the kiwi’s favour. Forest and Bird's Bird of the Year competition has become a national obsession in recent times, with this year’s polls attracting a record number of early voters. As of Tuesday afternoon, 40,000 ballots had been cast with five days still to go. (via Vice News)
4. Ariel Cordova-Rojas had planned to spend last Thursday afternoon immersed in nature. It was the day before her 30th birthday, and her intention was to ride her bike to Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens, watch birds fly overhead and hike amid the vibrant fall foliage. Instead, she spent a good chunk of the day in a frantic race to rescue a sickly swan, rushing by foot and then subway from Queens to Brooklyn before ultimately arriving at an animal rehabilitation center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. She was not upset that the day had not gone according to plan. “If there’s an animal in need,” she said, “I’m going to do whatever I can.” (via The New York Times)
5. Scientists have sequenced and recorded the genomes — the genetic makeup or "code of life" — of species from almost every branch of the bird family tree. The 363 species' genomes, including 267 sequenced for the first time, are catalogued in Nature. It is a list that now features more than 92% of the world's avian families. This has revealed the code for things "Darwin was intrigued by and wrote about", Dr. Michael Braun from the Smithsonian Institution told BBC News. From wildly different colored feathers, body sizes ranging from the giant ostrich to the diminutive wren and raptor flight speeds of up to 300km/h [186.4mph], "it's all coded for in the genome", he said. (via BBC, Nature)
By Hap Ellis, Brants.
6. Looking for a bird's-eye view of human impact? A new study published in Nature provides the most comprehensive picture yet of how human noise and light pollution affect birds throughout North America, including how these factors may interact with or mask the impacts of climate change. Recent troubling findings suggest bird populations have declined by more than 30% in the last few decades. To develop effective strategies to reverse this trend, scientists and land managers need to understand what caused the decline. With this new study, a continent-wide picture has emerged. (via Nature, Science Daily)
7. It started with a duck. In early October of 2018, @BirdCentralPark, the preeminent birding watch group of Manhattan reported a very rare new resident splashing around Frog Pond. The Mandarin Duck, also commonly referred to as the Hot Duck, had the type of meteoric rise to fame only seen in teenage pop stars. Officially named New York’s most eligible bachelor by New York Magazine, the Hot Duck’s popularity among the general public - not just birders - was palpable. But birding isn’t just about the thrill, or the exciting abstraction of an unseen creature. More often, bird watching can be utilized as a tool for stress management and improving mental health. (via Forbes)
8. The Ancient one has returned; the prophecy has been fulfilled. Ok, maybe there wasn’t a prophecy, but the Ancient one has indeed returned. For the first time in over 20 years, a mysterious bird known as the Ancient Murrelet has appeared in Massachusetts. And this odd, singing sea bird from the North Pacific may have an interesting story to tell—one that involves climate change and international shipping route wars. This Ancient Murrelet was discovered on Monday at Race Point in Provincetown. Off-Cape birder Amy O’Neill found the bird, likely had some heart palpitations upon realizing what it was, then further taxed her circulatory system by sprinting over a half mile through soft sand to notify the other nearest birders. (via CAI NPR, eBird)
By Mike Hamilton, Bald Eagles.
9. Scientists have shown that the size and makeup of groups of social birds can predict how efficiently they use and move through their habitat. The study suggests that intermediate-sized groups of vulturine guineafowl — a ground-dwelling social bird found in east African savannahs — exhibit the most effective balance between a decreased ability to coordinate movements and increased accuracy of navigation. These findings add to our understanding of a key question in animal sociality by showing that the number of individuals in a group determines the ability of that group to make the most effective use of their environment. (via Science Daily)
Bonus (Bird Watchers, check this out): Project FeederWatch, a joint research and education program of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Birds Canada, opens Nov. 14. FeederWatch participants make periodic two-day counts from November through early April. “FeederWatchers” can spend as much or as little time as they like to collect data. Program officials say that even counting birds once or twice all winter has value. Reports from FeederWatch are expanding the long-term database used to detect shifts in the numbers and distributions of birds in the United States and Canada. To join tens of thousands of other FeederWatch participants, sign up online at FeederWatch.org. Instructional materials, including a bird identification poster, are mailed to first-time participants who opt to receive them. (via NNY 360)
Bird Photo of the Week
By Mike Hamilton, Rough-Legged Hawk.
Bird Videos of the Week
By Illustra Media, “Dylan Winter and the Starling Murmurations”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam, Return of the Northern Royal Albatross.
Cornell Live Bird Cam, Blue Jays.