1. Scientists have long known that urban songbirds face a host of increased challenges, from habitat loss to altered food sources and a larger population of predators, such as skunks, rats, squirrels and, especially, house cats, compared to their rural cousins. In particular, urban nestlings weigh significantly less than those born in the country and have a decreased chance of surviving to adulthood, as a result. Part of the difficulty in figuring out why urban nestlings struggle is due to what biologists call the "predation paradox:" though there are increased numbers of predators in urban areas, there is actually a lower per-capita rate of predation. "The key," says Aaron Grade, "has been hiding in plain sight. We haven't been paying enough attention to fear itself." (via Science Daily)
2. Everyone thinks Mute Swans are pretty, but… The introduction of invasive species leads to a decline in certain native species. A team of researchers from the CNRS and the University of Paris-Saclay has managed to show that 11% of the global phylogenetic diversity of birds and mammals, in other words their accumulated evolutionary history, is threatened by biological invasions. Their ability to adapt to environmental changes could thus be largely lost due to biological invasions. This work, published in Global Change Biology on 2 August 2021, provides better insight into the future of ecosystems and the loss of certain species. (via EurekaAlert)
3. Conservation success story: Too often we read of the losing battles: local extinctions and irreversible biodiversity losses, often at the expense of shortsighted exploitation-for-profit schemes. Refreshingly, the plight of the maleo is different. This story is one of conservation success. Maleos are, by all accounts, weird birds. The bare, multi-colored skin of their heads — somewhat reminiscent of a vulture — is capped by a strange, bulbous protrusion called a casque. Loss of nesting sites and harvesting of the maleo’s huge, nutritious eggs has drastically reduced their numbers, which at last count came to just 4,000-7,000 breeding pairs. Thanks to a motley team of conservationists, former egg poachers, coconut farmers, international birders, and Bronx zookeepers, there’s hope for the maleo yet. (via Mongabay)
4. Climate change is threatening emperor penguins with extinction in much of their range, federal wildlife officials said on Tuesday as they announced a proposal to protect them under the Endangered Species Act. “The decisions made by policymakers today and during the next few decades will determine the fate of the emperor penguin,” Martha Williams, principal deputy director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, said in a statement. If listed as threatened, the birds would join a couple dozen species that the federal government considers threatened by climate change, including polar bears, two kinds of seals and 20 coral varieties. (via The New York Times)
5. The Arctic tern—which has the world record for the longest annual migration—uses just a few select routes, a key finding that could help efforts to conserve the species. Globally, Arctic terns are declining and their wide geographical range has posed a challenge for researchers hoping to see where different tern colonies bottleneck when they migrate. “We don’t have a more far-ranging animal. They are an indicator species that can tell us so much about the different ecosystems that they travel through,” said Joanna Wong, the study’s lead author and a graduate of the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries (IOF) master’s program at UBC. “If they don’t make it to their destination one year, then you know there might be an environmental problem somewhere along their route.” (via University of British Columbia)
6. With Oskar Aszmann and his team at the Department of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgery, MedUni Vienna has long been regarded as a world leader in bionic limb reconstruction. Although all bionic aids have so far been used in humans, the technique known as osseointegration (direct skeletal attachment) has now been used for the very first time in a bearded vulture – the creature was given a new foot. In large birds such as vultures, the loss of limbs results in the loss of the ability to walk and ultimately to death from malnutrition. The limb can be replaced by a prosthesis but, so far, it has not been possible to use conventional prosthesis shafts in avian limbs, given the extreme loads they have to withstand in daily use. (via SciTechDaily)
7. Federal and state mandates to conserve 30% of the nation's lands and waters by 2030 are intended to protect biodiversity. But do protected areas actually work? A new study from scientists at Point Blue Conservation Science shows that out of 14 bird species analyzed, 9 had better population trends in protected areas compared to average population trends in California. Three species had about the same population trends both within protected areas and outside of them, and two species fared worse within the protected areas. (via Phys Org)
8. “Don’t go to the Flemish Cap (The Perfect Storm): An area of great importance to millions of seabirds has been identified in the North Atlantic, with focus now being aimed towards its designation as a protected area. By using a combination of tracking, phenology and tracking data, researchers mapped the abundance and diversity of 21 seabird species. This revealed a major hot-spot associated with a discrete area of the subpolar frontal zone, which the researchers estimate supports up to 5 million seabirds from 56 colonies, situated in 16 different countries. The area is bounded in the north by the Charlie-Gibbs Fracture Zone, to the west by the Flemish Cap and the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, to the east by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and to the south by the Azores. (via BirdGuides)
9. Coughs are killing it in Cornwall: The chough, which is a distinctive black bird with a red beak and legs, returned to Cornwall in 2001, after being absent for 28 years. This year 66 choughlets have fledged, from 23 breeding pairs - the most since the species recolonised the county. Jenny Parker from the RSPB said it was "absolutely brilliant, but we need to keep going". She added: "It has taken decades of close partnership work to get Kernow's choughs back to this positive result between the RSPB, The National Trust, Natural England, The Cornwall Birdwatching Preservation Society (CBWPS), along with a large number of volunteers, farmers and other landowners." Choughs are now regularly spotted across different parts of west Cornwall and on the north coast. (via BBC News)
10. More good news from England: The endangered hen harrier is continuing its recovery from near extinction in England with this summer set to have the highest number of chicks fledging since 2002. Of 24 successful nests producing at least 77 fledged chicks this summer, 19 were on moors managed for red grouse, according to the Moorland Association. The grouse shooting industry hailed the success as a vindication for controversial brood management, in which some chicks are removed from nests and reared in captivity if multiple nests are made on grouse moors. Hen harriers like to nest in proximity to each other, but grouse moor managers complain that concentrations of the bird predate too many red grouse, which provide a lucrative driven grouse shooting season. (via Moorland Association, The Guardian)
11. Yikes!: Giant bird-eating centipedes may sound like something out of a science-fiction film – but they’re not. On tiny Phillip Island, part of the South Pacific’s Norfolk Island group, the Phillip Island centipede (Cormocephalus coynei) population can kill and eat up to 3,700 seabird chicks each year. And this is entirely natural. This unique creature endemic to Phillip Island has a diet consisting of an unusually large proportion of vertebrate animals, including seabird chicks. As large marine predators, seabirds usually sit at the top of the food chain. But a new study, published in the American Naturalist, demonstrates how large, predatory arthropods can play an important role in the food webs of island ecosystems. And the Phillip Island centipede achieves this through its highly varied diet. (via The Guardian, American Naturalist)
12. Top Gun – Bean Goose style: A dark gray-brown Bean goose flying upside down was snapped by an amateur photographer near the Dutch town of Arnhem. The maneuver, called whiffling, is when geese roll their body upside down and twist their neck and head 180 degrees around to its normal position. This aerial acrobatic resembles a falling leaf and may be used to avoid avian predators or a long, slow descent over an area where hunters for sport or food are present. The behavior is seen in several species including Lesser yellowlegs(Tringa flavipes), the Black-tailed godwit (Limosa limosa), the Northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), Pink-footed goose (Anser brachyrhynchus), or the Bean goose (Anser fabalis). (via ABC St. Louis)
Bird Photo of the Week
Photo by Hap Ellis, Semipalmated Plover.
Bird Videos of the Week
By Texas Backyard Wildlife, “A snoozing fox meets a plucky little black-crested titmouse”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Royal Albatross Workout.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Panama Party.