1. “Everyone…enjoys a good story. And so it seems to me that the first rule of evangelical nature writing should be: Tell one.”: Jonathon Franzen in The New Yorker on nature writing: From the joy I experience, daily, in seeing the goldfinches in my birdbath, or in hearing an agitated wren behind my back fence, I can imagine the joy that a believer finds in God. Joy can be as strong as Everclear or as mild as Coors Light, but it’s never not joy: a blossoming in the heart, a yes to the world, a yes to being alive in it. And so I would expect to be a person on whom a psalm to birds, a written celebration of their glory, has the same kind of effect that a Biblical psalm has on a believer. Both the psalm-writer and I experience the same joy, after all, and other bird-lovers report being delighted by ornithological lyricism; by books like J. A. Baker’s “The Peregrine.” Many people I respect have urged “The Peregrine” on me. But every time I try to read it, I get mired in Baker’s survey of the landscape in which he studied peregrine falcons. (via The New Yorker)
2. A remarkable story from Maui: The wildfires raging on Maui came to the doorstep of an endangered bird center, with staff rushing to extinguish flames before they crept to aviaries housing some of the rarest birds in the world. Early Tuesday morning, Jennifer Pribble, a wildlife care supervisor at the bird sanctuary, and a neighbor saw smoke billowing across the road from the bird center. When the pair noticed the fire had leaped the road, Pribble ran to grab fire extinguishers, hoping to put out the flames before they spread up the grass and to barns with critically endangered birds. (The Washington Post)
3. A fun follow-up on the big AOS/SCO-SOC conference in London (Ontario): Hundreds of bird experts flocked to London for North America's leading ornithology conference this week. Members of the American Ornithological Society (AOS) and Society of Canadian Ornithologists – Société des ornithologistes du Canada (SCO–SOC) met at RBC Place from Tuesday to Saturday. It's the first time the event has been held in the Forest City. Ornithology is the branch of zoology that deals with the study of birds.CBC London went to the conference to speak to those who make birds the subject of their studies and passion, and asked them about their favourite species and what risks those species face. (via CBC)
4. A concerning story about the decline in Peregrine Falcons on the upper Yukon River: Numbers of adult peregrine falcons on the upper Yukon River in Alaska have decreased by more than a third in the last three years, according to a scientist who has counted them there for half a century. Skip Ambrose is a biologist who has observed Yukon River peregrine falcons since 1973, missing only three years along the way. He and his wife, Chris Florian, returned from a trip this year having seen only 77 adult peregrine falcons in the 166-mile stretch from the Yukon border to Circle. That is a 34% decrease in the average number of adult birds they counted there from 2012-2019. “Normally, we have 58-to-60 nesting pairs and one or two single adults along the upper Yukon,” Ambrose said. “In 2023, we had 33 pairs and 11 single adults.” (via Anchorage Daily News)
5. From the NY Times, the hurdles birders encounter while birding: The New York Times asked readers what hurdles you have encountered while birding. Whether you are experienced or new to the activity, have you had any stumbling blocks that made you think twice about continuing? Respond in their comments! (via The New York Times)
6. A Pinyon Jay listing?: U.S. wildlife managers announced Wednesday that they will investigate whether a bird that is inextricably linked to the piñon and juniper forests that span the Western United States warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act. The pinyon jay’s numbers have declined over the last half-century as persistent drought, more severe wildfires and other effects of climate change have intensified, leaving the birds with less food and fewer nesting options as more trees die or are removed. Environmentalists also are concerned that without the pinyon jay — a social bird that essentially plants the next generation of trees by stashing away the seeds — it’s possible the piñon forests of New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and other Western states could face another reproductive hurdle. (via The Associated Press)
7. Sleep matters when you’re sick (and an Eurasian Blackbird) says a new Swedish study: Blackbirds go to bed earlier when they get sick, much like people do. While humans can usually weather minor ailments with a few days of bed rest, we know little about how non-lethal illnesses affect wild animals, says Arne Hegemann at Lund University in Sweden. Some animals, including small birds, need to forage or hunt for food every day because they don’t have the fat reserves that larger organisms do, he says. These animals may also be at a higher risk of predation if they are incapacitated by sickness. “The consequences of being sick are much different for a small animal compared to us,” says Hegemann. (via New Scientist)
8. Building safer cities for birds – A LEAP study from Yale Law School: A new report published today by theLaw, Ethics and Animals Program (LEAP) at Yale Law School in partnership withAmerican Bird Conservancy (ABC) reveals how local laws and policies are speeding up protections for birds from deadly building collisions. The first-of-its-kind report,Building Safer Cities for Birds: How Cities Are Leading the Way on Bird-Friendly Building Policy, considers how city policies can accelerate the adoption of bird-friendly building design at scale to significantly reduce avian mortality. (via Yale Law School)
9. Nice piece on a BNI favorite migrant – the American Golden Plover: Birds of mystery and grace, American Golden-Plovers are also athletes beyond comprehension. Standing on the granite shore of a spruce-cloaked Maine coastal headland on a crisp October day, and hearing the plaintive “queedle” call of this species, faintly from high overhead, evokes in us, a sense of connection to something elemental. That something is the natural rhythm of life, the shift in seasons that brings cold to the north in fall and signals the start of migration to warmer places farther south for billions of birds. American Golden-Plovers survive on this Earth by making a roundtrip journey from the Southern Cone of South America, where they winter, to the Arctic and Boreal, where they nest. Few birds on our planet make a longer migratory journey. (via Wiscasset Newspaper)
10. Not just migrants – light effects backyard birds too, says NC State study: Light pollution at night is known to be a deadly hazard for migratory birds, disorienting them and increasing collisions with buildings. Now a new study led by North Carolina State University researchers also finds artificial light at night also links with lower survival for two backyard bird species living year-round around Washington D.C. The study, which drew on 20 years of data collected by researchers and citizen scientists through a program run by the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center, found lower survival for the gray catbird and house wren with more light pollution at night. Researchers also found survival for the American robin increased with artificial light. Researchers say the findings point to factors that that could be important to understanding whether backyard birds will thrive around cities as urbanization expands, and deserve further investigation. (via NC State University)
11. Lights Out in the Pelican State: The Louisiana Wildlife Federation (LWF) is calling on residents and businesses across the state to join others in turning off bright or excessive lighting from 11 pm to 6 am each day between August 15 and November 15 to help protect the billions of migratory birds that fly through Louisiana at night during this time. Louisiana is located on the Mississippi Flyway, and the state's vast wetlands, forests and coastline serve as critical stops along the birds' migration routes, according to LWF. During the 2022 fall migration, an estimated 478 million birds passed through Louisiana. The majority of these birds migrate at night, typically beginning their nighttime migration about 30 to 45 minutes after sunset, with peak flights between 10 and 11 pm. (via KATC News)
12. Citizen science in action: With its 40+ million pictures and videos of birds, the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology proves invaluable to these researchers: The ability to manipulate objects with limbs has evolved repeatedly among land tetrapods. Several selective forces have been proposed to explain the emergence of forelimb manipulation, however, work has been largely restricted to mammals, which prevents the testing of evolutionary hypotheses in a comprehensive evolutionary framework. In birds, forelimbs have gained the exclusive function of flight, with grasping transferred predominantly to the beak. Recently, researchers used large online repositories of photographs and videos to quantify foot manipulative skills across a large sample of bird species (>1000 species). Their results show that a complex interaction between niche, diet and phylogeny drive the evolution of manipulative skills with the feet in birds. (via Nature)
13. A “paean” to…the European Starling (yup, starlings, check it out): Although the Northern Mockingbird seems to have the most recognized reputation as a sound mimic among the songbirds, there are other songbirds (not parrots) with more expansive repertoires and several birds that even display more skillful abilities like repeating spoken phrases. The amazing European Starling is one of those birds. Because of its reputation as a hyper-aggressive and generally disliked bird, and with one of its primary detractors being the United States Department of Agriculture, many people are not aware of the superior aural skills of the beautiful European Starling. (via The Brooklyn Eagle)
14. More on the large seabird deaths – this time involving young Common Murres - in the Pacific Northwest: “Oregon biologists say a large number of young common murres are dying along the coast. They’re asking the public to leave the black-and-white seabirds alone as they try to survive. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife officials say it’s not unusual to find young murres struggling around this time of year, as fledglings leave their nests and try to make it on their own. And this year’s numbers of dying or sick birds are higher than usual. Researchers say an extremely warm ocean along Oregon’s coast could be a factor, as warmer temperatures can kill the fish and crustaceans that the birds rely on for food. (via Oregon Public Broadcasting)
15. Grim story about Black Vultures as their range increases: Ranchers across the Midwest are battling black vultures, a federally protected bird that has a reputation for killing newborn livestock. While the birds play a major ecological role, their expanding population is becoming a big nuisance for producers. Yancy Paul recalls rushing across his lush-green pasture early last spring, opening gate after gate to get to his newborn calf that was swarmed by flocks of black vultures. “Before I could get to him, it was probably 40 or 50 of them just plucking at that newborn calf,” Paul said. The rancher helps his parents, Beth and Jim Little, raise beef cattle and sheep at their 800-acre farm in Lexington, Oklahoma. He said he’d heard about black vultures preying on newborn livestock, but it was a sight he had never seen. Now, he said he’ll never forget it. (via NPR Kansas City)
16. It’s back (in Gibraltar) !: A juvenile great spotted woodpecker perched in a Eucalyptus tree in the North Front cemetery was identified this week by local bird watcher Paul Rocca. Mr Rocca noticed an unfamiliar cry which he recognised as a woodpecker and after some time found it by the cemetery. The bird can be identified by the way it hops up tree trunks looking for grubs and ants to eat and most notably it’s red crown which will quickly recede as it ages. This is the second recorded sighting of a woodpecker in Gibraltar, the first being 46 years ago in 1977 by Ernest Garcia, John Cortes and Clive Finlayson, coincidentally the year before Mr Rocca started bird watching. (via Gibraltar Chronicle)
17. Finally, a lovely opinion piece in the LA Times by a school teacher reflecting on his nesting hawks: I have been thinking a lot about the hawks who return to live in my backyard late eachspring. Are they Cooper’s hawks? Sharp-shinned? Even practiced birders might relent and log these birds as either/or. In my neighborhood, a pair of small but vociferous falcons have lately been troubling my hawks, taking turns dive-bombing them in spectacular displays of aerial loops and twirls, intimidation through speed, agility and determination. The hawks just take it, hunched and resigned on a nearby telephone pole, like mute, stationary gargoyles guarding their castle. It is merlins — small falcons once known as “lady hawks” in the medieval hierarchy of falconry — that are hectoring my hawks. Their size belies their ferocity. Their association with the female might make one think that my affection lies with these small but mighty birds, but it does not. Hawks speak to me of home. It is to them that I pay my allegiance. (via Los Angeles Times)
Bird Videos of the Week
By ABC News, “Spying on Bird Migration with Weather Radar”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Hummingbirds.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Albatross Reunion.