1. Rocky the stowaway owl is back in the wild. The tiny Saw-whet owl was named Rockefeller after it was found by a worker setting up the holiday tree Nov. 16 at Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center. The owl was trapped in the 75-foot-tall Norway spruce when it was cut down 170 miles north, in upstate New York, on Nov. 12. The female owl was uninjured but hadn’t eaten for at least three days when she was discovered and sent to Ravensbeard Wildlife Center in the Hudson Valley town of Saugerties. There, a rehabilitator nursed her back to health for a week with plenty of mice before Rocky was cleared to continue her migratory journey south. (via The Los Angeles Times)
2. Few birds capture our hearts and imagination like the American Kestrel. With a royal-colored mantle, American Kestrels are undoubtedly our most colorful raptor. Sadly, the American Kestrels now face similar threats other raptors did during the second half of the 20th century. Formerly one of our most plentiful birds of prey, the kestrel is declining across portions of its range, sometimes in devastating numbers. Thankfully, some researchers are starting to break through the fog after analyzing prior data. The American Kestrel Partnership, a project of The Peregrine Fund, is one such group of scientists. Now, it believes the key to understanding the kestrel’s decline lies in their wintering grounds or during migration. (via Audubon)
3. An organ that allows some birds to detect the movement of hidden prey by plunging their beaks into the ground seems to have been present in early birds 70 million years ago, and probably first appeared in their dinosaur ancestors. Special “remote touch” sensory receptors known as Herbst corpuscles, which are found within densely packed pits in the beak’s tip, help birds detect the movement of worms in soil or small fish in water – even several centimetres away from the beak. This effectively gives birds a “sixth sense”, according to Carla du Toit at the University of Cape Town in South Africa and her colleagues. (via New Scientist)
4. Most of the money for protecting and conserving wildlife and habitat comes from government programs, philanthropic organizations, or the public. But conserving Earth's ecosystems and species requires hundreds of billions dollars more than what is currently spent. Fortunately, there might be another way. Innovative Finance for Conservation: Roles for Ecologists and Practitioners, explores how private investment could boost conservation in a big way. The report, which has just been released by the Ecological Society of America, offers guidelines for developing standardized, ethical, and effective conservation finance projects. (via EurekaAlert)
5. There would be at least four times as many flightless bird species on Earth today if it were not for human influences, finds a study led by UCL researchers. The study, published in Science Advances, finds that flightlessness evolved much more frequently among birds than would be expected if you only looked at current species. Researchers say their findings show how human-driven extinctions have biased our understanding of evolution. (via Phys Org)
6. Every day, scientists uncover startling new information that reshapes our understanding of the ancient world. The latest groundbreaking discovery concerns a bird from the late Cretaceous period with a very big beak — so big it charts a new course in evolutionary history. In a study published Wednesday in Nature, researchers describe a previously unknown species, Falcatakely forsterae, an ancient bird with an unusually large beak resembling that of a modern-day toucan. (via Inverse)
7. All across Europe, species are disappearing, and nowhere faster than on agricultural lands. But a fresh wind is blowing across this damaged landscape. The EU, which positions itself as a world leader on environmental issues, has lately recognized its failure to promote a food system that safeguards nature. And over the last couple of years, several regions have shown how the declines in wildlife populations might be reversed—with Bavaria a leading example of the trend. In Bavaria, a grassroots movement did what seemed impossible: It took on the state’s powerful farming industry—and won. (via National Geographic)
8. Leaders with Cornell’s Lab of Ornithology are speaking out against a Trump administration plan to eliminate environmental protections for birds. At issue — the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Director of Conservation Science, Amanda Rodewald, says it protects against the unintentional harming of birds. “Let’s say as in the case of say an oil spill, birds are not the focus. No one’s specifically trying to harm birds. However, certain activities, if not conducted with an appropriate level of care and caution can be considered really negligent. And have really strong negative impacts for birds. And it’s those ones that are no longer enforced as part of this act.” (via WHCO Radio)
9. Listers take note: Birders have been flocking to Turville Point Conservation Park in Madison, WI for a glimpse of a bird rare to Wisconsin that’s been hanging around far out of its normal range and creating a lot of excitement in birding circles. Nate Graham spotted the black-throated gray warbler two weeks ago at Turville woods after learning about the bird’s arrival on the bird-tracking website eBird. “It’s associated with the mountains out West and then it shows up in Madison, which has only happened a few times before. So this bird, it’s just really out of place. It’s a bird that isn’t likely to be seen here again in years. It’s a great opportunity for people.” (via Wisconsin State Journal)
10. Well, he got the human part right back in 1684: One of the great scientific mysteries from the ancient Greeks to the 17th century: Where did the birds go in winter? In 1684, an anonymous professor, most likely renegade physicist Charles Morton, published a pamphlet entitled “An Enquiry into the Physical and Literal Sense of that Scripture.” As well as writing one of America’s most widely used physics textbooks before Isaac Newton turned everything upside down with calculus and universal gravitation, Morton wrote about alchemy and astrology. It seems he’d read Godwin’s tale of the lunar swan vehicle. In the pamphlet, he advanced a scientific argument that birds really did winter on the moon. And if birds could do it, then surely humans, though unwinged, could follow. (via MIT Press)
Bird Photo of the Week
By Hap Ellis, White-winged Scoters.
Bird Videos of the Week
By Popular Science, “The TRUE STORY of Hitchcock’s The Birds”.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Canada Jays.
Cornell Live Bird Cam - Western Meadowlark.