This week in birds - #18

(Photo of Prothonotary Warbler by Greg Lavaty courtesy of ABC.)

The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is the beautiful Prothonotary Warbler, to my mind perhaps the prettiest of all the warblers. The Prothonotary is a hole-nester of southeastern swamps, often nesting in a rotting tree standing over water. They will sometimes use birdhouses that are placed close to water. Population numbers of this lovely bird have declined due to the clearing of southern swamp forests, but it is still fairly common in appropriate habitats. 

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A couple of researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine have identified cells in a pigeon's brain that record detailed information on the earth's magnetic field, a kind of biological compass. This built-in GPS helps the birds to navigate and find their way home. It has long been speculated that birds navigate using the earth's magnetic fields, but this study, described by one scientist as "a stunning piece of work" pinpoints the areas that make it possible.

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On April 10th, 61 percent of the lower 48 states were listed by the U.S. Drought Monitor to be in abnormally dry or drought conditions. Moreover, states west of the Rocky Mountains are poised for a dry, hot summer, because those areas received less than 70 percent of the average snowfall according to USDA National Water & Climate Center, meaning less water in available in streams, lakes and watersheds.

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Every year nearly 7 million birds die as they migrate from North America to Central and South America and back again, according to a new study. They are killed by the 84,000 communication towers that dot North America and can rise nearly 2,000 feet into the air.

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Researchers have found that birds with feathers in the red, orange and chestnut palette are more likely to suffer from eye damage due to cataracts. The question is why this should be. 

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New research indicates that the water cycle of evaporation and condensation has sped up over the last fifty years and threatens to continue to accelerate if the heating up of the planet is not slowed or reversed. Climate scientists worry that this will cause more extreme weather, including severe droughts and floods.  

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Male Bowerbirds of Australia build elaborate structures to attract mates. They use plants, including fruits and flowers in their decorations and thus sometimes wind up planting seeds and becoming accidental gardeners. 

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Scientists have found that day length affects genes differentially in some bird species. The lengthening days in spring trigger the urge to mate in the birds. 

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Colombia has doubled the size of a preserve set aside for the protection of the critically endangered Fuertes's Parrot. 

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Mexico has become the second country in the world, after the UK, to pass a comprehensive climate change bill for the purpose of controlling emissions which contribute to the warming of the planet. 

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Around the backyard: It has been a very exciting week in the backyard. My yard has been Warbler Central all week as various warblers pass through on their way north. In addition to the Yellow-breasted Chat that I reported on earlier in the week, I have seen a beautiful Blue-winged Warbler, a Common Yellowthroat, and what may have been a Swainson's Warbler. And who knows how many I've missed.

Baby birds have been fledging all week, as well. The Northern Cardinals that grew up in a nest behind my garden shed are out and about in the yard now.

Here's one of the young ones perched on a crape myrtle limb. Although the fledglings may be almost as large as their parents, you can identify them as babies because of their dark beaks. As they grow to adulthood, their beaks will turn red like their parents'.

Elsewhere, the female Eastern Bluebird is brooding four pretty blue eggs in her nest in my vegetable garden.

Whenever I'm working among the veggies, she pokes her head out of the box periodically to check on my location. She doesn't trust me one whit. If only she knew, she has nothing to fear from me.