A bird of open fields and shores - the ubiquitous Killdeer.
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The political conventions are over and now it's onward to the election in less than two months. The two major candidates recently answered fourteen questions on science and technology policy from the magazine Scientific American. You can read their answers here.
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Western Scrub Jays have been observed to gather around the body of one of their comrades who has died and to vocalize in a way that has led observers to compare it to human funerals. We know that some animals, such as elephants, do seem to mourn a death in their group, but, in truth, we know very little about animal emotions and just how cognizant they may be regarding death.
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The autumn raptor migration has begun. Stokes Birding Blog this week had some information about the migration and tips on how to identify some of the common hawks that may be seen in flight.
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The recent passage of Hurricane Isaac through the Gulf stirred up old oil and tar balls from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill. Several miles of beach along the Louisiana coast had to be closed until the mess could be cleaned up. Also, oil-coated pelicans are again being found along the coast.
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Wind energy is certainly one of the most promising sources of a sustainable and renewable supply of energy needed by modern society, but the turbines continue to be a concern to conservationists because of the potential harm they can do to birds and bats. Engineers continue to try to build turbines that will pose less danger to the critters and they seem to be making significant progress.
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A plant that had been thought to be extinct in the wild, Franciscan manzanita, has been found growing in the middle of a busy traffic island in California. The plant was moved to a safer place and has now been placed on the endangered species list. This one plant is the only one known to exist in the wild, but surely there must be others.
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The huge Wandering Albatross can soar over the ocean for unbelievably long distances without ever having to flap its wings. Researchers are trying to learn how the bird is able to do that with the use of tiny GPS transmitters which they have taped between the wings of some of the birds in a breeding colony in the southern Indian Ocean. They are now receiving data and attempting to analyze it.
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Gardeners and birders in the UK are being asked by the British Trust for Ornithology to observe and report what kinds of berries the birds eat in their yard. It would be easy to answer that question for my yard: (1.) Elderberries, (2.) Pokeweed berries, (3.) Beautyberries.
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Wildlife advocates and employees of government agencies that are trying to protect shorebirds in the Outer Banks of North Carolina are being threatened, intimidated and sometimes even assaulted by private property rights types who resent their trying to control the use of off-road vehicles on the beaches. These vehicles do incalculable damage to nests of shorebirds and to the actual birds themselves, some of them endangered or threatened species.
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In another environmental battleground, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection has authorized the clear-cutting of a section of Bull Island along the Delaware River. Some local conservationists are up in arms about the plan because they feel it will do irreparable harm to the sensitive ecological balance of the area.
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I've written often here about the perilous state of many native Hawaiian birds. Recently, scientists have attempted to reintroduce the rare Millerbird to a northwestern island in the chain, Laysan, from which it had been extirpated. This week twenty-eight birds were successfully released on the island.
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Around the backyard:
Well, that didn't take long. I told you last week about installing new bird and squirrel feeders in my front yard. Now, birds are notoriously leery of any change in their surroundings. Such skittishness is important to their survival. For the first couple of days, they wouldn't go near the new feeder, but in the late afternoon of the second day, I noticed one brave Northern Cardinal was actually eating sunflower seeds from the feeder. The next day, all the usual suspects were back and were feeding normally.
Doves always feel more comfortable when they travel in groups and these two White-wings landed in unison on top of the feeder. You can see that the one on the right is still in the middle of his molt and looks pretty disheveled. One of the nice things about this new feeder is that the feeding trays are narrower than the old feeder and are just about too narrow for big birds like the doves to feed there. Of course, there is still plenty of fallen seed on the ground for them to eat.
As I've noted before, the House Finches - a female here - much prefer to feed in the front yard rather than out back. They seem especially happy with the new feeder.
Meanwhile, a male cardinal decided to try out the new squirrel feeder. Well, turn about is fair play after all. The squirrels have been eating from his feeder for years.
That looked so good to the House Finch that she decided to try it, too!
There are still lots of juvenile cardinals, identified by their dark rather than red bills, in the yard. I caught this one as she (I think) landed on the front yard bird bath. You can see that this bird, too, is still in the middle of its molt and is having an especially bad hair day!
One of the big Eurasian Collared-doves joins three White-wings under the feeder for a late afternoon snack.
So, things are back to normal in the front yard with one big change: The squirrels can no longer access the bird feeder with the result that I have not had to refill it all week. Ah, progress!
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