This week in birds - #42

A roundup of this week's news of birds and the environment:

The American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week this week is the American Golden Plover which they featured in their newsletter in its breeding plumage as you see here. This is how it would look in spring but at this time of year, it looks more drab, somewhat like the fall-plumaged Black-bellied Plover (its close cousin) that I showed you on Wednesday. This bird is not yet threatened or endangered but its population is decreasing due to habitat destruction and to its being hunted in the Caribbean.

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And speaking of the ABC, the organization has completed a study of the status of birds in all fifty of the United States and its territories and has determined that fully one-third of those birds are in need of help. 

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This is really hard for me to believe, but it seems that that ubiquitous bird, the House Sparrow, is disappearing from cities in India! Conservation groups there are concerned about the birds and are trying to find ways to help them. It is believed that they are being endangered by high pollution and by the increased use of pesticides. 

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Winter finches continue to pour south from Canada and the northern states because of a crop failure in the seeds and nuts that they rely on. This week the star of the irruption show was the beautiful Evening Grosbeak. What I would give to have some of these wonderful birds turn up in my yard this winter!

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A new study has concluded that a meteorite that landed in the Moroccan desert last summer was ejected from the surface of Mars some 700,000 years ago. It is composed mostly of black glass with noble gases trapped inside.

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Environmental groups are concerned that a rodenticide used to control the population of black-tailed priarie dogs could pose a danger to a wide range of prairie bird species including Bald and Golden Eagles, Burrowing Owls, Ferruginous Hawks, as well as many songbirds. The rodenticide is an indiscriminate killer. 

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Bird extinctions are continuing and increasing world-wide, in spite of some successes in protecting individual species. The most vulnerable species continue to be those on islands.

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The whirling blades of the turbines at wind farms can be deadly for migrating birds and for bats. Conservation groups are particularly concerned about a facility in Maryland and have banded together to ask for changes which they hope will better protect the animals. 

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The Compound Eye blog at Scientific American has a picture of a praying (or is it preying?) mantis. Here's my own picture of one from my garden. 

As a habitat gardener, I know that mantises are great partners that help me control some nasty insects.

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A European effort to save the critically endangered Northern Bald Ibis received a setback this week when one of the iconic birds was shot by poachers as it made its way to its wintering grounds in Tuscany. The bird was shot by illegal hunters in Italy. Migrating birds must fly a gauntlet of these hunters twice a year in spring and autumn and uncounted numbers of them do not make it. 

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BirdLife International has issued a new seabird atlas which identifies 3,000 oceanic sites that are critical to the survival of these birds. The organization's hope is that this atlas will spur protection efforts for these sites.

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A team of European astronomers have discovered a new planet with the same mass as the earth. The planet is located in the triple-star Alpha Centauri system, which is our Sun's closest stellar neighbor, a mere 4.4 light years away.

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Around the backyard:

Things have been pretty quiet, actually, I suspect because the Cooper's Hawk seems ever-present these days. He even seems to be growing used to my presence and no longer takes flight the moment he (she) sees me. Maybe I'll finally be able to get a good picture!

The bird who considers himself boss of the backyard, the Northern Mockingbird, keeps a close eye on things and maintains a close lookout for that tricky hawk.