This week in birds - #73

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

Photo by Greg Homel, courtesy of American Bird Conservancy.

The pretty but threatened Mountain Plover is the Bird of the Week for the American Bird Conservancy. The bird breeds in southwest Canada, Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado, with smaller numbers in New Mexico and the Oklahoma panhandle. The population stands at about 9,000 birds but it is decreasing and the species has been given "red" status on the U.S. Watchlist. That designates a species of "highest concern."

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'Tis the season for West Nile Virus, although we haven't heard much about it in our area this year. One of the "benefits" of a drought is that there are fewer mosquitos around. I'm able to sit in my backyard at twilight without first slathering myself in bug spray. But West Nile Virus is still out there and it is deadly for birds. Researchers have been working to develop a vaccine which will protect birds and/or humans against the virus and they think they have one that just might work.

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Soot from forest fires is just one more factor that is a part of the feedback loop that contributes to the greenhouse effect that is at the root of human-caused global warming.

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The Powdermill Avian Research Center, part of Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Powdermill Nature Reserve, is the longest-continuously running bird banding station in the United States, and has assembled one of North America's largest census data sets on migratory songbird populations.

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As the climate warms up, snakes become more active, and the more active they become, the more birds they eat.

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Gardeners and butterfly afficianados around the country are reporting fewer than normal butterflies this summer, but there is one critter that doesn't seem to have been held back by the weird weather. It's been a boom time for dragonflies.

I photographed this one, one of several I've seen around the yard this week, at my little goldfish pond a couple of days ago. I'm not entirely sure of his identify but I believe he is a Blue Dasher.

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Interesting piece in The New York Times this week about the native prickly pear cactus.  The flowers of the plant are a bee's dream, loaded with pollen and easy to locate and access.

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The Great Indian Bustard is a critically endangered bird of the Indian subcontinent. A panel of conservationists has been established to study ways to save the bird and to come up with a plan for its conservation.

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Here's a heads-up: National Moth Week is coming up - July 20-28. Moths are some of our most important and most beautiful pollinators, although they generally play second fiddle to their gaudy cousins, the butterflies. Get ready to show the moths in your area some love during their week!

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One of the UK's most threatened bird species is experiencing a resurgence this breeding season and ornithologists who have been monitoring the Ring Ouzel are thrilled.

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A new study suggests that small, short-lived birds may be better able to adapt to changes in climate than larger, long-lived birds.

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If you are a reader and you enjoy science books, the Scientific American has a suggested list for your summer reading pleasure. One of the books on the list is titled Zombie Tits, Astronaut Fish and Other Weird Animals, and if that doesn't pique your interest, I don't know what would!

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Around the backyard:

There's actually not much I can add to the summary I gave you yesterday in "Random bits." It's hot and the birds are hungry and molting.

I hope you are managing to stay cool and keep the birds in your yard fed and, even more importantly, watered. Happy birding!