This week in birds - #75

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

Photo by Peter LaTourrette courtesy of American Bird Conservancy.

Scripps's Murrelet is a small robin-sized seabird that nests on the Channel Islands off the California coast and several islands off Baja California. It was only recognized as a separate species in 2012 when it was split from the population of Xantus's Murrelet once known as the "northern" race. Xantus's Murrelet was split into Scripps’s and Guadalupe Murrelets based on a lack of evidence of interbreeding, differences in facial pattern and bill shape, and differences in vocalizations and genetics. This little bird is the American Bird Conservancy's bird of the week.

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It turns out that the rise of the environmental movement is closely linked to the popularization of bird watching. And my reaction to that headline was, "Well, duh!" Birds are everywhere and are one of the most easily accessible parts of Nature. All that was needed was for there to be some way to make people really see the birds and learn to identify them and appreciate their differences. And for that, again, we owe an eternal debt of gratitude to the godfather of bird watching, Roger Tory Peterson, who died in 1996. 

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The University of Michigan has a research program involving the Gray Catbird. They are attempting to identify the bird's migration routes with the use of geolocators.

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Birders from around the country are flocking to Bosque del Apache in New Mexico, hoping to see a rare visitor from the tropics, a Rufous-necked Wood Rail. 

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Luna moths are large beautiful lime-green moths that you might encounter clinging to your door frame when you walk outside in the morning. Audubon Guides is featuring them in their species spotlight.

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Migratory birds trying to cross the Mediterranean area from Europe to Africa (or back in the spring) face daunting hazards created by the humans who live there. They are trapped or shot in the millions each year. The very worst place on Earth for them, says author Jonathan Franzen a devoted birder, is Egypt.

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service plans to kill more than 3,000 Barred Owls that have expanded their range into the Pacific Northwest and are overrunning the territory of the embattled Northern Spotted Owl. I understand that this is deemed necessary to help save the endangered owl, but it just hurts my heart.

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The Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East is suing dozens of energy companies, hoping that the courts will force them to pay for decades of damage to fragile coastal wetlands that help buffer the effects of hurricanes on the region. The suit was denounced by Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal. Wait a minute - isn't he supposed to be protecting those wetlands from exploitation and destruction?

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Female Heliconius butterflies, of which the common Gulf Fritillary of our area is one, have taste sensors in their feet which help them to recognize the appropriate host plant (passionvine) on which to lay their eggs.

Gulf Fritillary on jatropha blossom in my backyard.

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In some parts of the world, collecting the eggs of wild birds is still considered a "hobby" even when it is illegal. Some of these people are truly obsessed and some of the most obsessed seem to live in the UK, where conservation groups are trying hard to control the practice.

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The severe drought in Queensland, Australia, has caused many birds of the forests and grasslands to enter towns. Thousands of them perching on power lines have actually caused blackouts in some areas. 

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Scientists struggling to understand the causes of the massive honeybee die off have discovered that exposure to fungicides makes the bees more susceptible to attack from a particular parasite.

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Climate scientist Michael Mann has been the target of incessant and vituperative attacks from climate deniers, including members of Congress, over the years. Now he is fighting back in the courts with a defamation suit against some of his chief detractors. This week a DC Superior Court found that indeed there was "actual malice" in the attackers' statements and it allowed the suit to proceed. 

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Around the backyard:

Things have definitely slowed down here in the last couple of weeks but the bird feeders continue to be emptied on a regular basis. I filled them all again yesterday. And still the most popular food that I'm offering is the melt-proof suet cakes. I swear the birds seem to be inhaling them!

Still lots of young Northern Cardinals like this one photographed late one afternoon this week. The cardinals, both juvenile and adult, love to visit the feeders late in the day. They are usually the last ones to leave as darkness falls.