This week in birds - #84

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

Photo courtesy of ABC.

The White-breasted Thrasher, a bird of the islands of Martinique and St. Lucia, has been named by the American Bird Conservancy as the Bird of the Week. This species is endangered. There are believed to be about 1900 left in the wild. The White-breasted Thrasher is a close relative of our own Gray Catbird. The main threats to its continued existence are loss of habitat and predation by introduced species.

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Did you ever think you might be hauled into court for feeding birds in your yard? An elderly couple in New Jersey was, apparently after complaints from their neighbors. The case had dragged on for several months, but this week a municipal judge dismissed the complaint.

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Artificial noise and light in cities alters the biorhythms of urban birds. They tend to start their "dawn chorus" earlier than birds that live in rural, darker areas.

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A blog post this week about Sleepy Orange butterflies in New Mexico reminded me of pictures that I took of that species at Big Bend National Park last fall. The little butterflies were everywhere that we went in the refuge.

Color variations of the Sleepy Orange butterfly photographed in Big Bend NWR.

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Black Cockatoos in Western Australia are recolonizing abandoned and rehabilitated mining sites, proof that an ecosystem can come back, given time and maybe just a little human assistance.

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A deadly virus has killed over 400 dolphins along the Atlantic Coast of the U.S. over the past several months. As cooler conditions prevail in the North Atlantic and the dolphins migrate south to warmer waters, more deaths are expected.

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Plans are under way to turn an abandoned World War II era airfield in Britain into a pastoral refuge for birds and other wildlife.

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The Nez Perce in Idaho are protesting the transport through their lands of oil field equipment bound for the tar sands of Canada.

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Alternative sources of energy can prove hazardous for birds even as the extraction of oil and gas can. We know about the problems with wind turbines, but it appears that solar panels can be deadly as well. A solar generating station in California has reported a few dead birds around the station, some of which appear to have suffered burns. With solar power being increasingly used, this is a concern to conservationists.

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The fragmentation of forests by human development can lead to a rapid decline in the diversity of mammals in the ecosystem because of extinction of species, studies in Thailand have found.

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Urban birds appear to fare better in very cold winters than their rural cousins. Scientists believe this is due to the fact that they may be less reliant on one source of food. Plus, of course, in populated areas, many people provide supplemental food for the birds.

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Recent studies show that even though DDT was banned in the United States in 1972, it is still killing the endangered California Condor. The pesticide persists in the environment for a very long time. That should be a cautionary tale for us to stop and think before we introduce any chemical into the ecosystem.

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In recent years, there has been concern that the population of House Sparrows in Britain was on the decline and might be threatened, but it seems that the numbers have now stabilized. Actually, if the population needs replenishing, I'd be happy to donate all the dozens that call my yard home!