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The Fish and Wildlife Service is proceeding with its plan to reduce the invasive population of Barred Owls in the Northwest in order to help protect the indigenous Northern Spotted Owl. So far they have shot 70 of the Barred Owls.
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Ever wonder how birds survive in extremely cold weather like that experienced recently with the polar vortex storm? Well, down and feathers are among the warmest of insulations, but the real key is being able to find enough food. Birds eat as much as they possibly can to generate the heat they need.
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The California Condor is on a similar trajectory to the Passenger Pigeon, a bird which became extinct one hundred years ago this year. The condor is luckier though in that it has the protection of the Endangered Species Act. The Fish and Wildlife Service will soon be releasing its fifteen year plan for protecting the bird.
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Flocks of birds that fly in a v-shape formation are conserving energy. But how and why do they learn to do that? Is is instinctual or learned behavior? Scientists are learning that the answer is more complicated than they thought.
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Honestly, sometimes I just despair over the stupidity of the human race. A mated pair of endangered Whooping Cranes have been shot by some idiot in Kentucky. That is a federal crime and wildlife officials will be offering a reward for information leading to the arrest of the culprit.
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The conservative government of Canada (of all places!) seems to be conducting an all-out assault on the scientists of that country. They are closing research facilities, firing scientists, and, most appallingly, destroying scientific records. Their actions seem directed primarily at scientists and institutions that work in the field of climate science, but this has a ripple effect to other areas of scientific endeavor. And you thought this only happened in places like Texas.
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Common Ravens are known for their intelligence and it seems that they have figured out that greater height gives them an advantage when looking for prey. In the American West, they tend to build their nests on tall utility poles so that they can look out over a wider area.
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All things in Nature are related and if we pull on one thread, there is no telling what we may unravel. Specifically, large carnivores like mountain lions are very important to the health of the ecosystem, not only, it turns out, for their prey but for other species, even including insects and plants.
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To find out how falcons hunt their prey, scientists strapped backpacks containing video cameras on them, and they learned some very interesting and somewhat unexpected things.
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I tend to think of Norway as a very enlightened country but I may have to reconsider. It seems that they are intent upon exterminating their wolves.
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Although macaws will lay up to four eggs in their nests, they will only raise and fledge one chick. Scientists are studying this behavior to try to determine its evolutionary basis and why it would benefit the species.
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Around the backyard:
It was very noisy in the backyard this morning. A pair of Red-shouldered Hawks engaged in courtship displays in the sky above the yard. They were sometimes joined in their flight by a third hawk, a Red-tailed.
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There was another interesting visitor to the yard today - a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, the first one I had seen in the yard this winter.
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The feeders are dominated now by the American Goldfinches. Whenever I look at any of the feeders, they seem to be covered in goldfinches. That even includes the nyger seed feeders which they have finally discovered.
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I hope your backyard birds are well fed and that you are finding time to enjoy them this winter. Happy birding!
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