This week in birds - #14

I thought all the American Goldfinches were long gone from my area, but this week a least one of the little birds, apparently a female, has been hanging around and visiting the thistle feeders. I had been intending to take them down. Now I'm glad I waited.

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The American Bird Conservancy's "Bird of the Week" is the beautiful Bahama Oriole, recently given full species status. The bird is critically endangered.

I think you'll agree that this beauty is a bird worth saving.

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Birdchick's fabulous birding blog has a post about the early migration of birds this year - especially that of hummingbirds.

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The dolphins in Barataria Bay off Louisiana's coast are seriously ill and their ailments are believed to be related to their exposure to the BP oil spill in 2010. That area was one of the hardest hit by the toxic oil.

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The sex lives of penguins in the Antarctic are being affected by the warming global climate. The Adelie and Chinstrap Penguins are being adversely affected and their populations are dwindling, but the Gentoo Penguins have been able to adapt their breeding cycles to the warmer conditions and they are thriving.

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Last Monday was Swallows' Day in San Juan Capistrano, California, the day that the Cliff Swallows of legend traditionally return to their homes at the mission there. This weekend there is a big festival in the area to celebrate the event.

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Queens in a honeybee hive are notoriously promiscuous, but it seems that there are benefits to this behavior.

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There is plenty of research to establish that noise pollution has a deleterious effect on birds, but studies now show that those effects extend to plants as well, because birds play such an important role in their reproduction.

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The survival of the endangered shorebird, the Red Knot, is closely tied to the population of horseshoe crabs on whose eggs they feed after their long flight from their wintering ground. Conservation organizations are lobbying states along the East Coast to do more to protect the crabs and thereby to protect the birds.

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The uber-adaptable coyote is colonizing the streets of New York City and its presence there may be having the effect of reducing the overpopulation of rats and raccoons in the city. The coyotes prey on these animals, but also they are competitors for food with the omnivores and they reduce the food that is available for them.

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Hoverflies cannot sting but they put on a great acting job to convince would-be predators that they can. They mimic wasps and bees in order to deter critters that might eat them.

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Male Nightingales sing their territorial songs more aggressively when they are responding to another male that is at an equal height to theirs.

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Most of the Monarch butterflies that migrate north from Mexico in the spring are hatched and mature along the way, but at least 10% of the migrants fly all the way from Mexico to their final destination.

A female Monarch visiting the milkweed in my yard this week. She left several eggs that will, with any luck, become the next generation of migrants.

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Around the backyard: The White-eyed Vireos started arriving this week. I heard their distinctive song in trees all around the yard all week.

And yes, at least one of my wintering Rufous Hummingbirds is still here. I saw her at the feeder today. There was also a male Ruby-throated Hummingbird there. I don't believe this is the same one that I'm seeing over several days in the yard. I think they move on rather quickly, but there always seems to be another to take the place of the one who's just left.

The territorial dispute between the Eastern Bluebirds and the Carolina Chickadees continues. There are two other perfectly good nesting boxes that are empty that either of the two could easily claim, but noooo! It has to be this one particular box. Sigh.