Birds in the News
grrlscientist | April 17, 2006
Dark-eyed junco, Junco hyemalis.
Click image for a larger view in its own window.
Photo by Dawn Bailey and appears here by permission.
Birds in Science
A Duke University evolutionary ecologist reported evidence that aggressive male western bluebirds, Sialia mexicana, out-compete less aggressive males for preferred breeding territories, a finding that may offer more insight into how evolution operates. This research, conducted by Renée Duckworth suggests the birds may play more active roles in their own natural selection than traditional models of evolution would support. Further, it was…
grrlscientist | April 13, 2006I am going to try an experiment. For this next month, I will publish Birds in the News on Monday instead of Friday. I want to expose it to a greater readership than it currently enjoys. So this issue will be postponed until Monday.
grrlscientist | April 8, 2006Okay, everyone, I just wanted to let you know that Birds in the News will be back this Friday, as usual. I just hit a rough patch this past two weeks, and have been struggling with absolutely everything, and BitN is, as I've said, a fairly big commitment, so it was easiest to get frustrated with it.
To answer some comments, I have thought about publishing one section each day, rather than all sections together weekly, but the news stories don't pop up in topical aggregates like that, so I really don't know how I would do that. I have also thought about publishing it on a different day (I…
grrlscientist | April 6, 2006Due to a lack of interest, Birds in the News is postponed, possibly indefinitely. Thanks to my bird pals for sending bird news story links to me throughout the lifetime of Birds in the News.
tags: Birds in the News, ornithology, birds, avian
grrlscientist | March 31, 2006
Canada Goose, Branta canadensis, with reflection.
Click image for larger view in another window.
Photo: TFlockhart.
Avian Mysteries
Hundreds of the seabirds known as rhinoceros auklets, Cerorhinca monocerata (pictured, left), have died and are washing up on the southern Oregon coast, but scientists haven't settled on an explanation for their deaths. Beach observers say that hundreds of carcasses -- as many as 20 to 30 per mile -- were reported last week. Explanations include a storm that killed lots of birds as they were gathering for breeding season and warming ocean waters that are…
grrlscientist | March 23, 2006
Great Horned Owl nestling, Bubo virginianus.
Photo copyright by Bill Hilton Jr.
Contact Bill to purchase this and other photos, the sales of which support the
wonderful work done by Hilton Pond Center.
People Helping Birds
The chimney swifts are coming! Have you seen them yet? If so, Chimneyswifts.org would like to hear from you! This is an organization that promotes the conservation of Chimney Swifts, Chaetura pelagica (pictured), through public education, preservation of existing habitat and creation of new nesting and roosting sites. It appears that they have been doing the project for…
grrlscientist | March 16, 2006
Carolina Parakeets, Conuropsis carolinensis, (also known as Carolina Conures)
Click image for much larger version in its own window.
Painting by John James Audubon (1785-1851).
Birds in Science
What is responsible for the brilliant coloring in birds? Kevin McGraw heads a group of researchers studying the function and evolution of bird coloration. McGraw focused his initial research on parrots, which are unusual among birds in their ability to display brilliant colors with little variation between species. Most animals appear to be incapable of synthesizing cartenoids, which make reds,…
grrlscientist | March 9, 2006
Barred Owl, Strix varia, with mouse.
Photo by AJ Hand.
Click on image for a larger view in its own window.
Voting has commenced for the 2005 Koufax Awards and Birds in the News was nominated for the Best Series award. Voting is occurring RIGHT NOW to identify the 6-10 top finalists for this category, so get over there and vote for Birds in the News for the best series award!
Birds in Science
Although they have brains about the size of a grain of rice, hummingbirds have superb memories when it comes to food, according to recently published research. "To our knowledge, this is the first…
grrlscientist | March 2, 2006
Condor in the Torres del Paine.
Photo courtesy of Ron Cook.
Click image for MUCH larger view in its own window.
Special Bird Note
Tomorrow, 4 March, is the anniversary of the first issue of Birds in the News. As of tomorrow, I have been digging up, linking to and commenting on news stories about birds for one calendar year. Originally, I began this link harvest because I wanted to demonstrate the value of birds in our every day lives using real life examples .. and what was better to accomplish this goal than to gather together links for international news stories about birds? I also…
grrlscientist | February 23, 2006Note: On 4 March, Birds in the News will be one year old!
The newest Archaeopteryx fossil.
Click image for a slightly larger view in its own window.
Birds in Science
A mutant chick, called Talpid, that died before hatching 50 years ago, was found to have a full set of crocodile-like chompers, as well as severe limb defects. But because no one ever looked inside the chickâs mouth, its teeth remained undiscovered until recently. Researchers recently created more Talpids by tweaking the genes of normal chickens to grow teeth. "What we discovered were teeth similar to those of crocodiles -- not…
grrlscientist | February 16, 2006
Bald eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus.
Click image for larger view in its own window.
Birds in Science
A fossil of one adult Psittacosaurus dinosaur surrounded by 34 juveniles (pictured), has provided the most compelling evidence to date that dinosaurs raised their young after hatching. But what makes this 125-million-year old fossil find from Liaoning province more convincing is that the skeletons are complete, and crowded together in life-like positions with their legs tucked under and heads raised, indicating that they were buried alive rather than swept together after death. âIt looks…
grrlscientist | February 9, 2006
Mountain Owlet-Nightjar, Aegotheles albertisi .
Photo by Bruce Beehler.
Click image for larger version in its own window.
Birds in Science
A team of 25 American, Australian and Indonesian scientists flew by helicopter last December into the midst of a large tract of uninhabited tropical forest in New Guinea where they discovered a "lost world" brimming with new wildlife. Permit me to brag just this once, but I wrote a story about this that you might enjoy.
Congratulations to a colleague of mine from grad school, Brian Walker, because he made the front page of the NY Times Science section…
grrlscientist | January 26, 2006
Female Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus.
By Bill Ferensen, Seattle.
(click image for Bill's site).
People Hurting Birds
Deceived by all the bird flu sensationalism, an Egyptian farmer abandoned 10,000 newly hatched chicks to their fate on a desert road east of Cairo fearing they might be infected with the deadly bird flu virus, a police official said on Wednesday. Shocked motorists travelling on the road about 130 km (80 miles) east of Cairo contacted police after seeing the chicks running loose on the tarmac on Tuesday, the official added. Health officials gathered the chicks and confirmed…
grrlscientist | January 19, 2006
Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis.
Photo by permission. Arthur Morris, Birds as Art.
Birds in Science
Two University of Canterbury biologists are part of a team whose evolutionarily-informed approach to conservation is aiding the recovery of New Zealand's critically endangered parrot, the kakapo, Strigops habroptilus (pictured). Bruce Robertson and Neil Gemmell, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, are members of a research team that has just had a paper published in the Royal Society of London's prestigious journal Biology Letters. The manuscript outlines how the team, led by…
grrlscientist | January 13, 2006
Western Grebe, Aechmophorus occidentalis
copyright by Ted Steinke.
Birds in Science;
Researchers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, believe they have located a place in the brain where songbirds store the memories of their parents' songs. The discovery has implications for humans, because humans and songbirds are among the few animals that learn to vocalize by imitating their caregivers. In a paper published this week in the top scientific journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, David Vicario and Mimi Phan of Rutgers, and Carolyn Pytte of Wesleyan University…