Loose Feathers #385

Greater Sage-Grouse / USFWS Photo

Birds and birding

• A Red-tailed Hawk attacked a Bald Eagle nest at Duke Farms and got more than it bargained for.
• According to data from the Big Garden Birdwatch, garden birds in the U.K. continued their declines, including a 17% decline in House Sparrows and a 16% decline in European Starlings.
• The nests of Monk Parakeets were removed from utility poles in Edgewater, New Jersey.
• A study of Great Tits found a correlation between appearance and reproductive success.
• A report by the US Fish and Wildlife Service details the most important habitat for the Greater Sage-Grouse, which may be listed under the Endangered Species Act in 2015.
• As the Polynesians colonized the Pacific islands 4,000 years ago, they drove many of the islands' endemic species into extinction, a toll of up to 1,300 species.
• Research on Lesser Prairie-Chickens in Texas has shown that the birds stay away from tall structures like wind turbines and power lines.
• Scientists have sequenced the genomes of Peregrine and Saker Falcons and found evidence of rapid evolution to hone their predatory adaptations.

Nature and science blogging

• ABA Blog: 2013 AOU Check-list Committee Proposals
• Not Exactly Rocket Science: Africa’s Weird Fairy Circles are Termite-Built Water Traps
• March of the Fossil Penguins: Plenty of Penguins Once Roamed Africa
• Outside My Window: Sniffing Their Way North
• Bug Girl's Blog: Planet of the Arthropods
• Extinction Countdown: ‘Extinct’ Indian Gecko Rediscovered After 135 Years
• The Loom: Ducks Meet the Culture Wars
• PhotoNaturalist: What’s Wrong With This Photo?

Environment and biodiversity

• Obama protected five new national monuments using his authority under the Antiquities Act. Two are administered by the Bureau of Land Management, and three will be administered by the National Park Service as historic sites.
• Last summer was the worst on record for British butterflies.
• A Canadian Pacific train spilled 30,000 gallons of crude oil in Minnesota.
• Erratic winter weather in the eastern United States and Europe is influenced by the loss of Arctic sea ice, which causes the jet stream to bend away from its normal path. Arctic sea ice hit its yearly maximum on March 15, the sixth-lowest maximum since 1979.
• Conservationists working to eliminate rats from Alcatraz found glowing millipedes on the island.
• A magnitude 5.7 earthquake in Oklahoma in 2011 was linked to the injection of oil-drilling wastewater underground.
• Peru declared an environmental state of emergency because of oil contamination from drilling operations along the Pastaza River in the Amazon.
• A massive pollination operation is required for the 85% of the world's almonds that grow in California's Central Valley.