Loose Feathers #173

Hawaiian Moorhen at Hanalei NWR / Photo by John and Karen Hollingswood (USFWS)

Bird and birding news

• Richmond, VA, is trying to clear starlings off its Benjamin Harrison Birdge with the help of the USDA. The latter is leaving out poisoned bait for the starlings; risks to peregrine falcons and other local raptors are unclear. The poison is the same as that used to kill starlings in Griggstown, NJ.
  
• A new initiative in New England is encouraging birders to switch to shade-grown coffee to help birds. Neotropical migrants are way down thanks to deforestation in the tropics, which is partly driven by sun coffee industry.
• The wild whooping crane flocked that winters in Aransas, TX, suffered significant mortality this year despite reaching a record population level.
• Mongabay has an interview with one of the biologists creating the EDGE list for birds.
  
• A Maryland birder saw 189 species in the month of January. Four others saw more than 180. The previous state record was 178.
  
• A man attempted to smuggle two pigeons into Australia in his pants.
  

Birds in the blogosphere

• Coffee and Conservation: When birders drink Folger's
• Tails of Birding: Some Curiosities in Bird Names
• WarblerWatch: Wilson’s Warbler: Abundant, Yet Vulnerable
• IBRRC: Ubiquitous Canada Geese tangle with NY jet
• Natural Notes: This Gull's Not Laughing
  

Environmental and biodiversity news

• The ash from the TVA disaster was far more toxic than the federal government and TVA admitted.
  
• Salazar canceled leases for drilling on 110,000 acres of wilderness in Utah. The Bush administration had tried to sneak the lease auction through in December, but the auction was disrupted by a protester who entered bids himself. Other bids had become tied up in a federal lawsuit.
• Collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would raise sea levels 20-23 feet – higher than predicted by the IPCC. That rise would flood most coastal cities.
• A warmer climate means giant snakes!!!
• The discovery of fossial animal steroids in Oman pushes back the origin of multicellular animals by about 100 million years, to 635 million years before the present. The steroids were produced by sponges.
  
• A large solar power array is being planned for Vineland, NJ. The 28-acre array would be twice the size of the state's current largest array. (via EnviroPolitics)
• New amphibian species were found recently in Colombia and India.
  

Carnivals and newsletters

• I and the Bird #93
• Carnival of the Blue #21
  
• Circus of the Spineless #35
• Birds in the News #158
• Carnival of the Arid #1
  
• Festival of the Trees #32
• BirdLife News-Bytes