Friday, May 25, 2007

Loose Feathers #100

Cape May Warbler / Photo by Steve Maslowski (USFWS)

News and links about birds, birding, and the environment.

  • BirdLife International recently updated its Red List of threatened species. It found that 1,221 species are threatened with extinction. Another 812 are considered to be near-threatened. That means that a fifth of the world's bird species require conservation action. Fact sheets on all 10,000 species are available here.
  • A group of palaeontologists has challenged the claim that fibers preserved on a fossil Sinosauropteryx represent early feathers. [Full article (pdf)]
  • Mispillion Harbor in Delaware has a new nature center. The center focuses on the ecology of the Delaware estuary, particularly shorebirds and horseshoe crabs. Also in Delaware, a total of six piping plover pairs are nesting at Cape Henlopen.
  • Maryland's Board of Public Works stopped a planned housing development on Kent Island due to concerns about the 1350-home project's impact on wetlands and the Chesapeake Bay.
  • Peregrine falcons have hatched chicks on top of the Throgs Neck Bridge in New York City. Currently there are 16 pairs of peregrines raising chicks in the city.
  • Cormorant control is on the agenda in Toronto and northeastern Michigan.
  • Least terns are suffering a sharp decline in Florida's Tampa region. Conservationists are asking businesses to provide gravel roofs for nesting.
  • An oil spill in England is threatening the lives of many birds, including a pair of avocets, a species which rarely breeds in northeastern England.
  • Here are 10 ways to attract birds to your yard.
Birds in the blogosphere.
Blog carnivals and news links.