Last year, vigilant Saudi Arabian officials detained an Israeli spy vulture yet apparently failed to foil the “Zionist espionage plot.” How else to explain the highly suspicious European Bee-Eater Turkish authorities are currently investigating. Damning evidence includes an Israeli bird band and unusually large nostrils. Birders of the world: if you see something, say something. (Hat-tip to Suzie Gilbert!)

Hawaii’s state bird, the endangered goose known as the Nene, has recovered from a population of a mere 30 birds in 1952 to over 2,000 today. The problem is that they seem to find the area around Lihue Airport irresistible so they have to be moved. Clearly there aren’t too many Nene but more habitat is needed.

Jim Coufal, writing for the Madison County Courier in upstate New York, shares his thoughts on the feral and outdoor cat problem.

The spill that keeps on giving – now petroleum compounds and the chemicals used to clean up the oil from BP’s massive spill two years ago in the Gulf of Mexico are showing up in eggs of breeding birds in Minnesota.