Derek Kverno has already created epic blog travelogues of his stints in Ecuador and Tanzania. Now he’s moved to Brazil, which means we get to vicariously explore the avifauna of another bird-rich country. Awesome!

Ever wonder why displaying a disrespectful middle finger is called flipping the bird? Brian Palmer at Slate breaks down birds’ long association with taunting. Anyone who’s recently missed a target bird (perhaps a Black Rail) can relate!

Amazingly, it was a visiting birder from New York who discovered Neotropic Cormorants breeding in the Wakodahatchee Wetlands.  Congratulations to Ardith Bondi for the great find!

A team of researchers has found that the populations of common birds around the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan has plummeted. Most disturbingly, the populations of species that the area has in common with Chernobyl has fallen more in Fukushima than they did in the site of worst nuclear disaster in world history.