Let us no more speak of this week’s extraordinary failure by a cast of Falcons to finish off their prey. Instead, we’ve got other bird news to cheer us up (or at least take our minds off avian’s inexplicable inability to capture U.S. sports championships).
Breeding bird surveys appears to show the resplendent Allen’s Hummingbird (like Corey’s capture, above) in decline—but not in Southern California, where examination of eBird data reveals that members of a residential population appear to be faring much better than their migrating brethren. (To see some in action, check out Bella Hummingbird’s site on Explore.org!)
Could scientists use weather radar data to track the spread of avian influenza, and thereby help poultry growers protect their flocks? That’s the subject of a study focusing on California’s agriculture-rich Central Valley.
How big was your life list when you were nine years old? This lucky youngster from Massachusetts has almost 300 ticks, but just added his favorite—a Great Gray Owl his supportive family drove hundreds of miles to glimpse.
Project FeederWatch data prove that woodpeckers are at the top of the backyard bird feeder pecking order.
If you’re a cuckoo or cowbird hoping to pawn off your parenting duties on another species, new brood parasitism research shows you’ll have better luck if the eggs you deposit in their nest are blue-green instead of brown. (And as a ferocious storm bears down on much of the northern U.S., contemplating the pretty blue eggs are American Robins are soon to lay is a good coping strategy.)
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