Loose Feathers #608

Greater Sage-Grouse / Photo by Tom Koerner/USFWS

Birds and birding news

• According to a recent study, livestock grazing and roads have worse effects on Greater Prairie-Chickens' nesting success than wind energy facilities.
• This week the Interior Department weakened protections for sage grouse that had been implemented to prevent endangered listing during the Obama administration.
• The preen gland of birds like Zebra Finches gets larger during the breeding season. 
• Isotopes in penguin feathers can reveal their migration route.
• As the desert Southwest’s heat waves grow hotter, bigger and more frequent, songbirds struggle to survive.
• Sandpipers are already on their way south.
• Here is an article about birding the New Jersey Botanical Garden.

Science and nature blogging

• ABA Blog: 2017 ABA Big Year Updates: Three Over 700
• 10,000 Birds: More than a mouthful can be a really bad thing!  
• The Nature of Cities: Black Cockatoo Rising: The Struggle to Save the Bushland in the City
• Your Wild Life: What to Do About the Ants in Your Kitchen
• Feathered Photography: Male Red-naped Sapsucker – An Interloper
• Bird Ecology Study Group: Large-tailed Nightjar’s enormous gape
• Mia McPherson's On The Wing Photography: Canada Geese and How Their Calls Signal a Change of Seasons For Me
• The Meadowlands Nature Blog: Don Torino’s Life in the Meadowlands: Some Thoughts Before You Cut Down a Tree 
• awkward botany: Summer of Weeds: Stinking Lovegrass

Environment and biodiversity

• The USDA kills thousands of animals (both wildlife and pets) each year with cyanide bombs, which kill indiscriminately.
• USDA has also begun censoring use of the term 'climate change' under the new administration. 
• Artificial lights discourage nocturnal pollinators from visiting nearby plants.
• American Pikas are adapting to climate change by changing their foraging behavior and making use of different habitats, which are among several adaptation strategies documented in wildlife. 
• Citizen scientists can help answer questions about how wildlife is adapting (or not) to climate change by collecting data. 
• Contractors for the border wall cleared a portion of the privately-owned National Butterfly Center without warning.
• This article has a map showing where the new border wall sections will be built, including the sections in the National Butterfly Center and Santa Ana NWR.
• Significant climate events in the U.S. in July included unusually heavy rains in the Midwest and Northeast and unusually hot and dry conditions along the Pacific coast and Alaska. 
• The PennEast pipeline is likely to move ahead now that FERC has a quorum.
• Natural barriers like restored dunes and saltmarshes can help save cities from rising seas where traditional seawalls are inadequate.