I receive emails on a regular basis from readers of my blog or visitors to my website, asking questions, usually, or telling me about some interesting observation they made. A significant number of these have to do with the unusual presence or absence of birds. One recent comment was from a Canadian who observed American […]
Climate Change – redux Read More »
Urbanization is perhaps the most difficult challenge to the survival of birds and will be the major driver of extinction in this century. Only 2.7 percent of the earth is covered by cities yet the majority of the human population lives in them. By the year 2050, as many people will live in cities
Birds Adapt to a New World Read More »
We have known for a long time that some birds have a good sense of smell, especially seabirds. We now know, or at least strongly suspect, that some seabirds migrate by following certain odors of the ocean. Often, birdwatchers going on a pelagic vessel to observe seabirds far offshore, attract them by dropping oil, ground
Albatross Enforcers Read More »
Fires in Australia have been big news lately, but there have always been fires, sometimes started by birds!. The following article has been excerpted from Cosmos magazine: In the first recorded instance of fire being used by animals other than humans, three Australian birds of prey species have been seen carrying burning twigs to set
Last week, a volcanic eruption on White Island off mainland New Zealand killed several unfortunate people and likely had devastating effects on the bird population, including thousands of Australasian Gannets and some endangered bird species. How the bird populations will recover is unknown at this point but there is some good historical information to foretell
Volcanoes and Birds Read More »
Continuing a previous discussion of pseudoscientific and simply nonsensical beliefs about birds, let’s talk about the weather. Some of these actually make a bit of sense. “When the fish hawks (Osprey) come north, winter’s over.” “On the eastern shore of Maryland, they always arrive on St. Patrick’s Day.” That is of course exaggerated as the
Birds Predicting the Weather Read More »
A 2007 study of urban birds and their close relatives in the wild in 73 major cities across the world found that the native ranges of urban birds are wider in latitude and elevation than those bird species that have not invaded cities. The House Sparrow, for example, was native to Europe, most of the
In the northern hemisphere, birds have been heading south for the past few weeks, or even longer, depending on the species and where they are starting from. Some birds have not begun their southward trek yet. Wherever they begin and whatever their destination, it’s a perilous journey. Just before I sat down to pen this
It’s Migration Time Read More »
You have probably heard from one of many news sources, like the NY Times and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, that birds are vanishing. Somewhere between 25 and 30% of all birds in North America have disappeared since 1970. That’s about three billion breeding birds. I have heard estimates of up to 40%. It’s devastating
Birds are Disappearing Read More »
Imagine coming home one day and finding your house severely damaged, all your bank accounts drained, and people you don’t know hanging around. It would be intimidating and stressful. You might be able to adjust and rebuild there or nearby and recoup your financial losses or you might move elsewhere if you could find suitable
