The “Happy Feet” penguin that swam up onto the New Zealand shore starving, underwent some wildlife rehab and was released with a satellite transmitter has disappeared.
Go check out the Sunbathing Birds gallery at Bird Watching Magazine–the titmouse looks disturbing!
In really nice news, fewer migrating birds were trapped in the 911 Tribute of Lights. Unlike last year when at least 10,000 migrating birds became trapped in the lights.
Wind tunnels reveals how birds stay hydrated during migration. I’m so relieved I don’t have to migrate.
Several common loons breeding in the Upper Midwest are sporting satellite transmitters in order for researchers to study the migration through the Great Lakes toward their southern winter homes. By using satellite tracking devices implanted in the loons from Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the Michigan Upper Peninsula, USGS scientists expect to learn information about avian botulism essential for managers to develop loon conservation strategies.
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I was about to award myself the inaugural Best in Birding Blogs Award from Birding is Fun! and I was going to have Birdchick.com be the honorable mention, but after that parting comment the award has been cancelled.
Call notes:
I also like the phrase “niche partitioning among pollinators”.
Wait–what? Really? Honeybees aren’t native to North America? I didn’t know that. Then I guess I wonder why they do as well as they do, given that they’re surrounded by plants they’re not evolved to deal with. Here’s a questions: does colony collapse dis-order happen in other coutries?
I laughed at the “there’s a well-fed sea lion” loudly enough to annoy my wife who was on the phone with her dad.
The article on the fat-burning contains the obligatory single-stupid-quote-extracted-from-an-extensive-interview:
“”The reason this was possible is because we have a lot of fancy equipment,” Gerson said.”.
But from the actual facts that they do talk about, it sounds like a fairly sane analysis.
They specifically mention the NON-INVASIVE technique they use to measure muscle/fat/organ percentages (i.e. they don’t have to grind the birds up to get this information). Which means that got the individual birds that would cooperate in the wind tunnel, and measured the same bird’s composition before and after flights in high and low humidity.
You’re absolutely right–people are afraid of absurdly unlikely things more than real things. I deal with that all the time, on a different front than you two. If I mention that I fly airplanes, some people’s reaction is “isn’t that dangerous?” despite the fact that dying in a car accident is orders of magnitude more likely than dying in a plane crash. Argh argh argh.
Laughing out loud (again) at the closing, with Sharon interspersing “no!” into Bill’s reciting the blog credits. I tried to leave a comment on the podcast earlier in the summer but I couldn’t get the incantations cast in the right way. I’ll try again–this was hella funny.
Craig Steffen
@gevmage
And you used the phrase “chromatic aberration”! *swoon*
enjoyed the skepchic post. btw some one sent me the bald eagle myth thingy again. about eagles living to 70 yrs by going on a mountain top breaking off their beak and growing a new one etc. etc. etc. you might want to debunk this again.
LOL I can’t believe Craig swoons with “chromatic aberration.” Get a room!
Yo, mom, why don’t you just send them the link to the debunking of Rebirth of an Eagle?