This week in birds - #156

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

In news of my own backyard, I've had a plethora of Ruby-throated Hummingbird visitors this week. It's almost impossible to get an accurate count as they zip around, chasing each other from favorite blossoms or feeders, but I think I have at least five of the little birds. 

This is a favorite perch for this female, a crape myrtle twig. There is a nectar feeder hanging from the tree and from this vantage point, she is able to guard and defend it from other hummers.

She sometimes has to share her feeder with a few bees.

And so does this male RTH feeding from a feeder hung in the redbud tree. Although the feeders have beeguards, they have drips of the nectar that escape and attract both bees and wasps.

At other times, he has the feeder to himself. 

I have a feeder in the front yard that hangs just outside my office/library window and this little guy has claimed it as his own. All day long, he sits on the crook that holds the feeder, guarding it and chasing away any intruders.

 

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Although a country that has been obsessed with deflated footballs, multimillion dollar boxing matches, and the imminent invasion of Texas by the dastardly U.S. military forces has hardly seemed to notice, there is a killer bird flu sweeping the Midwest. More than 20 million turkeys and chickens have died or been culled, and Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin have declared states of emergency because of the epidemic. Teams of experts are trying to figure out how the new virus is spreading. So far, it has not made the jump to human beings, but that possibility exists and public health entities are making plans to combat it.  

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A newly discovered fossil species is now the oldest known example of Ornithuromorpha, the evolutionary branch that hosts all living birds. The newly discovered species, named Archaeornithura meemannae, lived 130.7 million years ago during the Early Cretaceous period in what is now the Sichakou basin of northeastern China. This fossil is about 6 million years older than the previously oldest known bird.  

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Today is the Global Big Day! Are you counting birds? Around the world today, people are observing and counting birds and reporting their findings to eBird. The goal is to document as many as possible of the world's 10,000 species of birds on one day. 

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According to a new study led by researchers at Syracuse and Harvard Universities, the new carbon emission standards proposed by the E.P.A. for coal-fired power plants in the United States would substantially improve human health and prevent more than 3,000 premature deaths per year.

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And speaking of carbon emissions, the newly elected premier of the province of Alberta, who ran on an environmentally friendly platform, has promised to take steps to reduce carbon emissions in her province and also has pledged that the province will stop lobbying Washington to approve the Keystone XL pipeline.

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Researchers sequencing the genome of the woolly mammoth have concluded that the last of the species lived on Wrangel Island, a Russian territory in the Arctic Ocean that was separated from the mainland by rising sea levels 12,000 years ago. Their isolation on the island probably led to inbreeding which may have contributed to their eventual extinction between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago.

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Prolonged drought is having a devastating effect on many species of animals both large and small in the western United States.

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Another effect of the drought is seen at Lake Mead in Nevada which has now recorded its record low level. The lake is presently at 38 percent of its capacity and scientists warn that it will continue to fall throughout the summer resulting in an estimated elevation of 1,073 feet by September.

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The bombardier beetle is well-named. When it is alarmed, it ejects a toxin from its abdomen in a kind of explosion. New x-ray technology shows exactly how the process works. 

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Vulnerable grassland birds, including Greater Prairie Chickens are more likely to abandon their mating areas if they are located near wind turbines, a new study finds.

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There is tremendous diversity among the nests of birds, in the materials used to construct them as well as their shape and location. Researchers have been studying just how these differences evolved and have published new information on the subject.

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Regarding diversity in Nature, there is also a new study of the different bees which live in urban settings. "Jeff Ollerton's Biodiversity Blog" addresses the new findings.

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Around the backyard:

Photo courtesy of All About Birds.

In addition to all the hummingbirds in the yard this week, another of my summer favorites has arrived - the Great Crested Flycatcher. All week long their distinctive whee-eep calls have resounded from trees around the neighborhood. If the Great Crested is here, then summer cannot be far behind.