This week in birds - #659

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

It is perhaps appropriate that on this Halloween the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week is a blood-drinking bird, the Vampire Ground-Finch. It is believed that the bird's behavior of drinking blood evolved from its habit of pecking at parasites as it cleaned them from the plumage of larger seabirds. The bird's range is two tiny islands (Darwin and Wolf) in the northwestern corner of the Galapagos Islands. Charles Darwin only ever visited the main Galapagos Islands and so he never encountered or described the Vampire Ground-Finch.

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Earth is growing dimmer, reflecting less light back into space, and the Northern Hemisphere's light is decreasing even faster than the Southern Hemisphere. 

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Horseshoe crab blood has long been used in making safe medicines but now alternatives that could spare those creatures are being tested.

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For the first time in its long history, it seems that mosquitoes have invaded Iceland.

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The current administration in Washington has approved increased drilling for oil and gas in Alaska's national wildlife refuge.

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A marine heatwave in the summer of 2023 has left critical Florida corals functionally extinct with too small a population to reproduce.

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This is an example of the web of an orb-weaver spider. Apparently these spiders "decorate" their webs in order to better locate their prey.

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In other news of spiders, it seems they don't like loud noises any more than we do. New research has found that they build their webs differently in loud conditions.

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Florida panthers have been facing extinction for a while, but now they have been saved - at least temporarily - by genes from Texas pumas.

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Climate change made this week's Hurricane Melissa much more powerful.

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Bats that glow? At least six species of North American bats glow green under UV light, but the purpose of the glow is unclear.

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Did the famous Moai of Easter Island "walk" to their current location on the island? New research shows how that might have happened.

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How did Indigenous Americans transport a tree weighing in excess of five-tons more than a hundred miles 900 years ago to the pre-Columbian city of Cahokia?

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To hide from predators, some animals try to blend in with their surroundings while others display bright colors as a warning. Which strategy works better?

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Bowhead whales have a lifespan of more than 200 years and it is possible that that holds a key to longer lives for humans.

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Without more effective protections, isolated indigenous groups of humans could vanish within a decade, according to a new report. 

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Not only a repository for the dead, cemeteries can also offer a place of protection for the wild.

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A new study indicates that dinosaurs were thriving on North America before that famous asteroid hit Earth some sixty-six million years ago.

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It appears that Australian rainforests are now emitting more carbon than they absorb and that is an ominous finding.

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Scientists have discovered a polar rhino that roamed the Canadian Arctic some 23 million years ago.

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Want to attract owls to your property? Here are seven strategies that could help.

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Is there a Loch Ness monster lookalike lurking in the waters of Lake Tahoe? Legends of "Tahoe Tessie" hint at the possibility.

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Monarch butterflies are migrating and the first roosts have been reported in Mexico. 

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And finally, may I wish you a happy Samhain! As the wheel turns and darkness deepens, may you honor what has been and gently let it go. May the quiet Earth remind you to rest and root. In the stillness, may your inner light burn steady and true. Bless Samhain.