This week in birds - #665

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


This is the Puerto Rican Owl which holds the distinction of being the island's only endemic owl. It was once found on several of the Virgin Islands but is now extinct outside of Puerto Rico. It was most likely a victim of habitat loss. The little owl is primarily an insectivorous bird and is vulnerable to the impact of insecticides. Its conservation status is not presently a concern but its population is decreasing. It is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week.

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The current president keeps trying to shut down offshore wind construction and keeps losing in court.

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The salmon restoration on Washington's Elwha River has been jeopardized by the president's budget cuts.

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A female gray wolf from a prominent Yellowstone wolf pack was illegally killed on December 25 which sparked a poaching investigation. 

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PFAS "forever chemicals" have decreased in North Atlantic whales over the last decade which shows that regulation of these substances works.

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On the other hand, it seems that PFAS chemicals are right under our feet in our carpets.

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A fossil trove found in China is providing a window into a mass extinction event that happened more than five hundred million years ago. 

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Research shows that vampire bats that become close friends start to use similar sounds to communicate with each other.

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It seems that snakes have a taste for...snakes. Cannibalism among them is fairly widespread.

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Western Monarch butterfly overwintering counts showed a slight increase over last year but this is still the third lowest tally since the counts began in 1997. 

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A young mountain lion wandered into a San Francisco neighborhood which could have been a recipe for disaster but fortunately it was captured by wildlife officials and successfully released back into the wild.

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Here are 24 amazing images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest.

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And here's how the Hargila Bone-swallower Stork of India was saved by an "army" of Indian women.

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The recently enacted High Seas Treaty offers an opportunity to protect Earth's oceans as never before.

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Wild jaguars sometimes meow just like our domestic pet cats.




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