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This week in birds - #667

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


This little cutie is the Mountain Chickadee, a resident throughout much of western North America from Canada right down into Baja Mexico and it is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. Much of its range overlaps with that of its close cousin, the Black-capped Chickadee. Its conservation status is currently of least concern although its population is decreasing. Climate change and loss of habitat pose the greatest threats to its continued survival.

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A new study has found that bird declines are accelerating.

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Livestock in many areas of Central Texas are protected from coyotes by dogs who live among the herds.

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The oldest state park in the country is the Niagara State Park in western New York and it is about to get much bigger.

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Most of us still have Neanderthal DNA as part of our genome and that actually highlights some interesting differences between them and modern humans such as why we have chins when they did not.

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Giant tortoises vanished from Floreana Island in the Galapagos more than 150 years ago but now conservationists are bringing them back.

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An 80-year-old disc at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution contains what is likely the oldest recording of a whale song.

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Symbols on 40,000-year-old artifacts found in caves in southwest Germany may be a precursor to the first written language. 

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Scientists are still learning things about Archaeopteryx, the ancient dinosaur that is believed to have flown like a bird and there is likely still much more to learn.

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An image of the elusive southern sleeper shark had never been caught on film but now it has been.

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How do horses whinny? Scientists think they've figured it out.

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