This week in birds - #687

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

This is the the Peruvian Thick-knee, a bird of the hot, dry coastal plain of northwestern South America. It is an unusual desert-dwelling "shorebird" that is mostly nocturnal. It has not been studied extensively and so is not as well-known as many birds. Much is unknown about its basic biology and about the overall health of the species, although the known evidence suggests that it is declining. As with so many species, the main threat to its continued existence is habitat loss. The Peruvian Thick-knee is the American Bird Conservancy's Bird of the Week. 

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Scientists studying the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs sixty-six million years ago suggest that it turned the planet into an inferno where any creature who couldn't find cover would have been charbroiled.

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Ancient fossil footsteps that have been uncovered in Kenya suggest that one of our early ancestors may have been larger than previously believed.

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A new study suggests that linguistic diversity may have reached its peak three millennia ago and that humans of that era may have spoken thousands more languages that we have today.

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The dunes sagebrush lizard of the Permian Basin of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas was declared endangered by the Biden administration in 2024. The current administration has now stripped it of that protection.

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Wildfires in France have been so intense that they created a monster cloud which unleashed lightning that created more wildfires.

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Although the current administration canceled a project called the National Nature Assessment, the scientists who worked on it found a way to continue.

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Five rescued Kemp's ridley sea turtles were returned to the sea around Cape Cod this week.

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How did some reptiles lose their limbs and become snakes? An 80-million-year-old fossil is providing some answers to that question.

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The Okefenokee Swamp that spans parts of  Georgia and Florida has been added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. 

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Here's a list of the best national parks in the United States where you can witness wildlife migrations. 

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If you are interested in attracting hummingbirds to your garden, here are some tips that could help you do it. One way is to put up feeders but ants can be a pest in those; here's how to keep them off. Hummers are tiny birds, of course, and they build tiny nests.

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The adult content site OnlyFans now has a G-rated account called "Only Marms." It features marmots and is an effort by scientists to get funds for their research on the squirrel-like rodents.

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Chimps and bonobos use hugs, kisses, and friendly pats to show affection and diffuse tension in much the same way as humans.

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If you visit a national park where there are elk, watch out; they are more likely than a bear to attack you.

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Researchers are tagging and tracking spinner sharks along the East Coast to try to get a clearer idea of their migration routes.

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Remember acid rain? Well, it's back.

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There is an effort to reintroduce storks to Derbyshire in England.