This Week in Birding 40

This Week in Birding

:: Africanized bees have killed several birds, two ravens and a turkey vulture, at at the Alameda Zoo in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

:: A fierce wind storm at New Jersey’s Raptor Trust sanctuary has destroyed large cages that are home to several birds, and caused more than $60,000 in damages.

:: On Monday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to list the rare Ashy Storm-Petrel under the Endangered Species Act

Storm-Petrel

:: Earlier this week the Ventana Wildlife Society started a live streaming cam for California Condors, located in the condors’ main feeding area.

:: The U.S. Geological Survey is using the carcasses of Common Loons and Lesser Scaups in experiments on drift to help locate toxic sources in the Great Lakes region; one is Type E botulism, a neurotoxin that causes paralysis and death in birds when ingested. The USGS estimates that more than 80,000 birds have died from botulism intoxication in the area since 1999.

:: Temple University’s campus newspaper reports that the Audubon Pennsylvania Society and the university’s grounds department estimate that more than 1,000 birds have died on the main campus this year, most of them after flying into buildings; a 2008 study found that the university was one of the central locations for bird deaths in Philadelphia.

:: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing to list the Greater Sage Grouse in Nevada and California as a threatened species.

:: The California island harbor town of Avalon had beaches polluted by pigeons and a waterfront where aggressive gulls harassed visitors until it hired a master falconer and his enforcers, a Harris’s Hawk, a Eurasian Eagle Owl, and a hybrid hawk which drove off the pest birds.

:: The late Starr Saphir was honored at NYC Audubon’s fall fundraiser with video tribute 

Great posts in birding blogs this week: 

:: From Birdgirl at Exploring NatureBald Eagles

:: From Kathie at Kathie’s Birds: Birds, Beasts, and Alum Creek

:: From Mia at On the Wing PhotographyCalliope Hummingbird and Rocky Mountain Bee Plant

:: From Jochen at 10,000 BirdsThe Chukar Situation

:: From Maureen at Hipster BirdersGood Times at Jamaica Bay

:: From Laurence at Butler’s BirdsA Chase to Louisiana, with Grasslands in Between

:: From Scott at Learn Outdoor PhotographyGrasshopper Sparrows Have Returned

:: From Kenneth at Rosyfinch RamblingsEarthworms versus Ovenbirds

:: From Sharon at Birdchickthe latest Birdchick podcast