This Week in Birding 61

This Week in Birding

:: The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recently granted Idaho a permit to kill 4,000 Common Ravens over two years to protect the Greater Sage-Grouse.

Greater Sage-Grouse - female (photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

Greater Sage-Grouse – female (photo by Alex Lamoreaux)

:: The results are in for the Great Backyard Bird Count 2014, and it was another record-breaking year.

:: The large, flightless moa was driven to extinction 600 years ago by overhunting by the first humans to arrive in New Zealand.

:: A Harvard study finds African Grey Parrots come by sharing naturally.

:: London street artist ATM is painting murals of Britain’s vanishing bird species.

:: In the town of Davie, Florida, a new law awaiting final approval would make the Sunny Lake Bird Sanctuary even more of a refuge, by banning motorized boats and ATVs, requiring those fishing to cast their lines only in marked areas; and prohibiting cats and dogs from roaming freely; the sanctuary,which the town bought in 2004 for $3.4 million, is a 20-acre refuge for White Ibises, Wood Storks, Great Blue Herons and Great Egrets.

:: Birders in Shawville, Quebec, are hoping to raise $15,000 to construct a new nesting site for the endangered Chimney Swifts in their town after the swifts’ original nesting site was torn down by workers. If you would like to fund this project and help save the Chimney Swifts in Shawville, visit the Indiegogo page.

:: eBird has just launched a new site called Location Explorer.

:: A San Francisco environmental group has taken the city to court, because it says that a 189-acre proposed residential and commercial development would hurt some of the Bay Area’s last remaining Burrowing Owls, and that the city’s Environmental Impact Report for the project does not adequately address the regional significance of the local Burrowing Owl population.

Burrowing Owl - male (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

Burrowing Owl – male (Photo by Anna Fasoli)

Great posts in birding blogs this week:

:: From Daniel at the ABA blog: Open Mic: To Tip. . .Or Not To Tip Your Birding Guide?

:: From Shyloh at Beakingoff: Ontario YOW Reunion and Epic Birding

:: From Bob at Two Birders to Go: Four in One

:: From Andrew at Birding Dude: Hybrid “Presumably” Brant X Cackling Goose in New York City…

:: From Carlos at 10,000 Birds: Cristalino Lodge a Day as a Birding Guide

:: From Julie Zickefoose’s blog: Sungrebe on the Sarapiqui!!