:: A hand-reared Spoon-billed Sandpiper has been spotted more than 8,000 km from where it was released in Russia
:: In a settlement announced on Friday, Duke Energy Renewables will pay $1 million US for killing 14 Golden Eagles over the past three years at two Wyoming wind farms, after pleading guilty to misdemeanor charges under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. The case was the first to be prosecuted against a wind energy company under the MBT Act. Duke Energy Renewables is the renewable energy arm of Duke Energy, which is the largest electric power holding company in the United States and has a market value of about $50 billion US.
:: The intense heat of a solar thermal project going online soon in the California desert is singeing feathers (warning: graphic photo with article) and injuring birds.
:: Great Blue Heron numbers are declining in Maine, but biologists are hoping citizen scientists will help collect data on heron nesting sites to reverse the trend.
:: A Dutch traveller was caught trying to smuggle more than a dozen live hummingbirds in his pants
:: An article from The New York Times about the population increase of Wild Turkeys in New York City
Zelda, a Wild Turkey in Battery Park, lower Manhattan, photographed in November 2009 by my mother; at the time, Zelda had lived in NYC for about six years
:: Bird brains need testosterone for strong song in the mating season
:: Speaking of the role of song in mating, scientists are studying the mutated language gene, FoxP2, in Zebra Finches’ courtship singing
:: Many of Ireland’s birds are facing extinction
:: Rapid construction and new development projects in the Indian city of Kolhapur has meant a loss of trees and green cover, leading to fewer birds and more insects.
Great posts in birding blogs this week:
:: From Dan at Bird Canada: Canada’s Shrikes, a tale of two seasons
:: From Ethan at Bird Boy: Perplexing Plumage – How to tell a female Mallard from a female Gadwall
:: From Aidan at The Eyrie: Book Review: The Warbler Guide
:: From Laurence at Butler’s Birds: Light Birding and a Feat of Swallowing
:: From Eileen at Viewing nature with Eileen: Gambel’s Quail lifer
:: From Alex at Flight of the Scrub-Jay: 11/2 – Litchfield County – Barnacle Goose
:: From Stewart at Paying Ready Attention: Wild Bird Wednesday 71 – King Parrots
:: From Sharon at Birdchick: the latest Birdchick podcast