This Week in Birding 69

This Week in Birding

:: Bird-friendly glass for windows is on the horizon

:: Scientists are studying the evolution of the extinct Moa

:: The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife is installing 18 “loon rafts” statewide in reservoirs where loon pairs have been reported, to help protect the birds’ nests and eggs from flooding. 

:: The females of various bird species were once as flashy as their male counterparts, a new study finds.

:: Reid Wilson, writing for The Washington Post‘s GovBeat blog, on the “years-long battle that pits environmentalists who want the Greater Sage Grouse protected under the Endangered Species Act against ranchers, gold miners, energy producers and Western state governments that stand to lose billions of dollars in tax revenue and economic activity if tens of millions of acres are blocked off from development, exploration or use”.

:: A California law school graduate received a suspended sentenced of to up to four years’ probation and 16 hours of work each month at an animal shelter for beheading a Helmeted Guineafowl at at Las Vegas resort in 2012

:: BP [British Petroleum] America has given Audubon Rockies conservation group $100,000 to study Pathfinder National Wildlife Refuge, near Casper, Wyoming, for habitat improvement projects, including what used to be the man-made Soda Lake, created 50 years ago by American Oil Company.

:: Mercury has been found in gull and tern eggs in northern Alberta

:: A computer science professor whose specialty is facial recognition has used that technology to create Birdsnap, a new app for identifying bird species.

:: Natural England, a non-departmental public body responsible to the United Kingdom’s secretary of state for environment, food and rural Affairs, has advised the British government to allow the licensed killing of some bird species, and the destruction of some species’ nests and eggs, amid growing concerns that they threaten human health and safety. 

Great posts in birding blogs this week:

:: From Alexandria at The EyrieBook Review: Rare Birds of North America

:: From Chris at Birding is FunA Return to Rocky Point

:: From Grant at The Birder’s LibraryAmerican Birding Association Field Guide to Birds of New Jersey

:: From Josh at Ontario Birds and HerpsRare flycatchers!! Pelee – May 11

:: From Nate at This Machine Watches BirdsArizona: The Hummingbirds

:: From Kenneth at Rosyfinch RamblingsThis Week’s Crops & Clips: Palm Warbler

:: From Nate at The ABA BlogOpen Mic: Mark Cocker on Birds and People

:: From Clare at 10,000 BirdsReconstructing A New Bower