Ornithology in the news

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Revision as of 04:04, 25 November 2008 by ChrisElphick (Talk | contribs)

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This page simply lists recent news articles relating to ornithology. It is not exhaustive - simply those articles that I come across during my reading of the media. The site mirrors one that I created for my conservation biology course, and which a lot of students seem to use (you can access that page here). If others in the EEBedia community want to add to the list, please feel free to do so. I only ask that you keep to the existing format, limit any commentary about articles to brief descriptive statements so as to not clog up space, that you focus on articles in the news media that relate to conservation science (broader environmental science issues should find their own home), and that you don't clog the page up with multiple articles on the same piece of news. If you have questions, please email me. Chris Elphick

Links to original journal articles may not work unless you're at a UConn computers or subscribe to the journal.

24 Nov. New York Times. Bald Eagles in Catskills Show Increasing Mercury.

19 Nov. BBC News. Sparrow numbers 'plummet by 68%'. (Bad news continues for "English" sparrows.)

19 Nov. BBC News. Rare penguin took over from rival. (Old penguins.)

13 Nov. BBC News. Songbirds 'sing from hymn sheet'. (Two new papers about the neurological basis for bird song.)

13 Nov. New York Times. Hawaii: Birds Hasten Digital TV Switch. (Protecting Hawaiian petrels.)

6 Nov. BBC News. Climate pushing lemmings to cliff. (Not directly about birds, but lemming abundance is known to affect populations of predators (such as owls) and other prey species (such as shorebirds).

23 Oct. BBC News. New feathered dinosaur discovered. (More cool stuff from China.)

22 Oct. Washington Post. Birds Fly More Than 7,000 Miles Nonstop, Study Shows. (Yet more evidence that godwits have one of the most amazing migrations in the bird world.)

8 Oct. CNN. Flight of the penguins: Rescuers return wayward birds home.

7 Oct. New York Times. Audubon’s Species: Bird Art, in All Its Glory.

1 Oct. BBC News. Malta 'bird slaughter' condemned. (An old story, sadly.)

29 Sept. American Bird Conservancy press release. President Bush Asks Congress to Ratify Key International Conservation Treaty. (Proposed protection for albatrosses moves to the U.S. Senate.)

22 Sept. BBC News. World's common birds 'declining'. ("Keeping common bird common" isn't working. See related press release from BirdLife, here.)

25 Aug. New York Times. Friend or Foe? Crows Never Forget a Face, It Seems. (Never study an animal that is clever than you are ...)

20 Aug. New York Times. Infected Galápagos Penguins Could Get Avian Malaria. (Not such good news about penguins.)

20 Aug. Der Spiegel. Penguin Granted Norwegian Knighthood. (Better news about penguins.)

20 Aug. BBC News. Birds 'off the pace' with warming. (More on avian responses to climate change.)

20 Aug. BBC News. Magpie 'can recognise reflection'. (Birds brains .... yeah, right.)

20 Aug. The Economist. Meet the new neighbours. (An unexpected link between the declining housing market and bird populations.)

20 Aug (published Apr 21). The New Yorker. The way of the puffin. (Sadly, this entire article on the not-so-obvious links between golf, birding and China is not on-line - but it is brilliant so track it down.)

9 July. BBC News. Fossil feathers reveal their hues. (Neat new results from Yale.)

1 July. New York Times. A New Twist in Penguins’ Already Uncertain Future. (Effects of climate on penguins.)

1 July. New York Times. In Sleep, We Are Birds of a Feather. (New research on how birds sleep.)

27 June. BBC News. Biometrics picks up the penguins. (A new twist to bird ID.)

27 June. New Scientist. Bird evolutionary tree given a shake by DNA study. (This new study includes quite a few taxonomic surprises.)

27 June. New Scientist. Secret sleep of birds revealed in brain scans.

26 June. Bird Guides. Taken from the nest! (Bad news from where I grew up - and where nesting peregrines were unknown when I lived there.)

25 June. Science News. Migrating Songbirds Learn Survival Tips On The Fly.

25 June. Science News. Diversity Among Bird Populations Found To Reduce Threat Of West Nile Virus.

25 June. Science News. Birds Communicate Reproductive Success In Song.

24 June. The New Yorker. Bird Brain. (From a few weeks ago, a long article on Irene Pepperberg's research on parrot intelligence.)

24 June. WFCR Field Notes. Click on titles for direct links: Why Birds Sing & The Complexity of Bird Song. (Also from a couple of weeks ago, two audio pieces on bird song.)

16 June. New Scientist. Wiggling bird genitals give the ladies good vibrations. (A rather salacious contribution, but ...) Original research article is here.

11 June. BBC News. Bird family trees predict decline. (A phylogeny for British Birds used to predict at-risk species.)

10 June. The Economist. Storking the ancient skies. (Not a bird, but cool nonetheless.)

10 June. Science News. New Zealand Bird Outwits Alien Predators. (Nesting behaviour changes in response to predators - birds are smarter than you might think!)

10 June. Science News. The Cormorant: 'Black Plague' Or An Example Of Successful Species Conservation? (Not just an issue in North America.)

5 June. New York Times. 7 Condors Poisoned by Lead; One Dies. (The latest on condor recovery efforts.)

4 June. Science News. Feather Colors Affect Bird Physiology, Barn Swallows Show. (New work on the interaction between plumage color and body chemistry.)

3 June. New York Times. Same-Sex Parents in Albatross Colony. (New evidence for a phenomenon that was first found in gulls and terns.)

15 May. National Geographic News. Shorebirds "Defy Gravity" to Eat, Study Says. (Why phalaropes are even cooler than you thought.) More here (with a movie!).

10 May. The Economist. Naughty nesters. (Cuckoos doing what cuckoos do best.)

8 May. BBC News. Great tits cope well with warming. (Bird responses to climate change.)