This week in birds - #396

A roundup of the week's news of birds and the environment:

The Rose-breasted Grosbeaks are passing through on their way north. Here a male and female share a meal at one of my feeders.

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The water in the Gulf of Mexico is more than three degrees above average in temperature. This substantially increases the prospects for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes this spring and potentially stronger hurricane activity in the summer and fall. The last time Gulf of Mexico waters were similarly warm in 2017, it coincided with an above-average tornado season through the spring, and then Category 4 Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas Gulf Coast at the end of summer. There are places along the coast that still haven't completely recovered from Harvey.

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The current administration in Washington is taking the opportunity of the distraction caused by the pandemic to aggressively roll back environmental protection laws. For example, they want to reduce fuel efficiency standards put in place by the Obama Administration. Those standards would have saved six billion tons of greenhouse gases.

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Brazil is also scaling back environmental protection enforcement in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

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The loss of wetlands along their migration route is causing Whooping Cranes to travel in larger flocks and this is putting them at greater risk of a disease outbreak or of extreme weather.

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One effect of the almost worldwide lockdown and sheltering in place is that it has reduced human noise on the surface of the planet. Scientists have remarked on this somewhat more silent world and are beginning to study its effects.

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The plastics industry has spent billions in an effort to promote the idea of recycling their products and yet most of what they manufacture is not recyclable.

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A major review reports that the restoration of the oceans and recovery of the marine life in them is possible within a generation, but it will require a major effort and commitment. 

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Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar illegally imported wild animals from around the world for his personal zoo. After his death, the government removed the animals to zoos or wildlife sanctuaries, but the hippos proved intractable. They remained where they were and, without natural predators, they have increased their population to around 100 animals. This is having an effect on the Colombian ecosystem. 

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Climate change is affecting birds in many different ways and they are trying to adjust. One effect attributed to climate change is a shortening of the wings of Common Nightingales. This may make migration more difficult for the birds, but if the world is warmer perhaps they won't migrate anymore or at least not as far.

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In an opinion piece, Vijay Kolinijivadi makes the point that the coronavirus pandemic is related to climate change and that climate action should be part of our response to it.

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New York has no more coal-burning power plants. Their last one closed on Tuesday.

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The interactions of various species of birds can be fascinating. For example, Yellow Warblers have a special call that warns other warblers that Brown-headed Cowbirds are nearby. The cowbirds victimize warblers by laying eggs in their nests. Scientists have discovered that Red-winged Blackbirds also respond to that call as if they know what it means.

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Tristan da Cunha is in the most remote part of the Pacific Ocean and it is home to at least 25 species of seabirds, four of which are endangered. The ecosystem around the archipelago is irreplaceable and deserves protection.

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Here's some good news from the oceans: The kelp forests around Tierra del Fuego are thriving and are essentially unchanged from when they were first surveyed in 1973.

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The cost of solar energy keeps going down and in the sunniest places - one of which would certainly be Texas - it is the cheapest way of producing electricity.

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Image from Slate.com.

Yellow Warblers are on their way north now along with other neotropical migrants. There you are stuck inside your house, looking for ways to entertain yourself. Well, you have a window, don't you? Look out! There's no better time to become a bird watcher. And I think we can agree there is no more delightful part of Nature than the world of birds. Moreover, they are just about the most accessible part, so what are you waiting for?