Birds in the News

Tailorbird nesting story at Ronit Vasani youtube channel

10/8/15

Scientist Takes First-Ever Photo of Rare Bird, Then Kills It in the Name of Science

When Chris Filardi, director of Pacific Programs at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, was finally holding the elusive Guadalcanal moustached kingfisher, he told Slate writer Rachel Gross, it was like finding a unicorn....

The team snapped the first-ever photos of the remarkably photogenic bird and made the first-ever recordings of a male variety of the species (a female was described back in the 1920s).

Then the team killed it.

1/5/16

Massive seabird die-off lines Whittier beaches with carcasses

Thousands of dead common murres are washing up on the beaches of Whittier, an unprecedented die-off that has scientists wondering how many more thousands remain uncounted throughout Prince William Sound. 

A recently retired federal biologist doing beach surveys in Whittier over the weekend estimated there were more than 7,800 dead murres along a little over a mile of beach. That’s nearly five dead birds per meter of beach, officials say....rest if the article at the link

5/23/16

Due to the movie "Concussion' more people are aware that the human head and brain were not designed/evolved to be able to withstand constand head blows. Here is an article which explains why woodpeckers heads are able to handle constant hammering.

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