Post Category → Birds

How a Great Gray Owl Uses Sound to Hunt Under Snow

Incredible footage from the CBC show The Nature of Thing of a Great Gray Owl hunting voles burrowing in the snow, relying almost exclusively on its incredible sense of hearing. And specially adapted feathers that allow it to swoop in in dead silence.

Ranging from 61 to 84 cm (24 to 33 in) in length, the Great Gray Owl is the world’s largest species of owl. Their breeding range stretches from the Pacific coast of North America –California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia– east to Quebec and in Europe from Finland and Estonia across northern Asia. The CBC video was shot in Manitoba.

Via kottke.org.

NYT: New York’s Latest Famous Family Is a Hoot. Yes, They’re Owls. – Gift Link

NYT: New York’s Latest Famous Family Is a Hoot. Yes, They’re Owls. – Gift Link

A family of Barn Owls has taken up residence on a rooftop on New York City’s Upper West Side. The family includes adolescents who are learning to fly.

The owls begin their evenings at about 7:45 p.m. with a series of screeches, Ms. Williams said. The adolescents hop along the water tower’s roof and take short test flights. Then the adults depart. Sometimes, they perch on sections of the Kenilworth Building on Central Park West, scanning alleys and the park for mice and rats. When they return with food, the children hop with excitement. By 10 p.m., the horrifying screeches begin to quiet.

Gift Link.

NYT: Birds Are Dying. Clues Point to El Niño. (Gift Link)

NYT: Birds Are Dying. Clues Point to El Niño. (Gift Link)

Sad news, a story on bird die-off from this week’s NYT Climate Forward newsletter. This comes on top of bird population decline already linked to climate change-related impacts.

Every month, Giovanny Suárez Espín walks a beach near his home in southern Ecuador, monitoring for dead seabirds. Usually, he sees maybe a handful.

But on recent surveys, the sand has been littered with carcasses.

It’s too soon to say for certain what has caused the spike in deaths, which has affected various species, including sooty shearwaters, Peruvian and blue-footed boobies, cormorants, petrels and the critically endangered waved albatross. Die-offs in sea birds aren’t uncommon, and can stem from a variety of factors. In 2023, Ecuador saw mass deaths from avian influenza, said Sebastián Cruz, a seabird ecologist who runs the South American marine bird program for American Bird Conservancy.

It’s too soon to say for certain what has caused the spike in deaths, which has affected various species, including sooty shearwaters, Peruvian and blue-footed boobies, cormorants, petrels and the critically endangered waved albatross. Die-offs in sea birds aren’t uncommon, and can stem from a variety of factors. In 2023, Ecuador saw mass deaths from avian influenza, said Sebastián Cruz, a seabird ecologist who runs the South American marine bird program for American Bird Conservancy.

But this time, he said, looks different. The birds’ bodies are emaciated. Testing for bird flu is needed, but the few necropsies that have been conducted, along with the behavior of surviving birds, show no signs of infection. And critically, sea surface temperatures off the coast have been exceptionally elevated.

Gift link.

Guardian: AI-altered images on birdwatching forums putting research at risk

Guardian: AI-altered images on birdwatching forums putting research at risk.

I see lots of this slop on Facebook and Instagram, encounters that result in an immediate block. If you use AI to enhance your wildlife photos, please stop.

From the story:

Scientists are appealing to birders to limit their use of AI when editing images over fears that it could undermine the credibility of popular citizen science platforms such as iNaturalist and Macaulay Library, which are routinely used in scientific research to monitor species’ habitat range.

The rise of generative AI platforms such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini has led to a sharp increase in fake and enhanced images of rare and celebrated birds across wildlife photography forums. Users can create high-quality fake images in seconds – or enhance a photograph by asking the AI to remove a branch or leaf that might be obscuring part of the subject, which can inadvertently introduce significant changes.

In a recent commentary in the science journal Nature, researchers warned that hundreds of fake images have already been discovered on popular databases for recording species. They said that the true scale of the issue is unknown – as many could go undetected – and could contaminate records collected by the public.

Link.

EOS – For the Birds: Solar Panels over Peatlands May Increase Avian Biodiversity

EOS – For the Birds: Solar Panels over Peatlands May Increase Avian Biodiversity.

A new study finds an unusual mix of bird species thriving in a German solar park built on degraded peatland. EOS, the news site of the American Geophysical Union, reports:

When Hanna Rae Martens visits the solar park she studies in northern Germany, she finds meadow pipits perched on the panels. They launch off to catch insects, then return, using the panels like tree branches.

This solar park, built on rewetted peatland, hosts a more diverse bird community than adjacent drained farmland, according to a new study in Ecological Solutions and Evidence. The findings suggest that combining peatland restoration with solar energy development could benefit birds.

And

The solar park attracted a mix of species, including some typically found in wetlands, wooded edges, and urban areas. “The presence of wetland species like reed bunting and the endangered meadow pipit shows that the solar park is truly rewetted,” Martens said. “But we also recorded species like Eurasian tree sparrow and tree pipit, which are not typically found in peatlands. They all appear to use the structure of the solar panels.”

Link.