#sea-ducks

#sea-ducks

"They didn't even try to fly away. They just feebly made noise," a woman told the Santa Barbara Independent on Saturday after spotting over two dozen dead or dying cormorants near Goleta Beach. "A few were on their stomachs, wings spread [and] gasping for breath.... Heartbreaking."

A comprehensive analysis of Google search patterns related to birds explores what species people seek information about most frequently. The investigation spans six interconnected analyses examining bird variety, taxonomic classifications, information sharing behaviors, birder sighting correlations with search trends, regional popularity differences across states, and temporal patterns in search interest.

Our team has been so dedicated working around the clock, over time, whatever it takes to continue monitoring this outbreak. It's a really hard, emotional thing to go through as undergraduate, graduate students and young scientists to watch the seals that you've gotten to know over the years get sick.

Nearly half of the 261 species studied showed big enough losses in numbers to be statistically significant and more than half of those declining are seeing their losses accelerate since 1987, according to Thursday's journal Science. The study is the first to look at more than the total bird population by examining the trends in their decrease, where they are shrinking the most and what the declines are connected to.

On a quiet Montreal street of low-rise brick apartment buildings on one side and cement barrier wall on the other, a crowd has gathered, binoculars around their necks and cameras at the ready. A European robin has taken up residence in the neighbourhood, which is sandwiched between two industrial areas with warehouses and railway lines and, a few blocks away, port facilities on the St Lawrence River.

Our sus­pi­cions have lit­tle to do with biol­o­gy, but rather, a cer­tain zesti­ness of expres­sion, an overem­phat­ic beak, a droll gleam in the eye. The Audubon Society's new­ly redesigned web­site abounds with trea­sure for those in either camp: Free high res down­loads of all 435 plates. Mp3s of each specimen's call. And vin­tage com­men­tary that effec­tive­ly splits the dif­fer­ence between sci­ence and the unin­ten­tion­al­ly humor­ous locu­tions of anoth­er age.

Contrary to your belief that your yard might not be the best spot for love, your visitor obviously disagrees. A male towhee finds a place up high and can spend up to 90 percent of its time sending out that trill, calling for a mate. If this is the same bird, he might not be calling for a mate, but for his mate. Towhees are primarily monogamous, but only during mating season. There's a courtship, then a mating, and then the pair raise their offspring.

Many people look up to admire the silhouette of raptors, some of the planet's largest birds, soaring through seemingly empty skies. But increasingly, research shows us that this fascination runs both ways. From high above, these birds are watching us too. Thanks to the development of tiny GPS tracking devices attached to their bodies, researchers are getting millions of data points on the day-to-day lives of these apex predators of the skies, giving us greater insight into where they hunt and rest.

She looks really good for what I can see through the window,