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[BHscent]

Thank you GG for starting this thread and thank you to all who have posted some great articles. Love learning all of it.

[T40cfr403]

Songbirds make mysterious altitude changes during nighttime migratory flights. Interesting research that involved real-time tracking of the birds at night . . . in a car.

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-songbirds-mysterious-altitude-nighttime-migratory.html

[T40cfr403]

Migratory patterns of eastern Golden Eagle population revealed. Much more information is needed on the migratory patterns of golden eagles in order to make conservation plans as more and more wind farms are constructed. One intriguing part of the research was analyzing the eagles' feathers for an isotope of hydrogen. From this, researchers are able to tell from what part of the continent the eagle was hatched.

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-migratory-patterns-eastern-golden-eagle.html

[T40cfr403]

This paper is about the evolution of bird beaks from snouts. But there's a remarkable paragraph in the paper about why birds developed beaks in the first place.

The immediate ancestors of birds had very long fingers and a somewhat opposable thumb. It's believed they could use their hands to build nests and manipulate small prey. And that's exactly what birds lost when they evolved wings?those fingers became bones in the wing. So once birds lost them, they replaced them with a finger on their face?the beak. Both the upper and lower beak can move, so it works like pincers, allowing a level of accuracy in handling and manipulating objects you can only achieve with fingers.

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-bird-evolution-swapped-snouts-beaks.html

[T40cfr403]

Some birds have learned to "shout" over ambient noise in real-time in order to be heard.

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-persist-shout-male-bluebirds-songs.html

[T40cfr403]

The trade in vultures and other raptors for traditional medicine and bushmeat is likely to be contributing to the serious declines of these birds in West and Central Africa.

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-raptors-west-central-africa-threatened.html

[T40cfr403]

Light Pollution: Wild songbirds living under street lights that emit white light have higher than normal amounts of the stress hormone corticosterone in their blood.

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-white-hormone-songbirds.html

[baziunc]

Power pole aversion training for captive-bred California Condors has been so successful, there are now efforts underway to extend and improve that for chicks fledged in the wild as well as follow-up training for Condors already released to free-flying population.  This training first started back in 1994 with captive-bred Condors destined for release into the wild because electrocution, along with lead poisoning and microtrash, are the main threats to Condors.  Listen to the success statistics! ... Since that first started in 1994, there have been NO (as in not a single one!) electrocutions of a captive-bred Condor by perching on power poles, and only one (count 'em - ONE! - back in 2001!) electrocution of a Southern California Condor caused by a mid-air collission with power lines!!!!!

(After I read this, it made me realize that this might be what RRP was looking into as it might relate to the Bald Eagles in Decorah.)

Excellent read on Power Pole Aversion Training!

http://newsroom.edison.com/stories/california-condor-recovery-program-spreads-its-wings

**NOTE**  TWO NEW THREADS WERE STARTED TODAY FOR THE FIRST-EVER LIVE-STREAMING CONDOR CAMS, WHICH ALSO WENT LIVE TODAY! ON TWO CALIFORNIA CONDOR NESTS IN CALIFORNIA!!!  SEE THE "OTHER RAPTOR" BOARD IN FORUM FOR BOTH OF THOSE NEW THREADS!!

One of those two new Condor live-cam nest threads is called, "Big Sur, California Condors: Ventana Wildlife Society Camera - 2015" and you can get to posts about it in Forum at:
http://www.raptorresource.org/forum/index.php/topic,2058.0.html

The second of those two new Condor live-cam nest threads is called, "California Condor, Sespe Condor Sanctuary.Camera Host:US Fish & Wildlife Service" and you can get to posts about that nes in Forum at:
http://www.raptorresource.org/forum/index.php/topic,2057.0.html

Both of those threads list the links to the live cams and info about these two nests.  Incredible to see!

[T40cfr403]

This is a really cool study that relates parent-to-nestling ratio, nestling growth rate and fledgling mortality.

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-songbird-habitat-affects-reproduction-survival.html

[T40cfr403]

Researchers have developed a model that may help golden eagles and wind turbines to coexist. They developed this modelling tool to assist wind farm developers in choosing a site that can better predict the mortality rates of golden eagles. One big lesson is that the current method of siting, namely counting golden eagles in the proposed area of development, is a poor predictor of golden eagle mortality rates caused by wind turbines. The entire landscape and how the golden eagles use that habitat need to be taken into consideration. Common sense really, but not so easy to do in the preliminary stages of development without this mathematical tool. The research was funded by the USFWS, so I hope they put it to good use.

Here's the article that summarizes the purpose of the research.

http://phys.org/news/2015-08-eagles-turbines-coexist.html

And here's the research paper itself for all the details.

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0134781

[T40cfr403]

Hummingbirds find protection building nests under hawks. Interesting.

http://phys.org/news/2015-09-hummingbirds-hawks.html

[T40cfr403]

As demand for African timber soars, birds pay the ultimate price.

http://phys.org/news/2015-09-demand-african-timber-soars-birds.html

[T40cfr403]

How do migrating birds avoid predators while fueling up?

http://phys.org/news/2015-09-migrating-birds-predators-fueling.html

[T40cfr403]

Depressing story of the devastating impact illegal logging has on birds in Ghana.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/09/150908141144.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily%2Fplants_animals%2Fbirds+%28Birds+News+--+ScienceDaily%29

[baziunc]

Yes, too depressing for me to even read.  So many sad stories - too much.