Aves (birds)
Category archives for Aves (birds)
What kind of bird landed on Bernie’s podium?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 26, 2016 
You all know this happened. But there is some controversy over what kind of bird it is. There is no doubt whatsoever that the bird was a finch. However, what kind? Most likely a house finch, because they are common, and the most likely to live in a big auditorium thingie and not be fearful…
Waterfowl of North America, Europe, and Asia: Beautiful new book
Posted by Greg Laden on March 18, 2016 
There are three kinds of books that count as animal (usually bird) guides. 1) A pocket field guide of the critters of a reasonably circumscribed geographical area, like the Peterson Field Guide to Birds of Eastern and Central North America. This is a small book that can fit in a big pocket, and a classic…
Feeding Wild Birds
Posted by Greg Laden on February 21, 2016 
When the Texas A&M University Press asked me to consider reviewing Feeding Wild Birds in America: Culture, Commerce, and Conservation by Paul Baicich, Margaret Barker, and Carrol Henderson, I had mixed feelings. Was this just another backyard bird feeding guide? That would be nice, but not too exciting. After all, feeding birds is just a…
Giant Solar Power Plants Don’t Need To Vaporize Birds
Posted by Greg Laden on January 20, 2016 
We often hope, even assume, that technology will fix our problems. We also know that sometimes technology creates a problem. In this case, technology can help us fix the problem of needing to keep the fossil carbon in the ground by making use of the sun, but created the problem of vaporizing birds with intensely…
Yet another way climate change will affect birds
Posted by Greg Laden on November 17, 2015 
Changes in the daily variability of high and low temperatures in certain regions may stress wild bird populations. A new study of semi-wildish Zebra Finches demonstrates this. I have a post on the research here, at 10,000 birds. Have a look!
Loonacy
Posted by Greg Laden on September 15, 2015 
Check out my latest contribution to the bird blog 10,000 birds: Faithful Loons and Human Lunacy Every year there manage to be two Loons out in front of the cabin, up in Minnesota’s lake country. They nest on the same, ever-expanding semi-floating but occasionally shrinking nest over behind the point, so we can’t see the…
The Tuluver, A New Species of Bird
Posted by Greg Laden on September 5, 2015 
People were fascinated, excited, and some were enraged, by this awareness raising campaign of BirdLife South Africa. I might have preferred this modification:
The Birds At Itasca and Other Matters
Posted by Greg Laden on August 19, 2015 
When I studied the Efe Pygmies of the Congo, I discovered (and yes, it was me who discovered this amazing fact everyone now knows) that the Efe organize their space in elongated linear trails. They knew all about everything along those specific trails, and their knowledge of other trails was often very limited. If an…
How to avoid becoming a cuckolded tit.
Posted by Greg Laden on July 21, 2015 
The tl:dr… don’t sleep late.
How Bad is the Minnesota Turkey Epidemic?
Posted by Greg Laden on April 20, 2015 
Unless you are living in a chicken coop, you have probably heard about the Turkey Crisis in Minnesota and surrounding upper plains/midwestern states. Every few days we hear more news: Millions of farmed turkeys are being put down in one turkey farm after another, because the farm’s turkeys are infested with the H5N2 bird flu.…