First, I have a new post up at 10,000 Birds: Evolution of the Multi-Media Bird
Then, you should check out the recent adds at Free Thought Blogs. You probably know that Zinnia Jones and Ashley Miller were added recently. The other day, Aron Ra of the Ace of Clades was added.
And, today, Christina Rad and TunderfOOt were added.
Music of the Birds
For an update on the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant mess, check out: Japan Nuclear Disaster Update # 40: Fukushima Plant Still Producing Energy! (In a bad way)
For a summary of a study linking nuclear radiation and brain size (in a bad way) see this.
Well, obviously it is going to be something about radiation.
Check out my latest post at 10,000 Birds.
When climate changes, causing habitats to move, birds can get up and fly away to a new habitat, so really, they’ll be fine. Right?
Well, no.
…Louis Agassiz, the most famous scientist of his time, eclipsing Darwin in his stature and influence (up to a point) addressed this diversity across the landscape in one way. Darwin addressed it in another way. Today, most people don’t even know what Agassiz said, even though it is a perfectly rational model if you are a creationist, and something like half of all Americans are. But, his ideas would be considered absurd even by modern Young Earth Creationists (YECs). Darwin’s view, in contrast, is not absurd, but it is complicated….
Have you been keeping up with my posts at Birdingblogs.com?
If Darwin was alive today he would be a bird watcher. But he would do his bird watching differently, using a nice set of binoculars rather than a shotgun. In his autobiography, Darwin reminisces …
… no matter how we interpret what happened for Darwin on his route from Potential Country Pastor to First Evolutionary Biologist, the mocking birds figured in because they impressed young Charles when he first saw them….
Read about Darwin’s Other Birds
I just realized that in the recent confusion of travelling and home improvement activities, I forgot to point out to you’all that my third every-four-weeks post at 10,000 Birds (the blog) is now up for your reading pleasure: Birds Really Dinosaurs?
You know Darwin sailed, famously, on The Beagle. But did you know he also sailed on another boat? Check it out.
More Bird Body Part Blogging: Spurs and blades on the wings of jacanas, lapwings, sheathbills and archaeotrogonids (clubs, spurs, spikes and claws part II)
…The reason people think that Robin Red Breast is a sign of spring is that we believe that robins fly south for the winter and north for the summer, so when we see them, it must be getting near summer. The fact that many robins don’t migrate at all, but simply become reclusive for the winter, is not widely known….
Getting ready for Spring and Summer birding.
Climate change is already having a detectable impact on birds across Europe. This is the message from a group of scientists who have created the world’s first indicator of the impacts of climate change on wildlife at a continental scale. “We hear a lot about climate change, but our paper shows that its effects are being felt right now”, said lead author Dr Richard Gregory from the RSPB (BirdLife in the UK).
Of the 122 common species included in the analysis, 75% are predicted to experience declines across their ranges if they continue to respond to climatic warming in the way the models predict, and in the absence of other barriers. The remaining 25% are projected to increase.
Continue reading 75% of common European birds at risk from climate change
This is the Sixty-Second I and the Bird Web Carnival. This issue is chock full of excellent posts, with an emphasis on seasonal change, outstanding photographs, and the usual highly successful bird watching forays. I’m forgoing the complex contextualization and letting the posts speak for themselves, with only the occasional remark from your’s truly.The last I and the bird, # 61, was at The Drinking Bird. The next I and the Bird, # 63, will be at The Greenbelt. Continue reading I and the Bird # 62. Just Plain Birds.
If you are into birds, have a look at this post at 10,000 Birds. It’s a “diabolical” bird ID quiz, and it is, well, diabolical as all get-out.