It’s almost time for the 2008 Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC), woot! The dates extend from February 15th to the 18th, and involve anyone and everyone counting birds for however long they wish, from the shortest observation to one that takes in the whole enchilada of four days, in as many locations as you wish. How about that for being both easy and inclusive, and even more impotant, FUN! Do it. Do it. Do it. The information will be used for science, and the lot of you will be like a magical legion of eyes and ears for those who study, and ultimately, do their best to help save birds and conserve their habitat. You can even take pictures of your feathered friends, and send them in to the GBBC, and they even have a contest for participants. Way cool. Last year, the GBBC received 81,003 cheklists. Let’s make it 100,000 this year.

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Happy New Year’s Eve everyone! It’s time to make those resolutions for the brand-new, shiny year that is at our doorstep. I think a little list of things we would really like to do can help focus us, as the days and weeks of 2008 scream by. I know mine has to be realistic, if there is to be any hope of getting most of them done, but if I don’t meditate a little on what I really believe I should do before the next 365 days disappear, then I wind up with a half-hearted, disorganized muddle of wishes. So, here is one thing I am adding to my list, something I have been thinking about all of 2007. I am going to plant at least one tree, hopefully more than one, in my yard. My motivation is to give more shelter to the birds I like to feed and observe, and a thoughtfully chosen tree can do just that for my little peeps. Maybe you can do the same? Here is a website that details good trees and plants for birds:

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It seems that a bunch of scientists got together and decided it would be educational to monitor the testosterone levels in dark-eyed juncos, birds common in North America, in order to better understand the range of their observed mating behavior. Their intriguing behavior involves two, distinct father types for the birds. One type is more dedicated to helping to rear his young and less to mating as many times as possible with different females, and the other is exactly the opposite. Read on for why they think this makes evolutionary sense.

• Dark-Eyed Juncos and Testosterone

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Puffins are getting a second chance to repopulate their old territories in Maine, with the help of biologists and volunteers. Each summer a fearless group of workers returns to the islands that are their breeding grounds in order to protect these birds from predators. The once common birds were hunted by humans for their meat and feathers and were nearly extinct in their US habitat by 1901. So, early in the 1970s, and intrepid biologist, Stephen Kress started a program to bring them back to their former American territories. Read on for a little inspiration, and hope that even if humans did throw things out of balance, perhaps nature will be able to return it between the puffins and their predators, the black gull.

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Who said birds don’t smile? A recurve-billed bushbird has been photographed after being absent for about 40 years. Its habitat in Columbia, the forest, is under constant threat and much of it has been cut down over the past half century.

• Smiling Bird

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Some birds are having a very hard time these days. Why? Loss of habitat is one very good reason. What can you do about it? Change your last century idea of what a nice yard is all about. Make it an intelligent environment, nature friendly, and bird-nurturing. Plant trees and flowers that feed the birds. My favorite quote from the CNN article summarizing the Audubon Society’s report on the health of the American bird population is that people need to reform their “perfectly manicured, sterile back yard“.

• Vanishing Birds

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Apparently, even birds do. Scientists have known that some moths seek out the tears of larger animals, like deer,
in order to imbibe their tears, presumably for the salt. Now a new species has been found that seeks the salty tears
of birds, but with a decided point!

• Tear-Bandit Moths

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What do hummingbirds and the cultivation of coca have in common? Read the following link to find out.

• Hummingbirds and Deforestation

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While, Nat King Cole may have found his love in Avalon, wildlife biologist have found two newly hatched members of the Accipitridae family. The bald eagle chicks are the first to hatch on Avalon since the 1940s, as the dumping of DDT and PCBs on the island decimated the population by thinning the shells of their eggs. There may even be another set of chicks born next week, with any luck.

• Bald Eagles on Catalina

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Ornithologists have come to the conclusion after some clever experiments that nuthatches understand the language of chickadees. They seem to be able to interpret chickadee warning calls for small predators, the kind that signal other chickadees to mob the threat and try to drive it away.

Nuthatches Understand Chickadee

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