helping birds, studying migration, and more

The Audubon at Home website has some excellent tips on helping migratory birds.

At the Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center website, find new articles on

• A Second Home May Shore up Island Scrub Jay's Future
• Birds Connect Classrooms in the U.S. and Nicaragua
• Stingless Bees at a Honduran Coffee Farm
• Summer Tanager in Honduran Coffee Farm 

and much more.

The most recent online issue of the journal Avian Conservation and Ecology has a number of valuable new papers.

international bird conservation news; Cyprus and elsewhere

Go to this link to read about progress from BirdLife International in the EU on illegal bird trapping and shooting in Cyprus. Some of you may have signed an international petition linked here last fall, to help bring an end to this longstanding problem. Many migratory songbirds have been illegally killed there, annually. Please remember to occasionally return to this site for updates on this and many other international bird conservation topics.  

Read more recent news and blog posts from BirdLife at this link.

advocating change - BirdLife International

"BirdLife Partners interact with a wide range of policy players in government, in the agency and development community, and within many other NGOs. Our policy work seeks to link global, regional, national, and local concerns, and we are heavily investing in developing advocacy capacity".

Go to this link to read more.

adaptation

Suggested read:

Winged Sentinels: Birds and Climate Change, by Janice Wormworth, and Cagan H. Sekercioglu, 2011, Cambridge University Press. 

" 'The ability of the birds to show us the consequences of our own actions is among their most important and least appreciated attributes. Despite the free advice of the birds, we do not pay attention', said Marjory Stoneman Douglas in 1947. From ice-dependent penguins of Antarctica to songbirds that migrate across the Sahara, birds' responses provide early warning signs of the impact of climate change." (Publisher website). This book shows how birds are dealing with threats from climate change and how they might (and whether they are likely to)  adapt to a warming world. Şekercioğlu is a biology professor at the University of Utah (the first tropical biologist from Turkey). He graduated from Harvard University in 1997 with degrees in biology and anthropology, and completed his Ph.D. at Stanford University. Wormworth is a professional science writer.

The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology

Why might you want to join WSO - if you are not yet a member?

Here are the usual reasons:

"The Wisconsin Society for Ornithology was organized in 1939 to encourage the study of Wisconsin birds. The aims have since expanded to emphasize all of the many enjoyable aspects of birding and to support the research and habitat protection necessary to preserve Wisconsin birdlife. WSO strives to alert members and the public to situations and practices that threaten Wisconsin’s bird populations. Members in the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology include those who enjoy birds attracted to their homes by feeders and bird houses, those who pursue field study or bird banding as a hobby, and those who engage in ornithology professionally. Membership exceeds 1100 from across the United States and around the world."

But there's SO much more to it than just those facts. In WSO's 70+ year history, the organization has brought  many people to a deeper connection with birds, from field trips and conventions, our publications, education activities and book store, and a lot of other activities, events, and a long list of other reasons. It's true that you don't need to be a member to come along on field trips...but there are over 1100 other great reasons to become a member of WSO. Check us out at the WSO website - and consider joining this year.

birds learn tree ID (to help themselves forage successfully!)

See results of a new study here -"Findings suggest that chickadees and others zero in on the type of tree as much as the characteristics" of their insect prey.