Tag Archives: birds

A ground-dwelling government with a striking blue head and throat, with a another, slightly blurred, behind it

A Dodo for Our Time

The genome for this pretty bird, native to Cuba, has just been sequenced, helping to answer some questions about its place in the web of life. Pigeons and doves are fantastically widespread, not least because they can be very strong flyers. They appear throughout the world, almost everywhere but the Arctic and Antarctica. It was thought that this species was related to other doves in the Caribbean region, and other evidence suggested it might be related to Australasian birds.

The new genomic data says neither, that the blue-headed quail dove is an ancient lineage (older than chimpanzees), as distinct as the dodo – and at risk of the same fate. It hasn’t been well studied in part because there are few mature individuals left, and trends in hunting, predators, and habitat loss bode ill for the remaining birds.

More about this research is available at the Florida Museum of Natural History, where the lead author undertook this work as a postdoctoral researcher, and in the published study. eBird, where this lovely photo (by Zsombor Károlyi) was posted, also has an example of its call, at https://ebird.org/species/bhqdov1. More photos at: https://media.ebird.org/catalog?taxonCode=bhqdov1&mediaType=photo

Welfare Queen

She’s still there.

A Cooper’s hawk flew into the Library of Congress last week. In a series of blog posts, the LoC recounts the efforts to identify this bird and form a plan to retrieve her and help her out of the building. She has since stolen bait food that was intended to lure her into a trap (for relocation), and I wonder if she’s planning to settle in. After all, it’s a pretty nice gig – weather protection, some gorgeous clear sight lines I’m guessing, and free delivery.

Watching Our Researchers Like a Hawk
And Watch a Hawk Makin’ Lazy Circles in the Dome
Time for Another Hawk Update

Update: She “finally got evicted”.

Pelicans Are Perfect!


Pelicans receive fish at the London Zoo

Pelicans have been perfect since the early Oligocene, according to a newly published analysis of a fossilized bill, and partial skull and neck. The study’s lead author, Antoine Louchart, doesn’t actually want to commit to that interpretation, but the 30-million-year old fossil he reports on is so similar to today’s pelican species that it would be classified in the Pelecanus genus.

Study at J Ornithol

Fluid

Claire Morgan makes astonishing assemblies of taxidermied animals and other materials, meticulously placed with nylon strands. She uses many kinds of animals and insects, as well as fruit and leaves. I don’t have any idea what to make of any of it. I can’t decide whether I love it or would never want it in any space I occupy, even briefly (I or the work). Lots more photos of many installations over the last seven years at her website.