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Full Version: Dancing seagulls + Seagull concerta + Great Backyard Bird Count (avian hobbies)
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The 'dancing' seagulls under threat in New Zealand (video)
https://www.theguardian.com/global/video...CMP=twt_gu

INTRO: In the conservation world, cuteness counts and so New Zealand's conservation department has released this very cute video of 'dancing' seagulls to raise awareness of their plight. Red-billed gulls are the most common and are associated with hovering around fish-and-chip-eating beach-goers. But contrary to their seeming abundance, their population numbers plummeted by 80% since the mid-1960s. Plunging fish stocks, over-feeding by humans and destruction of their nesting habitat have all contributed to the decline. Researchers says to stop the decline, New Zealanders need to start caring about seagulls the way they do the iconic kiwi.

VIDEO: https://www.theguardian.com/global/video...CMP=twt_gu



Seagull concerto 'came to me in dream' (video)
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-d...e-in-dream

INTRO: Musician Nuria Bonet has created a concerto to improve the public's image of seagulls, which she thinks are misunderstood. She said the idea came to her in a dream. Later this month that dream will become reality as she performs the full piece at the 2019 Contemporary Music Festival in Plymouth.

VIDEO: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-england-d...e-in-dream



Talkin' Birds: The Great Backyard Bird Count
https://www.npr.org/2019/02/16/695494292...bird-count

EXCERPT: . . . The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual, global citizen-science project that hopes to collect data about wild birds, lots of data. Led by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the National Audubon Society, along with Bird Studies Canada and other international partners, bird count participants are asked to go outside for at least 15 minutes and identify as many birds as they can.

[...] In the heart of New York City, the obvious birds one might first expect to spot are pigeons, or perhaps more accurately, rock doves. But through their binoculars, the Brooklyn Bird Club managed to spot 43 different species of bird. [Tina] Alleva's final count included eight American coots, four red-breasted mergansers, one merlin, and 101 Canadian geese.

Her data, pooled with that of participants around the world, will give scientists a better idea of how weather and climate change may influence bird populations or migration patterns. This is the type of information that researchers can't collect enough of on their own. Ray Brown, host of the radio show and podcast Talkin' Birds, told NPR's Scott Simon that the data collected through the count is extremely useful. "Birds are a great indicator of the health of the ecosystems on our planet," Brown said. Data from the bird count helps determine "how we can help birds survive, where they're going, how they're doing."

MORE: https://www.npr.org/2019/02/16/695494292...bird-count
Ever wonder if bird feeders have an affect on evolution?

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ed/551120/
(Feb 18, 2019 05:33 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: [ -> ]Ever wonder if bird feeders have an affect on evolution?

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/arch...ed/551120/


For a moment I confused their initial "house finch" patron with the unpopular nuisance of the "house sparrow".

Even before bird feeders, I expect a few cardinals starting gradually moving northward due to seeds leftover or dropped in the course of farming and livestock-feeding activities.

Cardinals, also called “redbirds,” do not migrate and have traditionally been more common in warmer climes such as the U.S. southeast. However, in recent decades they have expanded their common range north through the United States and even into Canada. This population growth may be due to an increase in winter birdfeeders and to the bird's ability to adapt to parks and suburban human habitats. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/anima.../cardinal/

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