After a record-low last winter, the birds are making a comeback. Redpolls, seen in two varieties in Alaska — the common and the hoary — have attracted scientists’ attention because the birds survive super-cold temperatures. Physiologist Laurence Irving ranked redpolls’ feathers just behind pine grosbeaks for “apparent usefulness for insulation.”Redpolls have a secret weapon other small birds, including chickadees, don’t possess: food pouches on each side of their necks.
Carcasses examined so far have shown no indication of disease, and tests are pending for harmful algal toxins. Seabirds have been found emaciated and starved, and changed ocean conditions may have affected prey.
An Okanagan program was designed 15 years ago to control the invasive species of starlings
The Bering Sea island is breeding habitat for millions of seabirds, including rare migratory species. A “strike team” had been searching for the rogue rat for 10 months.
Starting on Wednesday, May 22, hundreds of Common Murres, an ocean-going bird native to the Pacific Coast from the Channel Islands to the tip of the Aleutians in Alaska, have been reported washed u…
Village wildlife observers worry that the unusual warmth of oceans off Alaska is causing problems throughout the ecosystem.
It’s the first reported sighting of the falcated duck on mainland Alaska, Fish and Game says.
More than 1,000 domestic poultry and hundreds of wild birds have died or needed to be euthanized in the state since early spring. Since the first case of a deadly strain of avian flu was detected in Alaska in May, more than 1,000 domestic poultry and hundreds of wild birds have died or needed to be euthanized.
Birds have been reported dead or behaving strangely in communities throughout the Bering Strait region, from Shishmaref to Unalakleet and on St. Lawrence Island.
Climate-induced habitat changes on Alaska's North Slope such as coastal erosion and permafrost thaw have produced more food for migrating brant, a study says.
Black brant populations are struggling in the species' once-dominant Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta breeding areas, but conditions are better for brant breeding on the Arctic coastline.
Thousands of turkeys in Sanpete County, Utah, have died from highly pathogenic avian influenza, leading to the quarantine and depopulation of the affected farm, with concerns about the potential impact on turkey sales during the upcoming holiday season.
Kachemak Bay has witnessed massive die-offs of sea stars, murres and razor clams. Whats going on?
Warm water threatens marine habitats off the coast of BC
Local birders who participated in the recent 2005 Anchorage Christmas Bird Count noted a sharp increase in European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), a sometimes aggressive species that's relatively new to Alaska.
"We had an unusually large number of calls about skunks that were acting strange or being found dead and it was all within the area where we had confirmed that the avian influenza virus was present in the snow geese," Dr. Margo Pybus, a provincial wildlife disease specialist with Fish and Wildlife Alberta Environment and Parks, said. "We believe that the skunks are feeding on the dead geese and they are getting enough virus that it’s actually affecting the skunks."
Scottish seabirds, including guillemots, kittiwakes, and terns, have experienced significant losses due to avian flu, with 2,300 sick and dead birds reported in a two-week period, and it is expected to take years for populations to recover.
Stanley, Falkland Islands, establishes a temporary control zone following the confirmation of its first avian flu case.
Droughts in continental Europe are a possible cause for sightings of a Mediterranean bird in Britain and Ireland, say ornithologists.
Nunavut is not prepared to deal with the impacts of climate change and doesn't have a plan to deal with them, according to the latest report by Canada's auditor general.
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