Now on ScienceBlogs: Check out Ask Dr. Isis: Getting into Grad School on On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess during the day. This not only makes them more vulnerable to attack but, because the birds need to be awake in daylight hours to feed, creates stress and exhaustion. Worthy Causes to $upport Birds may not be as "bird•brained" as we thought. Zebra finches show many features of sleep, which had previously been assumed to be the sole preserve of mammals. The finding raises new questions about the complexity of the bird brain and about the evolution of sleep as we know it. Even though birds lack a neocortex, the researchers found that the birds display all of the characteristics of mammalian sleep. "The neocortex is at best sufficient, but not necessary for the production of these mammalian patterns," observes Philip Low at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, California, US. The problem of keeping track of thousands of near•identical African penguins may have been solved. Researchers have developed surveillance technology that can identify individual birds and then monitor them over long periods of time. The team says the system will boost our understanding of the animals; it could even help ecologists solve the mystery of how long penguins live. The researchers say it could also track other species, from cheetahs to sharks. The technology is on display at the Royal Society's Summer Exhibition. People Hurting Birds Bugs Bunny was hunted by Elmer Fudd. The birds at Boston's Logan International Bookmarking/Networking Airport are stalked by truck 129. That's the story line of an avian drama posted on YouTube and set to the famous cartoon music "Kill the Wabbit," which is a twist on the "Ride of the Valkyries" from Richard Wagner's opera "The Valkyrie." "That was shocking," said the amateur videographer, who picked up a camera after seeing an airport employee take out several birds with lethal force last summer from her porch deck. International presented the European Parliament with alarming data about the extent of seabird bycatch globally and in Europe. At the same time, BirdLife 1. Marking classes interactive: better learning welcomed the long awaited first steps of the European Commission to tackle the or just more fun? DISCOVERING BIOLOGY IN problem by developing a Community Plan of Action on seabirds with the intention Recent Posts A DIGITAL WORLD of completing it next year. "With 300,000 seabirds, including about 100,000 2. Quality assessment of Today's Mystery Bird for you diagnostic accuracy to Identify albatrosses, dying annually as bycatch in longline and trawl fisheries •• which HEALTHSKILLS: SKILLS FOR Christopher Street/Sheridan include many vessels operating under EU flags •• the European Community (EC) HEALTHY LIVING Square Subway Art 3, Panel 3. Oestradiol makes women 1 has the responsibility to put in place effective measures to tackle this readily hot and hard to keep Today's Mystery Bird for you solvable problem" said Dr Euan Dunn, Head of the Marine Policy at the RSPB OBSERVATIONS OF A NERD to Identify 4. Phase Alignment of Wild Ocean at AMNH (BirdLife in the UK), in a presentation at the Fisheries Committee of the European Neocortical Gamma Nature Blogging 101 Parliament. Oscillations by Christopher Street/Sheridan Hippocampal Theta Waves Square Subway Art 3 PHYSIOLOGY PHYSICS WOVEN FINE What Happened to Tangled The government of Kenya, through the National Environment Management Bank? Authority (NEMA), has approved a proposal to turn 20,000 hectares of the pristine 5. Don’t Waste Your Time on Today's Mystery Bird for you Social Media to Identify Tana Delta into irrigated sugarcane plantations. Conservationists and villagers SCIENCETEXT The Difference Between living in the Delta, which provides refuge for 350 species of bird, lions, elephants, Women and Men Christopher Street/Sheridan rare sharks and reptiles including the Tana writhing skink, believe the decision is Square Subway Art 2, Panel 3 illegal and are determined to block the development. "This decision is a national disaster and will devastate the Delta. The Tana's ecology will be destroyed yet the Powered by SMG Technology Recent Comments economic gains will be pitiful," said Paul Matiku, Executive Director of Nature Rick Wright on Today's Kenya (BirdLife in Kenya). "It will seriously damage our priceless national assets Mystery Bird for you to and will put the livelihoods of the people living in the Delta in jeopardy." Identify PZ Myers on What Happened to Tangled Bank? 1. Test Subjects Who Call the Scientist Mom or Dad Kyle on Why Do We Yawn? People Helping Birds 2. Q & A: Avoiding Malnutrition When Mike on Nature Blogging Produce Was Scarce 101 3. Observatory: Monkeys Pick Right Stone JPS on Wild Ocean at AMNH for a Tough Nut Every couple of hundred yards, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation 4. Study Warns of Threat to Coasts From David Rankin on Today's Rising Sea Levels 5. Wind Farm Off Cape Cod Clears Hurdle Mystery Bird for you to Commission biologist stopped to listen for the short, shrill "sripp, sripp" of the Get more from NYTimes.com Identify aedis on Today's Mystery red•cockaded woodpecker, a species of special concern in Florida and an Bird for you to Identify endangered species on the federal list. For an hour, he heard nuthatches, pine Rick Wright on Today's Mystery Bird for you to warblers and red•winged blackbirds, but no red•cockaded woodpeckers •• often Identify referred to as RCWs. "I think I hear one," Mike Baranski finally said. "I hope." Then Russell on Today's Mystery he saw them •• two adults and a female fledgling he'd banded recently •• and Bird for you to Identify reflibman on Meme: Five documented the sighting. Books I Wish I'd Never Read Anton Oliver, the New Zealand rugby star and former All Blacks captain, is now Blog Bling tackling problems of a different kind •• seabird conservation! Anton is embarking on a new career this July when he starts a Masters course at Oxford University on 'Biodiversity, Conservation and Management'. In preparation for the course, Anton is now working with BirdLife International in Fiji's outlying Ringgold Islands where he is studying the link between biodiversity and economic security. In an unprecedented move against rogue cattle ranchers in the Amazon, the Brazilian government has seized livestock grazing there illegally, the new environment minister announced. Officials carted off 3,100 head of cattle that they said were being raised on an ecological reserve in the state of Para, in an operation intended to serve as a warning to other ranchers grazing an estimated 60,000 head on illegally deforested land in Amazonia, the environment minister, Carlos Minc, said. "No more being soft," Mr. Minc told reporters in the capital, Brasilia. "Those that don't respect environmental legislation, your cattle are going to become barbecue for Fome Zero," he said, referring to the government's food program for the poor. GrrlScientist comment: Wow! Amazing, and wonderful! I wish we had a few people like this in the United States, especially in the Fish and Wildlife Service. Munster, France is a village with a dual population: Humans live in charming medieval houses; white storks and their half•ton nests rule the rooftops. Gerard Wey, known in these parts as Papa Stork, is the emissary between man and bird. If an anxious villager reports a stork in danger, Wey and his crews rush to the scene. If the birds stage too large a takeover, he's there to remove some nests. Bird Mysteries Seaford's cherished black•legged kittiwake colony has dropped by 50 per cent in the last year according to experts. The colony is one of only a few in the south coast and can be found on the cliffs just outside the town. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said in this area the numbers had dropped from 800 pairs in 2007 to around 400 pairs this year. "Last year around 800 pairs and their chicks left Seaford to spend the winter over the Atlantic but only 400 odd have returned. Something has gone wrong somewhere, but exactly what is a mystery. Countless things could have happened out at sea •• they could have hit stormy weather, or not found enough food, or it could be something else entirely. There's still a lot we don't know about sealife, which is why protecting it is so very important." Rare Birds News Archives A pair of elderly bald eagles at the Assiniboine Park Zoo in Canada has hatched and January 2009 is raising two chicks, astounding staff and wildlife experts. The pair, believed to be December 2008 November 2008 into their 40's is breaking species breeding records. The zoo says it's rare for an October 2008 eagle to live to 30 years old, let alone live to 40 and still be breeding. A 40•year•old September 2008 August 2008 eagle is the equivalent of a 110 year•old human. "This is probably a world record. July 2008 That's a guess, but I would bet on it," said David Curtis, who takes care of native June 2008 animals at the zoo. May 2008 April 2008 Conservationists are overjoyed that the corncrake, which has been on the March 2008 endangered list for more than 80 years, has returned to the Nene Washes, in February 2008 January 2008 Coates, near Whittelsey, in England following a re•introduction project. Twelve December 2007 male corncrakes have so far been recorded this summer at the specially created site November 2007 •• making this probably the greatest single concentration of the bird in the southern October 2007 September 2007 half of England.