BirdHobbyist

The Audubon Society blog describes the bad news from the South Atlantic Ocean. A ship ran aground, endangering thousands of penguins that live in the area:

Wildlife rescuers are in a “race against time” to save up to 20,000 endangered rockhopper penguins doused in oil after a shipwreck off a South Atlantic archipelago last week. A cargo ship, the MV Oliva, ran aground on March 16. Its crew was rescued, but the accident left thousands of the distinctive birds, with their punk-rocker hairdos, coated in crude.

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Scientists have found a new bird in Madagascar. Audubon Magazine’s blog emphasizes the importance of this discovery:

In western Madagascar, scientists surveying the area’s flora and fauna found a new bird: a forest-dwelling rail. Its size, plumage, and genetics differentiate it from its eastern cousin, making it unique to the Beanka Forest, an isolated and largely intact part of the country’s remaining western dry forests.

“This bird they’ve known about for decades, but no one has been able to go find it and get a specimen of it. It’s not a common thing at all, and it’s really hard to find,” said researcher Nick Block, a graduate student at the University of Chicago who is based at the city’s Field Museum.

In the hope of restoring the wild population of whooping cranes, wildlife officials plan to release young cranes in Louisiana. The Baltimore Sun tells their story:

Ten young whooping cranes raised in Maryland are taking to the air today, as federal wildlife biologists and technicians who've tended them since they were chicks release them in Louisiana to join the annual winged migration of their fragile species.

The gangly birds were reared at the U.S. Geological Survey's Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, as seen in the photo above. Their "parents" were human caretakers wearing white crane-like costumes, who exercised them, took them for walks and swims and fed them as chicks using a bird puppet.

Looking for an activity this weekend? Get outdoors and count birds in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. Anyone can participate and count birds from your back yard to the neighborhood park. Birdsource.org reports on their Website:

Blackbirds made the headlines when a flock of thousands fell from the skies in Arkansas on New Year’s Eve. Now bird enthusiasts across the continent are counting the birds—not just blackbirds, but birds of more than 600 species—in the annual Great Backyard Bird Count. During February 18–21 the event will create an instantaneous snapshot of birdlife across the U.S. and Canada for all to see.

Only a few species of birds are faithful to their mates. In Valentine’s Day? Not For Birds, enature blog reports:

Unlike humans, who seize the opportunity at Valentine’s Day to proclaim their love for their mate and reinforce the bonds of love over a lifetime, most birds are of a different feather.

The use of DNA by scientists has provided new food for thought to people who had assumed that most birds were faithful to their mates, if not for a lifetime, at least for a single breeding season. Alas, it’s just not true. There is more hanky-panky going on in the back fields and woodlands of the country among birds than anyone could imagine. DNA studies of songbirds have shown that among any four baby birds in a single nest, it is typical that only an average of two are the creation of the parent birds that are raising them. The other two nestling have either a different father or mother, or both. In other words, it is a common practice among songbirds to copulate with birds other than their mates, thus producing broods of nestlings with mixed parentage.

Ever wondered about the life of a young bird when it leaves the nest? In Flying The Nest - The Wildlife of a Young Bird, BBC Earth tells the story of this exciting time for a Cape Gannet baby.

Flying the nest, as most of us know can be a terribly exciting but also nerve-wrecking time in a young person's life. And it’s at this time of year that the Cape Gannet chick goes through exactly that.

After approximately three months, they have put on enough weight – making them even heavier than their parents – and are ready to put those strong wings to good use.

Unlike Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count during December and January, the Great Backyard Bird Count (GBBC) is held this month from February 17 through 21. Anyone can participate in this count. In What is the GBBC?, BirdSource.org reports:

The Great Backyard Bird Count is an annual four-day event that engages bird watchers of all ages in counting birds to create a real-time snapshot of where the birds are across the continent. Anyone can participate, from beginning bird watchers to experts. It takes as little as 15 minutes on one day, or you can count for as long as you like each day of the event. It’s free, fun, and easy—and it helps the birds. We'll be adding updated GBBC materials for the next count as they become available.

The winter weather in Europe has caused some unusual bird sightings in England. In Europe's big freeze brings flocks of rare birds to Britain, The Observer reports:

The deep winter freeze across northern Europe and Russia has driven many exotic and unusual birds into Britain's back gardens on a weekend when more than half a million people are taking part in the world's biggest wildlife survey.

Amateur ornithologists are being told to "expect the unexpected" as they turn out for the annual RSPB [Royal Society for the Protection of Birds] Big Garden Birdwatch, including spectacular flocks of rarely seen waxwings that have been forced into towns and cities across the UK by a shortage of berries in their native Scandinavia and Russia.

“Jefferson” the hawk has been rescued! On their Website, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife tells the story of her capture:

After spending a week trapped in the Library of Congress, a female Cooper's hawk was safely captured Wednesday January 26 and taken to a rehabilitation center in Virginia. The hawk, nicknamed “Jefferson” eluded rescuers as it swooped overhead in the dome of the Thomas Jefferson Building's Main Reading Room. The hawk may have flown in through a broken window.