The South Hills Crossbill Is Evolving in a Seriously Bizarre Way

In the pine forests of Idaho, a bird called the South Hills crossbill is waging one seriously bizarre evolutionary war.

Over the last 5,000 years or so, the crossbill—so named because the two halves of its bill cross over each other instead of aligning—has menaced the lodgepole pine, developing an ever-bigger beak to break into the tree’s cones and steal its seeds. In response, the tree has evolved ever-thicker cone scales. And the South Hills crossbill evolves a bigger bill. And the tree responds. And on and on through the millennia.

That’s not the weird bit. Species evolving together like this is known as coevolution. Happens all the time. The weird bit is that the South Hills crossbill may have speciated without geographic isolation—which is sort of problematic for traditional evolutionary theory. Because while the South Hills crossbill was diverging from other crossbills, it did so while those other crossbills were freely flying through its territory, according to a study published today in Molecular Ecology. That adds to a growing body of evidence that in certain fascinating cases, you may not need geographic isolation to get a new species, challenging what was long gospel among many evolutionary biologists. Gasp—I know.

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Thousands of geese fall from Idaho sky in likely avian cholera outbreak

Not known whether snow geese contracted the disease during migration

Humans face small risk of contracting avian cholera

Reuters in Salmon, Idaho

Tuesday 17 March 2015 14.34 GMTLast modified on Tuesday 17 March 201515.27 GMT

Avian cholera is suspected in the deaths of at least 2,000 snow geese that fell dead from the sky in Idaho while migrating to nesting grounds on the northern coast of Alaska, wildlife managers said on Monday.

Dozens of Idaho department of fish and game workers and volunteers at the weekend retrieved and incinerated carcasses of snow geese found near bodies of water and a wildlife management area in the eastern part of the state, said agency spokesman Gregg Losinski.

Avian cholera is believed to be the culprit in the deaths mostly because of the way the birds died, he said.

“Basically, they just fell out of the sky,” said Losinski.

He said biologists were awaiting results from a state wildlife lab to confirm the birds died of the highly contagious disease, which is caused by bacteria that can survive in soil and water for up to four months.

Humans face a small risk of contracting the disease, but the more immediate threat is to wildlife in the vicinity of contaminated carcasses, Losinski said.

About 20 bald eagles were seen near areas where snow geese carcasses littered the ground, but a lengthy incubation period makes it unclear if the eagles were infected and would carry the ailment elsewhere, said Losinski.

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Global warming: Could Idaho lose its mountain bluebird?

Idaho Statesman

September 10, 2014 

The Legislature adopted Sialia arctcia as the state bird in 1931. The bird is 6 to 7 inches long and is a member of the thrush family.

JOE JASZEWSKI — jjaszewski@idahostatesman.com

What's the problem? Global warming threatens survival of more than half of all bird species in the U.S. and Canada, National Audubon Society scientists claim. Among them is the mountain bluebird, Idaho's state bird.

Why? Increased dryness caused by warming temperatures will alter the habitat ranges of birds in nearly every state, forcing them to migrate to unfamiliar areas, where they will have to adapt or possibly perish.

How credible is the threat? The report has a blind spot: It cannot reliably say that many of the species will not simply adapt in their current habitat or thrive elsewhere. Still, "it's a wake-up call," said John Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

Here's the entire story from The Washington Post's Darryl Fears:

Read more here: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/09/10/3367271/global-warming-could-idaho-lose.html#storylink=cpy

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Owl Enters 10th Story Apartment, Kills Canary

COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — Aug 18, 2014, 12:25 PM ET

An owl flew into a 10th story apartment in Coeur d'Alene, apparently opened a bird cage and killed one of two canaries inside, the residents said.

Sue Sausser said she awakened Sunday to find bird droppings and feathers all over her apartment, the Coeur d'Alene Press reported (http://bit.ly/1riwYfi).

Sausser found the brownish, yellow-eyed owl between the wall and the chest of drawers on which the bird cage sits. It flew out the door and perched on their balcony railing long enough for them to take a few pictures. Don Sausser estimated the owl was 6 to 8 inches tall.

Sue and Don Sausser found one of their canaries dead in the cage. The other seemed jumpy and anxious, they said.

Beth Paragamian, wildlife education specialist with for Idaho Fish and Game and the Bureau of Land Management, said it's strange that an owl would be flying so high in an area without many tall trees and surprising that it would enter a residence, much less open a bird cage.

"That is very unusual," she said.

Don Sausser said they'll likely still leave their sliding glass door open on warm summer evenings, but plan to use twist ties to secure the door on the bird cage.

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Information from: Coeur d'Alene Press, http://www.cdapress.com

Source

Ravens rule Idaho's artificial roosts

Date:

August 11, 2014

Source:

Wildlife Conservation Society

Summary:

A new study has explored how habitat alterations, including the addition of energy transmission towers, affect avian predators nesting in sagebrush landscapes. Researchers compared nesting habitat selection between Common Ravens and three raptor species commonly found in sagebrush ecosystems: Red-tailed Hawks, Swainson's Hawks, and Ferruginous Hawks.

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