The Bird Brief
A global rundown of newly published avian research and newsworthy bird stories in just 5 minutes.
The Bird Brief
S2 E1: Tropical Cyclones, Drug Trafficking, Superbugs, and How Birds Can See Wind Turbines Better!
Welcome back to a new season of the The Bird Brief! This is Stephanie Jenkins Aslett, avian ecologist, giving you the rundown on the most recent happenings in birds, both in popular news and published research throughout the world. Today we have cover everything from birds that crave tropical cyclones to the effects of drug trafficking on birds and how birds can see wind turbines better. Let's get started.
Stories:
https://phys.org/news/2024-06-cocaine-trafficking-threatens-critical-bird.html and https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-024-01365-z
https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/desertas-petrels-chase-hurricanes and https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(24)00806-6?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0960982224008066%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
Bird Sound:
Golden-winged Warbler. Todd Wilson, XC103849. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/103849.
Golden-cheeked Warbler. Phoenix Birder, XC573860. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/573860.
Philadelphia Vireo. Andrew Spencer, XC189441. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/189441.
Desertas Petrel. Ben Metzger, XC508037. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/508037. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
American Crow. Thomas Magarian, XC524205. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/524205.
Mallard. Martin Billard, XC881155. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/881155.
Swainson’s Hawk. Richard E. Webster, XC626069. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/626069.
White-tailed Eagle. Karl-Birger
Hearing Protection Tips:
Okay, as your birder friend, I want you to hear your birds today, but also in five years. Make sure you have the basics, get some inexpensive foam earplugs at your local drugstore and put them in your bag or car for those random times you are heading to a show and its going to be way too loud. Also grab some earmuffs and have them handy for when you use the blender or mow the lawn.
Here's a few that I like that are inexpensive and won't break the bank:
-Mack’s Ultra Soft Foam Earplugs, 7 Pair + Case – (NRR 33 dB Highest NRR). https://amzn.to/3Xn2xrN .
-3M PELTOR Ear Muffs, X1, (NRR 22) https://amzn.to/41aMcbU. Most comfortable muff in my opinion. Nicely slim for a muff while providing good ear protection. Fantastic to bring to fireworks shows and air shows, so you can take them off to chat with your friends. Bonus -- even comfortable and lightweight enough that your kid will wear them!
-3M PELTOR X3 Earmuffs, (NRR 25-28) https://amzn.to/40XXVZN. Great protection, but can get heavy.
*Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) is the number of decibels that the ear pro can reduce ambient noise levels – NRR 33 is the maximum. I’ve found that NRR 33 is pretty bulky/heavy in muffs so I opt for NRR 22 or NRR 25.
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